The song promoting the TUC day of action is a cracking tune – and there's not a simpering celeb in sight
Opening with a shot of a cup of tea, the video for the Workers' single sets its cuddly stall out early. Let's Work Together features a smiling, avuncular chap listening to the song (a cover of the Canned Heat/Bryan Ferry hit) as he bounces gleefully to work, exchanging pleasantries with various public service workers as he goes.
Such unrelenting jollity does seem a little odd given that it's promoting the TUC day of action on 30 November, a day on which you suspect not everyone will be dancing in the streets in between helping old ladies across them.
Its just-short-of-incendiary message seems to be "let's be nice to each other", which makes it unique within the anti-cuts canon. Previous musical attempts to promote the cause have relied instead on pointed anger. Billy Bragg has also questioned the TUC's avowed plan to make the song a chart hit, arguing that there are "cleverer ways" of using the internet to connect with young people, including viral videos.
Take Captain Ska's Christmas 2010 anti-cuts single, Liar Liar, which placed visuals of George Osborne and Nick Clegg over a reggae soundtrack. It may have charted at number 89 but the video has had 257,570 YouTube viewings. Since March, MC Nxtgen & Rob Gee have clocked up half a million hits for their video of Andrew Lansley Rap, featuring an NHS-themed rant that labels the health secretary a "grey-haired manky codger". By contrast, at the time of writing, the Workers have got only 1,613 YouTube viewings, and the video suggests "buy the download", rather than share the clip.
It's early days, mind, and the song has got one thing in its favour – it's a cracking tune, well sung by a crowd of workers rather than simpering celebs. And not a talent-show finalist in sight.