Trust me #100
Sit Down (Live at G-Mex) by James
There are songs that come and go, and then there are songs that stay with you. Songs that feel like old friends. For me, Sit Down by James is definitely one of them.
First released in 1989, then subsequently re-recorded and re-released to huge acclaim and success in 1991, Sit Down somehow manages to be both deeply personal and completely communal.
“Sit Down is one of those songs that encourages people to put their arms around strangers. As soon as we launch into the opening bars, they start smiling.
Then they turn to someone next to them or their girlfriend or boyfriend and hug them, and then they start singing every single word. As a musician, that’s incredibly humbling.” Larry Gott, original James guitarist
The original cover for Sit Down
James were already something of a cult band by the late ‘80s, releasing two albums and having a range of t-shirts that always (and to this day) sold well.
By 1989 the band had gained enough confidence to buy the album rights to their forthcoming Goldmother album from Rough Trade in search of a bigger label. Fontana was the label they found for new songs like Come Home and How Was It For You. They also re-recorded Sit Down, a single they had released on Rough Trade in 1989.
The original version of Sit Down clocked in at over 8 minutes. The lyrics, beat and structure are all there. The extended piano break/instrumental is gorgeous and goes all dreamy, then a little weird after the fade out and in at the end ... but it lacks bite, it misses the oomph of the re-recorded version.
Sit Down (8-minute original version)
By the time Fontana re-released the new version in 1991 ... everything had changed. Madchester had exploded and James were swept up in the whirlwind around it.
Sit Down reached #77 in the UK charts on it's original release, #2 in the Indie Charts. Upon re-release, it leapt up the UK charts and reached No. 2 on the actual charts, only kept off the top spot by Chesney Hawkes’ The One and Only. (A very ‘90s chart showdown if ever there was one.)
But chart positions only tell part of the story. Sit Down hit differently. At festivals, clubs, indie discos and sweaty student unions, the song became a kind of mass communion. People didn’t just sing along—they felt it. And often, they sat down on the dancefloor and swayed along to it.
Ecstasy was the drug of choice up and down the nation. People were coming up and opening up. Sit Down connected with people. James had somehow distilled something deeply human into a few verses and a chorus: vulnerability, empathy, connection. Love.
Those who feel the breath of sadness
Sit down next to me
Those who find they're touched by madness
Sit down next to me
The heady times of Madchester were captured on film by James when they played the city's cavernous G-Mex venue. I borrowed by friend Dave's VHS cassette and watched it on a loop in the summer of 1992 as I recovered from a broken leg. James performance of Sit Down was particularly mesmerising.
In time, I found that this incredible 9-minutes 21 -seconds version had been released as a single in March 91 and I gleefully bought the 12-inch after tracking it down. The live version was the a-side, with the Gil Norton produced new version and Tonight on the flip.
This is your show, this is our song is how a curly haired Tim Booth introduces the anthem to the blissed out crowd. Starting to the sound of air horns, the drum beat of Sit Down kicks in, followed by acoustic guitar and piano.
It's hard to carry on
When you feel all alone
James are off, powering along at pace, Larry Gott's electric guitar has a zip to it, Booth is smiling at a boy lost in the music in the front row. The band take it right down, Booth sits on the stage and some of the audience get down too - something that was repeated in clubs across the country, people stopped dancing to sit down together on the floor, to sway and sing-a-long. Then the audience take over, clapping to the beat, singing the mantra over and over.
From One Of The Three interview (link below);
Larry Gott: While we were away touring, Sit Down was getting played at the Hacienda and people were sitting down. And then the Hacienda did special bus journeys on Friday nights from the club to a Saturday evening gig at La Locomotive in Paris. Four coaches from the Hacienda went to see James.
Saul Davies: It did feel like Manchester had invaded Paris. A bunch of nutters with floppy trousers from Hulme were sitting down...
Larry Gott: It just took our breath. We didn't know what to do. The place was ram-packed - the heat in the air was causing a fog. And as they all sat on the floor, Tim walked through the audience, standing head and shoulders above them, looking almost Biblical in a cloud of sweat droplets in the air. What the fuck happened?
Tim Booth: It was overwhelming. For this to happen, on that song asking for some kind of unity was devastating.
A week later, we were playing Liverpool Royal Court Theatre and Larry's strings snapped in the middle of the song, so I signalled Dave to take the song right down. And then the audience started singing it to us for 10-minutes. Larry cried. I was crying.
The last 3-minutes of the 12-inch version feature no sound from the stage. The crowd become the band. Air horns are blasted, whistles are blown, the bands daisy logo is projected across the stage like a 60's happening, Booth looks on amazed at the ecstatic reaction to his bands anthem. There isn't a mobile phone in sight! Everyone is engaged, singing with all their might.
Oh sit down, oh sit down
Sit down next to me
Sit down, down, down, down, down
In sympathy
After a while Booth takes a film camera from one of people filming, determined to capture his view for prosperity. The place goes even more mental, the place is bouncing, manta still going, backed by cheers, whistles and air horns.
Fist raised in triumph, Booth then hands the camera back and begins to applaud the crowd. Booth and Jim Glennie then stare in disbelief at the sight and sounds they are witnessing. The mantra returns, eventually leading to wild applause before, finally it finishes.
Every second is captured on the 12-inch, it's utterly magical. Watch the video (that misses Tim's intro) below.
A couple of memories;
If I hadn’t seen such riches, I could live with being poor
That line alone speaks volumes: about perspective, longing, and the burden of knowing what could be. It’s simple, but it cuts deep. I still have a t-shirt that I bought after Manchester United won the treble in 1999. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is celebrating with those lyrics. I refuse to throw it out. In fact, I might order another from T-shirts United.
I was in Barcelona for the final (blog here) and my favourite memory of Sit Down is the DJ playing it (at least once) after the game and everyone singing along, hugging strangers in complete tears.
Another time, in the 90's at the Barrowland, Tim and the band were pulling some of the audience up onstage to dance to the song. One of my best friends, Wigs, was pulled up by Jim Glennie and danced along. In the days before mobile phones, my friend Dave and I were lost in the moment with our jaws dropping, so no footage or image of this exists, sadly! But we'll always remember it.
Sit Down still feels very fresh, essential. In a time when loneliness, anxiety, and disconnection are part of daily life for many, its universal message of empathy hasn’t aged a day.
Check this fantastic interview with Tim Booth and Larry Gott about Sit Down for One Of The Three.
Sit Down (live at G-Mex) is added to my Trust Me playlist; search for Everything Flows - Trust Me on Spotify or CLICK HERE. Check below for all previous blogs in my Trust Me series.
