Living in Hope

"Living in Hope"
	; US picture sleeve
A-side	Scrambled Eggs
Released	6 August 1965 (UK); 13 September 1965 (US)
Recorded	17 June 1965
Genre	Country rock, rockabilly
Label	Capatol
Songwriter(s)	Nasty-McQuickly
Producer(s)	Archie Macaw
Last single	Ouch! (1965) (US); Let It Rot (1970) (UK)
Next single	Gay Tripper (1965) (US); We've Arrived! (And to Prove It We're Here) (1976) (UK)

Living in Hope is a country song by The Rutles, written and sung by drummer Barry Wom. It is one of Barry's most recognizable songs, and would go down as a key moment in his life. The EP can be seen in the music video for "ENOUGH!," along with albums such as "Barry Cross The Mersey" and the general Rutles discography.

The song was performed live at Barry's wedding, in February 11, 1965. Later that day, he accidentally married the wrong girl and ended up seeing the right one in the arms of some Scotsmen from Hull--a memory that would later inspire his first solo album.

Background[]

Wom first played his song for the other Rutles soon after he joined the group in August 1962. During an interview, Wom commented on the songwriting process, saying: "I wrote Living in Hope when I was sitting round at home. I was fiddling with the piano – I just bang away – and then if a melody comes and some words, I just have to keep going. It was great to get my first song down, one that I had written. It was a very exciting time for me and everyone was really helpful, and recording that crazy violinist was a thrilling moment."

The earliest public mention of the track seems to have been in a BBC chatter session introducing "Between Us" on the radio show Top Gear in 1964. In the conversation, Wom was asked if he had written a song and Dirk McQuickly mocked him soon afterwards, singing the first line of the refrain, "I'm Living in Hope, Living in Hope, Living in Hope, Living in Hope".

The Rutles almost decided not to put this track on Ouch!, nearly releasing the album with another cover of Act Naturally, but agreed at the last minute to keep it.

Lyrics[]

I grew up in the country

Beside a chicken shack

So I left for the city

And I didn't look back

Now, I'm livin' in hope (livin' in hope)

Livin' in hope (livin' in hope)

Yes, I'm livin' in hope (livin' in hope)

Livin' in hope

Walkin' round the city

Feelin' all alone

Nobody told me

The streets are paved with stone

But, I'm livin' in hope (livin' in hope)

Yes, I‘m livin' in hope (livin' in hope)

I'm livin' in hope (livin' in hope)

I'm livin' in hope

Can't find my feet, or a friendly face

In this God-forsaken town

Nobody stops to lend a hand

Unless they wanna put you down

No

Releases and covers[]

Originally released on Ouch!
Re-released on The Rutles.
Live recordings of the song appeared on The Rutles at Che Stadium and Budokan Tokyo 1966.
Late poet Tuli Kupferberg recorded a cover of the song on the 1993 tribute album Rutles Highway Revisited.
Reworked by Barry on his 2017 album Give More Haircuts
The band Tonstartssbandht recorded a cover in 2018 for the album "A Decade Deeper" from Mexican Summer

External links[]

Information on this topic is possible thanks to Rutle historian Micheal Livesley, whose website can be found here: [1]

"Living in Hope"
US picture sleeve
A-side	Scrambled Eggs
Released	6 August 1965 (UK) 13 September 1965 (US)
Recorded	17 June 1965
Genre	Country rock, rockabilly
Label	Capatol
Songwriter(s)	Nasty-McQuickly
Producer(s)	Archie Macaw
Last single	Ouch! (1965) (US) Let It Rot (1970) (UK)
Next single	Gay Tripper (1965) (US) We've Arrived! (And to Prove It We're Here) (1976) (UK)