The band showed a diversity of musical styles. Singles "Speak Like a Child" (with its loud soul-influenced style), the extended funk of "Money-Go-Round", and the haunting synth-ballad "Long Hot Summer" all featured Talbot on keyboards and organ. Near the end of 1983, these songs were compiled on Introducing The Style Council, a mini-album initially released in Japan, the Netherlands, and the United States only. The Dutch version was heavily imported to the United Kingdom.
In 1984, the single "My Ever-Changing Moods", backed with the Hammond organ instrumental "Mick's Company", reached #29 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States. The song remains Weller's greatest success on the American charts (including his efforts in The Jam and as a solo artist), while the group reached the peak of its success in the United Kingdom with the 1985 album Our Favourite Shop.
To Weller's fans, the decision to split up The Jam at the height of their commercial success was met with considerable controversy[citation needed]. Weller deliberately distanced himself from The Jam's sound and style, with his use of new musical arrangements and instruments in a much slicker, more heavily produced style. In the place of the Bruce Foxton-Rick Buckler rhythm section were drum and bass parts done entirely on synthesisers.
Structurally, many of the band's early singles were not far removed from The Jam's latter-day soul-pop efforts such as "Town Called Malice" and "Beat Surrender", but they were often criticised as overproduced, despite Weller's impressive songwriting[citation needed]. Also, many observers saw even the early albums as indulgent and overly experimental; Trouser Press called Café Bleu "too schizophrenic to be a good album".
The Style Council took a more overtly political approach than The Jam in their lyrics, with tracks such as "Walls Come Tumbling Down", "The Lodgers", and "Come To Milton Keynes" being deliberate attacks on 'middle England' and Thatcherite principles prevalent in the Eighties. Weller was also instrumental in the formation of Red Wedge with Billy Bragg. However, he later said that this began to detract from the music: "We were involved with a lot of political things going on at that time. I think after a while that overshadowed the music a bit"
In 1986, the band released a live album, Home and Abroad, and, in 1987, the album The Cost of Loving was launched, followed later in the year by the upbeat non-album single "Wanted", which reached #20 in the United Kingdom. However, Confessions of a Pop Group, released a year later, sold poorly. This led to their record label Polydor rejecting their final album (Modernism: A New Decade), which was heavily influenced by the contemporary house scene. A greatest hits album, appropriately called The Singular Adventures of The Style Council, was released internationally in 1989; it included the non-album single "Promised Land", which had reached #27 in the United Kingdom earlier that year.
In 1989 members of The Style Council went under the name of King Truman to release a single on Acid Jazz titled "Like A Gun". This was unbeknown to Polydor and the single was pulled from the shops only 3 days prior to release. Acid Jazz founder Eddie Piller said "The pair offered to make a single for my new label, which I'd just started with Radio 1 DJ Gilles Peterson as a side project. Mick and Paul took pseudonyms Truman King and Elliott Arnold." [1]
The Style Council broke up in 1989. The cover of "Promised Land" (originally by Joe Smooth) was the only release which surfaced from the Modernism sessions at the time; however, the entire album was released in 1998, both independently and in a 5-CD box set, The Complete Adventures Of The Style Council. After the split, Weller embarked on a successful solo career (still featuring Steve White on drums, who had left The Style Council by the time Confessions of a Pop Group was released, having only played on a few of its tracks). Talbot and White released two albums as Talbot/White — United States of Mind (1995) and Off The Beaten Track (1996). More recently, Mick Talbot and Steve White have formed The Players with Damon Minchella and Aziz Ibrahim.
All of The Style Council's UK releases (including singles, 12" maxis, albums, compact discs and re-issues thereof) featured the work of graphic designer Simon Halfon, who often collaborated with Weller to hone his ideas into a graphic form. Weller and Halfon began working together at the end of The Jam's career, and continue to work together to this day on Weller's solo material.
Since 2007, the song "Walls Come Tumbling Down" has been used as the theme song for the German TV series Dr. Psycho – Die Bösen, die Bullen, meine Frau und ich.
