Oliver! Reviewing The Situation
John Wheeler •The hit musical Oliver! is back again in London’s West End. John Wheeler takes a look at the musical’s writer – working class, gay, Jewish, former communist Lionel Bart – and illustrates why Oliver! continues to resonate with audiences.
I wondered why so little attention was paid to the writer of the most successful musical in British history, Oliver!, which then became a hugely successful film. I wanted to explore further.
My first surprise was when I found out that Lionel Bart was a former Communist Party member. My second was that he couldn’t play an instrument or really sing, but used the ‘you hum it and I’ll play it’ songwriting methodology. My third was finding his lyric, ‘They’re buying guitars. Plinkety Plunk. Backing themselves with three chords only’ from Fings Ain’t What They Used To Be. Punk rock foretold from 1959? It all convinced me that there was more to Lionel Bart than I had previously imagined.
Born Lionel Begleiter, one of seven brothers and sisters who lived, he grew up in a Jewish family who had escaped persecution in Galicia, in the former Austro-Hungarian Empire. Growing up in the East End of London, he knew all about poverty and the Cockney lives reflected in much of his material, including the stack of hits he wrote for Brit Rocker Tommy Steele, as well as the song lyrics which made him famous.
His Dad was a tailor who had to do his work in a garden shed, and his family upbringing was materially poor but culturally rich. Lionel, like many other working class boys made good, couldn’t resist the drugs and alcohol that came with success. However, he continued to be generous, dedicated to his art and interested in street issues he had encountered in his childhood. His musicals included topics as diverse as a left wing take on Cinderella, poverty in Victorian times, Robin Hood, sex workers and the effect of the Blitz on working people in London.
He was a member of the Communist Party after the war, working with the Unity Theatre, which evolved from the Workers’ Theatre Movement. Lionel later reflected, ‘Things left wing were interesting to me. I was interested in theatre as well, and I thought I’d better get serious.’
He should be remembered also for his influence on the Kinks (who even borrowed some of his lyrics), the Beatles, who had their Rubber Soul post release party at his house, the Who, who wrote Tommy after hanging out with Lionel, and the Small Faces, whose singer Steve Marriott started his show business life on Bart’s masterpiece musical ‘Oliver!’.
He was influenced by Jewish traditional music but also by the lyrics of his friend Noel Coward, and more profoundly by the language of the streets. He also has a co-writing credit with another working class Jewish boy, Mick Jones, in his Big Audio Dynamite days after he was ejected from the Clash.
Conveying music in writing is not an easy thing to do, but luckily, Lionel’s music is nowadays on streaming platforms, and YouTube has a few Lionel Bart interviews, which should be seen. As Neil Tennant of the Pet Shop Boys has pointed out, Lionel’s work was organic and popular. The aim was to create art, and the financial rewards were incidental. And as a man who presented a vision of real life from the ‘lower’ class he should be treasured and better remembered.
Oliver! Song by Song
Food Glorious Food
Peas pudding and saveloys
What next is the question?
Rich gentlemen have it boys
…Indigestion!
In Oliver!, Lionel Bart wasn’t just imagining Dickensian poverty, but reflecting his own background, growing up in a large family in post war London. It is hardly surprising that he dived so completely into the fruits of his success. Figuratively speaking, he got his own share of indigestion.
Consider Yourself
Nobody tries to be lah-di-dah or uppity
There’s a cup of tea for all
When real success hit Lionel, with the Oliver! musical, money fell like rain. His London mansion was known as the Fun Palace – a go-to place for the rock stars of the sixties, and many others as well. As the Guardian obituary described, he kept a bowl in his living room, stuffed with a thousand quid in notes, which anybody could take, no questions asked.
Who Will Buy?
Who will buy
This wonderful feeling
I’m so high
I swear I could fly
Thinly veiled? Lionel was enjoying drugs with the rock elite, but his biggest weakness was alcohol addiction, which signaled a downturn in his career and a period of depression. Luckily, he managed to give up his drinking later in his life, which helped him participate in more theatre productions.
As Long As He Needs Me
The way I feel inside
The love I have to hide?
The hell I’ve got my pride
As long as he needs me
Some might find Lionel’s musical about the Blitz to be a slightly odd choice of subject. But as a gay, Jewish, Communist teenager at the end of World War Two it cannot have been hard for him to be a staunch anti-Nazi. Though for the theatre and pop worlds his sexuality was no secret, management thought it best to promote him as having relationships with women.
I’d do anything
Would you rob a shop? – Anything!
Would you risk ‘the drop’ – Anything!
Tho’ your eyes go ‘pop’ – Anything!
When you come down ‘plop” – Hang everything!
Fagin, the adult gang leader of the street urchin robbers, guarantees their loyalty to the cause. I’ll Do Anything starts as a love song and turns into something more sinister, but also funny, within the context of the show – not typical musical themes in that era. The kids are robbing to escape poverty – for them it is a game as well as survival. For Fagin – portrayed with the antisemitism of Dickens’ novel greatly reduced – it’s an essential livelihood.
Pick a pocket or two
Robin Hood, what a crook
Gave away what he took
Charity’s fine – subscribe to mine
The last line is a killer. Lionel would have known all about the era before the welfare state where charity was seen as the main solution to endemic inequality, for those few that cared. His left-wing leanings told him that was not true, and the last hilarious line, gets that message fully over in Oliver!.
Reviewing The Situation
So a job I’m getting, possibly?
I wonder who the boss’ll be?
I wonder if he’ll take to me?
What bonuses he’ll make to me?
I’ll start at eight and finish late
At normal rate, and all, but wait!?
I think I’d better think it out again
Poor people are often faced with workaday hell. For some of them the answer appears to be crime, if they cannot escape inequality with music, dancing, sport or some other route.
Where Is Love? (And why you should love Lionel Bart)
Where is love?
Does it fall from skies above?
Is it underneath the willow tree
That I’ve been dreaming of?
I remember watching the Oliver! movie for the first time one Christmas when I was a small child. It was snowing outside and felt magical. Oliver!’s songs were even more magical to me. As someone who lived in a relatively rundown council estate, I am guessing that some of the themes resonated with me then. The tunes were uplifting despite the edgy themes and characters. A similarity with the Jam, the Clash, Prince Buster and Dr Alamantado that I got into later.
The poetry of the lyrics is great and working class. I hope the lyrics above will point you in the right directions. The songs are easy to find and he has plenty of other good ones. Best of all, it is not fake, it really is Jewish influenced, socialist influenced art, inspired from the streets, made by someone who was the real deal.
He started as a communist and retained his strong awareness of leftwing issues. His legacy should remain.
Lionel Bart documentaries/interview
1 comment
Informative article. I knew some bare bones about Bart and Oliver! and this missive has really inspired me to blast out some tunes on my Bluetooth. Good job JW!