Oliver: Bunny General - Played By This Ya Sound (16 February 1992)

I'm re-writing this post as I've just had my initial certainties shaken after listening to it again.  In pondering who the champion that was referred to throughout the track, I initially suspected that it might be linked to a figure like King Emmanuel - The Black Christ.  As a result, I wrote a few lines about how the track reflected a charming attempt to reconnect with the spiritual father and a return to the care and devotion of the Lord.  But, perhaps alerted by the whistled refrain from The Good, The Bad and The Ugly which runs throughout the track as well as talk of challenges to the King, murder, death and murky goings on at the border, it all points toward a landscape far more godless than I had first envisioned.  A world where sins of the father are taken forward by the sons, payments have to be made when they are demanded and where the only thing which matters is to be top dog or the champion.  Pretty depressing if it wasn't so damned catchy.

Video courtesy of Jarrett Mc.