Charity and Money-burning
On 5 September 1995, as the K Foundation, Drummond and Cauty presented the first British screening of Watch the K Foundation Burn a Million Quid. Fielding questions from an audience oblivious to the duo's recent studio endeavours, they were asked whether they would make any more music, to which Drummond scoffed, "What do you expect us to do, go and make a jungle record?", and Cauty: "Yeah, like a jungle novelty record with some strings on it or something. It would just be sad wouldn't it? We're too old." When interviewed after the event by BBC Radio 1's Steve Lamacq, "The Magnificent" was aired, and the K Foundation revealed that they were going to screen Watch the K Foundation Burn a Million Quid in Belgrade's Republic Square the following week, motivated, according to Drummond, "to ask if its a crime against humanity".
The film was shown as planned, powered by a hot dog kiosk and projected on to "a pair of double-sized white bed sheets" held up with drawing pins, in the absence of a suitable screen. An audience member told the duo:
| “ | In Yugoslavia nobody ever dreamt of wealth because it was not an option. There were no football pools, no national lottery, no rags-to-riches tales fuelling dreams of endless wealth. There was no need to dream of wealth, then—everybody had the same and the state took care of your needs. | ” |
According to Drummond, members of the audience applauded when Cauty obligingly burned a banknote of hyper-inflated Serbian currency.
During their stay in Belgrade the duo were guests for the duration of Fleka's three-hour late-night B92 show. Fleka aired "K Sera Sera", in comparison to which, Drummond felt, " sounded pathetic. We had let the children down". Nevertheless, the One World Orchestra song was donated to B92 for use as a jingle.
At a subsequent screening of Watch the K Foundation Burn a Million Quid for Bradford anarchists, Drummond and Cauty were challenged to reconcile their contribution to a charity record with their burning of a million pounds. Cauty's response was that "The Magnificent" "was a mistake; we should never have done that." Drummond agreed, elaborating:
| “ | e'd been told that The Help Album was trying to raise a million quid. e were attracted to the idea that on one side we were doing this track for the kids, to raise a million, while we were actually on the 'other side' showing the film of us actually burning a million and asking if it were a crime against humanity. For some twisted reason we felt that was good. … e phoned up and asked if he'd got anything he'd like to say to the world via a charity record for kids in Bosnia. … Nothing justifies the track—it was a pile of shit but it did serve as a reminder why we should never go back in the studio again—'cos we knew we were past it…. | ” |
Irrespective of the duo's regrets, "The Magnificent" was, by 1996, not just a jingle of B92 but the station's signature tune. From this use, the song ultimately became recognised as a protest anthem of Serbia's discontented anti-Milošević resistance. Recalling events in his book 45, Drummond mused that "a track we recorded in a day, never released as a single, thought was crap and had forgotten about has taken on a meaning, an importance in a 'far off land' for a struggle I hardly understand."
Read more about this topic: The Magnificent (song)
Famous quotes containing the words charity and and/or charity:
“Charity and justice are worth a thousand ounces of gold.”
—Chinese proverb.
“Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth. And if any man think that he knoweth any thing, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know.”
—Bible: New Testament 1 Corinthians 8:1-2.