Fanfare for the Conscious Man

Album: Common Dreads (2009)
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Songfacts®:

  • Singer Rou Reynolds told Kerrang! May 2, 2009 that "this song has my favourite line, 'Our gracious Queen should grasp her crown and take a good f--king swing at Blair and Brown!'." He added: "Lyrically, it was our last chance to have a massive outpouring of frustration."
  • Reynolds plays the trumpet on this track and his brother the trombone. The vocalist explained to Kerrang!: "We wanted to have an outro with a massive brass section with gang vocals." He added "The trumpet was the first instrument I ever learned. I started when I was eight years old. I stopped because it wasn't cool and I didn't want cheeks like Dizzy Gillespie. I picked it up again last year."
  • The song title is a play on words of American composer Aaron Copland's 1942 classical piece "Fanfare For The Common Man." In 1977 a rocked-up version became a hit single for the British rock trio Emerson, Lake & Palmer.

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