A Woman's Song
The Style Council Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Momma's gonna buy you a nursery rhyme
And if that don't send you to sleep
Momma's gonna have to find the key
All of our worries are not our choice
Someone sees to that, I know not why
Things that we've worked for they started to sell
Hush, little baby, your time may come
When things as they are now will be undone
And you as the change if you last that long
You as the change if you last that long
Well, hush, oh my child, momma's only sad
They've damned nearly taken away all I have
And all I have in the world is you
Just you and the future that sees me through
So hush, little baby, your time may come
When things as they are now will be undone
And you as the change if you last that long
You as the change if you last that long
All I have in the world is you
It's you and the future that sees me through
The Style Council's "Woman's Song" is a lament sung by a mother to her child, struggling to come to terms with the world she is living in. The opening lines, "Hush, little baby, don't you cry, Mama's gonna buy you a nursery rhyme" suggest that the mother is trying to comfort and soothe her child. However, the subsequent lines, "And if that don't send you to sleep, Mama's gonna have to find the key" reveal an underlying anxiety about the future or perhaps inability to control events.
The second verse reveals that the mother is pessimistic about the state of the world. "All of our worries are not our choice, Someone sees to that, I know not why" suggests that the mother feels a lack of control or agency in her own life. She goes on to state that "Things that we've worked for - they started to sell, Now Heaven is for angels, and Earth is hell". These lines suggest a sense of disillusionment with society and a lack of hope for a better future.
The final verse and the repeating phrase "Hush, oh my child, mama's only sad, They've damned nearly taken away all I have" reveals that the mother's sadness comes from a feeling of powerlessness in the face of the harsh realities of the world. The final lines, "And all I have in the world is you, Just you, and the future's that see me through" suggest that her child is both her reason for hope and her only source of happiness.
Line by Line Meaning
Hush, little baby, don't you cry
Be quiet, dear child, no need to lament
Mama's gonna buy you a nursery rhyme
I'll get you something sweet to ease your mind
And if that don't send you to sleep
If that isn't enough to put you to rest
Mama's gonna have to find the key
I'll keep looking for a solution to help you sleep
All of our worries are not our choice
The troubles we face are not always our own doing
Someone sees to that, I know not why
There are mysterious forces at work beyond our understanding
Things that we've worked for - they started to sell
The things we've gained through hard work are now being commodified
Now Heaven is for angels and Earth is hell
The state of things is miserable, with good only accessible in the afterlife
Hush, little baby, your time may come
You will have your chance to make a difference someday
When things as they are now will be undone
A time will come when the status quo will be overturned
And you as the change if you last that long
You can be the force for change, if you survive long enough
Hush, oh my child, mama's only sad
Be quiet, my dear, I'm only feeling down
They've damned nearly taken away all I have
Nearly everything I've valued has been taken from me
And all I have in the world is you
You are the only thing that truly matters to me in this world
Just you and the future's that sees me through
You and the hope of a better future are what keep me going
All I have in the world is you
You are truly all I have left in this world
It's you and the future's that sees me through
You and the hope of a better tomorrow are what I hold onto to keep moving forward
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Jeff Phillip
Wow... I have not heard this song for so long... how did time separate me from such beauty. DCLee has the most beautiful tone and emotion, she also happens to be damn good looking woman too... my sisters best friend was Dee’s doppelgänger.
Michael Franklin
Pure soul. I hear Minnie Ripperton and Dionne Warwick on either side of her. This pulls you back into the'60s like the undertow of a huge ship sinking.
Orlando Rafael dos Santos
"Hush little baby don't you cry / Momma's gonna buy you a nursery rhyme / And if that don't send you to sleep / Momma's gonna have to find the key".... Dad´s lyrics reveals that "Momma´s gonna have to find the key". Not both will find the key... but the weight goes to motherhood. A great song from a great musician, a great composer and singer. Paul and Dee C. made great stuff together. Sad to know you decided to apart while the kids were growing... and to our children is always good to know that mom and dad love each other as they love the kids... But, yes, "Momma´s gonna have to find the key". With love and respect for everything you are and all the good music both always have been done, Paul Weller and Dee C. Lee!
Nadia Riva
Quelle douceur dans votre voix DC Lee 🌷💫💐🥀
gilmaca
Beautiful and timeless.
Chris Louca
Beautiful song
milan mernjik
DCLEE divno peva
Ristorante La Meridiana
I always remember this song by D. C. Lee
luigi tesi
Bellissimo brano,mi fa commuovere!