It’s an obsolete 17th-century term pertaining to the common masses and so-called more vulgar or baser tastes within the uneducated and poor, but something that remains as relevant today in the pursuits of cultural or political popularism. The most prominent examples of this come in the form of phrases cooked up and delivered by Donald Trump (build that wall, drain the swamp), Boris Johnson (get Brexit done), or other right-wing leaders using soundbites chosen to stir up emotions rather than be of any practical policy.
Volgivagant is of course a derogatory term, but politicians seeking popular support pretend that the common mass voice should be heard, manipulating rather than supporting those they pretend to represent. Tabloid newspapers and websites are also examples of he volgivagant, focused entirely on getting the maximum sales and exposure by seeking to direct and reflect the apparent lowest common denominators in human nature. The reality is far more complex. The volgivagant is unpredictable, and no one is as stupid or as clever as they seem.
But where does the volgivagant appear in song and does that genre seek to portray it in a more positive light? Love of the Common People, written by John Hurley and Ronnie Wilkins, and first recored by The Four Preps in 1967, has been covered by many artists, from The Everly Brothers to John Denver to Waylon Jennings, Elton John to Bruce Springsteen, a soulful Wanda Jackson, and The Winstons, to a reggae one by Nicky Thomas, and was a big pop hit for Paul Young in the 1980s. It has even been tackled by Stiff Little Fingers and Star Trek’s Leonard Nimoy. The common people’s love is a thin veneer of positivity hiding the struggles of everyday life. Here’s that original version by The Four Preps:
Living on free food tickets
Watering the milk from the hole in the roof
Where the rain came through
What can we do?
Tears from your baby sister crying
'Cause she doesn't have a dress
Without a patch for the party to go
Ah, but you know she'll get by
Because she's living in the love of the common people
Smiles from the heart of a family man
Daddy's goin' to buy you a dream to cling to
Mommy's gonna love you just as much as she can …
The idea of the common people is more often portrayed as a positive thing, because of course, hailing from, or being liked by the broader populous is pop music success. Here’s Walk a Mile in My Shoes, written and released by Joe South in 1970, also covered variously by Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Harry Belafonte with Lena Horne, Bryan Ferry and Coldcut. Let’s hear a version by that most uncommon of common people, Jerry Lee Lewis:
If I could be you, if you could be me
For just one hour, if we could find a way
To get inside each other's mind
If you could see you through my eyes
Instead your own ego
I believe you'd be
I believe you'd be surprised to see
That you've been blind
Walk a mile in my shoes just walk a mile in my shoes
Before you abuse, criticise and accuse
Then walk a mile in my shoes
Now if we spend the day
Throwin' stones at one another
'Cause I don't think, 'cause I don't think
Or wear my hair the same way you do
Well, I may be common people
But I'm your brother
And when you strike out
You're tryin' to hurt me
It's hurtin' you, Lord how mercy.
In an entirely different style, Fanfare For the Common Man by the American composer Aaron Copland was written after a request by Eugene Goossens, conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, in response to the US entry into the Second World War, as a way to stir up national pride. It has also been associated with the space race, and was later recreated in a prog-funk version by Emerson Lake and Palmer:
The common people issue is addressed in a more complex, nuanced way in the collaborative song between David Byrne and St Vincent, I Should Watch TV, from their 2012 joint album, Love This Giant:
I used to think that I should watch TV
I used to think that it was good for me
Wanted to know what folks were thinking
To understand the land I live in And I would lose myself
And it would set me free
This is the place where common people go
A global franchise, one department store
Yes, there were many awkward moments
I had to do some self-atonement
Well, if I opened up
Well, it would set me free I know, I like
Behold and love this giant
Big soul, big lips
That's me and I am this
Everybody is a touched up hairdo
Everybody's in the passing lane
Had a reason that she touched all channels
The weird things that live in there
I took a walk down to the park today
I wrote a song called, 'Just Like You and Me'
I heard the jokes from the sports reporter
The rival teams when they faced each other
The more I lost myself, the more it set me free
How am I not your brother? How are you not like me?
Everybody's in the hotel lobby
I'm living in here, yes,
I am I feel it moving in my arms and fingers
Touch me and feel happy
It's good to lose and it's good to win sometimes
It's good to die and it's good be alive
Maybe someday we can stand together
Not afraid of what our eyes might see
Maybe someday understand them better
The weird things inside of me
But of course, the best known example of addressing and ironically inverting the common people idea comes in Pulp’s Common People, in which Jarvis Cocker recounts a perhaps semi-fictional encounter with a rich student at his old art college who has an interest in working-class types like himself:
She came from Greece she had a thirst for knowledge
She studied sculpture at Saint Martin's College
That's where I
Caught her eye
She told me that her Dad was loaded
I said "In that case I'll have a rum and Coca-Cola"
She said "Fine"
And then in thirty seconds time she said
I wanna live like common people
I wanna do whatever common people do
Wanna sleep with common people
I wanna sleep with common people
Like you
What else could I do
I said "I'll see what I can do"
I took her to a supermarket
I don't know why
But I had to start it somewhere
So it started there
I said, "pretend you've got no money"
She just laughed and said
"Oh you're so funny"
I said "Yeah?
Well I can't see anyone else smiling in here?
Are you sure?"
So then, the volgivagant to come in many forms, uses and interpretations. Feel free to share any further examples in songs, instrumentals, on albums, film, art or other contexts in comments below.
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