British musician Labi Siffre has issued a cease and desist order to British far-right activist Tommy Robinson blocking him from using the iconic song Something Inside (So Strong) at his political rallies.
In a rare interview with The Guardian Siffre has shared his alarm that his song was being used at anti-immigration protests, calling it “absurd” that they’d choose to play his song at their events.
“Anybody who knows me and knows my work since 1970 will know the joke of them using the work of a positive atheist, homosexual black artist as apparently representative of their movement,” he said.
Siffre has shared that Robinson’s followers often reach out to thank the singer for his support, not realising the use of the song is unauthorised, and Siffre’s political beliefs couldn’t be further from those of Robinson.
Siffre, who is now 80 years old, released a string of popular albums in the 1970’s before taking a break from music, he’s returned periodically to share more music, but his work is best known from when other artists cover or sample his tunes.
Among his well-known songs are It Must Be Love, which was a hit for Madness, while his 1975 song I Got The forms the basis of Eminem’s My Name Is.
Fatboy Slim has also sampled the artist, and Siffre’s 1972 tune Crying Laughing Loving recently featured in the film The Holdovers.
In 1987 Siffre returned to the music world with (Something Inside) So Strong, a song that reflected on apartheid in South Africa. It became a subtle anthem for inequality and injustice. He’s shared he began writing the song in 1984 after watching a documentary about white soldiers shooting black people indiscriminately in the streets in South Africa.
“One evening, late, I found myself in my studio sat down at the keyboard. I played a C chord, put my head back, and immediately, without thinking, I sang the first two lines of the song. It just came out. I had a tear in my eye and realised that I was writing about my life as a homosexual child, a homosexual youth, a homosexual man, and the battle that that entailed.” Siffre told The Guardian.
After finishing the song he realised the song was for anyone who had a battle to fight, and it had a wider resonance.
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