The Housemartins: Sheep

Track of the Week - 3 April 2016

My work team were in Lambourn on Friday at the eco-conference centre part of the impressive Sheepdrove Organic Farm for what's known in the corporate world as an away day.

The morning was devoted to looking at what we'e going to do and how we're going to do it over the next couple of years, the afternoon to a team-building event.

If you work in a bigger business you may have done something in that line like building a raft out of planks and string and hope or suchlike. Fittingly for Sheepdrove Farm we were to be herding sheep with the good people at Raising the Baa.

Eight of us (no sheepdog!) attempting to get ten sheep into a pen. I won't say more in case I give it away other to say that it was fun and frustrating at different times (sometimes at the same time) during the exercise. If you're looking for something different to do it's well worth giving it a go.

The Housemartins were one of the best bands in the country for a couple of years in the eighties. Sheep was their second single, from the terrific 1986 album London 0 Hull 4. It only reached number 56 but the band's breakthrough hit (Happy Hour) wasn't far behind.

The band were relatively short-lived but their legacy lives on and some of the members went on to be hugely successful. If you can be bothered to watch the video (your call, I won't be sad if you don't) you will see a young Paul Heaton who went on to front The Beautiful South and a slim Norman Cook aka Fatboy Slim. We were all young once.

The chorus line from this song 'It's sheep we're up against'* was very apt on Friday afternoon!



*The sheep probably won on points.