An annotated guide to Chumbawamba's single

"Behave" is one of many anti-homophobia songs by Chumbawamba, the anarcho-pop group of one-hit-wonder fame.

The song is an artistic response to then-current events (this version of the song was released in 1992) and required a little bit of explanation even when it was first released -- which is probably why they stuck a whole essay on the back of the CD single. Unfortunately, unless you have a copy of the CD in front of you, you can't read it, and the origins of the song become a little more obscure.

As I own the CD single version of this song, and because Chumbawamba are dear to my heart, I've taken it upon myself to give an explanation of what they meant.

On these pages, I've reproduced the text on the back of the CD single (Article), and annotated the lyrics for side A and (soon) side B of the CD single (Lyrics).

I don't claim to have a definitive explanation of the lyrics or the context that inspired them, and I welcome any corrections or new contributions. The "About" page credits my sources and inspirations, and logs any major updates to the pages.