Song · UB40
“Sing Our Own Song” by UB40
From the album Rat in the Kitchen (1986)
“Sing Our Own Song” by UB40 appears on 2 radio countdowns from 2 stations between 1989 and 1994. It was first released in 1986 on the album Rat in the Kitchen. Its best result is #377 on the WOXY Modern Rock 500 (1989). In the combined RockLists rankings it is #6,035 alternative song of all time.
UB40 saved "Sing Our Own Song" for the very end of Rat in the Kitchen, their seventh album, and pointed it straight at apartheid. It carries the ANC's rallying cry, it stood as a protest song of its moment, and South Africa censored it.
The writing credit takes in eight names, Ali Campbell, Robin Campbell, Jim Brown, Earl Falconer, Norman Hassan, Brian Travers, Michael Virtue and Terence Wilson, and the band produced it themselves with John Shaw engineering, while Jaki Graham, Mo Birch and Ruby Turner come in as guest singers. Released in 1986, it got to number five in Britain and topped the chart in the Netherlands, a lot of pop muscle for a record this angry.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Alternative & Modern Rock
All Rock Formats
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1989 | 377 | WOXY 97X | WOXY Modern Rock 500 (1989) | 500 |
| 1994 | 468 | Live 105 | Live 105 Revolutionary 500 (July 1994) | 500 |
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