Song · Spirit of the West
“Political” by Spirit of the West
From the album Labour Day (1988)
“Political” by Spirit of the West appears on 2 radio countdowns from 1 station between 1991 and 1999. It was first released in 1988 on the album Labour Day. Its best result is #11 on the CFNY Top 91 Songs of 1991. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #84 alternative song of 1991 and #5,404 alternative song of all time.
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John Mann wrote "Political" for Labour Day, the second album from Canadian folk rockers Spirit of the West, and it went out as the record's lead single in 1988, only to sink without charting. The band didn't give up on it. In October 1991 they recorded it again for their fifth album, Go Figure, and this time it reached number 70 in Canada; it has since become one of their best-known songs.
The original is folk-club ferment: Mann on guitar and lead vocal, Geoffrey Kelly on flute, whistle and harmonica, Hugh McMillan rattling a monkey stick, and all three piling in on backing vocals, with Danny Greenspoon producing alongside the band. In 1995 they played it with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, and that performance landed on the 1999 hits collection Hit Parade.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Alternative & Modern Rock
All Rock Formats
Year-end countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1991 | 11 | CFNY 102.1 The Edge Toronto, ON | CFNY Top 91 Songs of 1991 | 91 |
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | 524 | CFNY 102.1 The Edge | CFNY Top 1002 Songs of All-Time (November 1999) | 1002 |
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