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Farage’s Dream of UKIP Calypso Reaching Number One, Over Already?
Other | Friday 24th October 2014 | Ellesse
Ex-Radio 1 DJ, Mike Read, has asked his record company to withdraw his contoversial song Ukip Calypso from sale, destroying Ukip leader Nigel Farage’s hope that it could reach number one in the charts.
The song lyrics include: “Farage he likes his fags and beer, but there’s one thing I want to get clear, now I like Nigel he’s a friend of mine, he appears on Dimbleby on Question Time”
Read, known for his political satire, faces accusations of being racist after the release of his song, which the Surrey-born disc jockey sings in a mock Jamaican accent.
He denies any racist intentions stating ‘I don't have a racist bone in my body. I work across all cultures and creeds, I travel the world.’ Mr Read added: I’ve got so many chums out in the Caribbean. I’ve spent a lot of time out there.’
The track, credited to The Independents, was released this week on Amazon and iTunes, but has now been withdrawn from those sites.
Read states he was sorry for “unintentionally causing offence” by using a fake Caribbean accent and featuring lyrics such as “open borders” and “illegal immigrants in every town”. Yet, Nigel Farage defends the Ukip Calypso song, arguing that other artists use Caribbean accents and the song was designed to be 'a bit of fun'.
It is a wonder how Nigel Farage expects his ‘political anthem’ to reach number one, while simultaneously advancing him towards the door to number 10. With references to the party’s aspirations and target seats, this political anthem truly is a cringeworthy piece of marketing.
At the time of Read’s statement, the song Ukip Calypso, performed by Read and the Independents, was number two in the Amazon MP3 best sellers list, having spent three days in the chart.
Adding to the hilarity, Ricky Gervais took to Twitter last night to do a bit of his trademark mocking lashed with self-promotion when he tweeted out a link to his song Equality Street, made in 2013 with Doc Brown saying "If UKIP don't want this, maybe Eurovision will".
Ellesse Howells
