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Games People Play

[ Roud - ; Mudcat 386 ; Joe Stead]

Dick Gaughan sang Americal singer-songwriter Joe Stead’s 1968 song Games People Play in 1983 on his Folk Freak album A Different Kind of Love Song. This track was also included in 2002 on his Greentrax anthology Prentice Piece. He noted:

One of those popular songs to which everybody knows the chorus and nobody ever listens to the words. One night at the old Marsden folk club in South Shields, the legendary Jimmie Irvine, resident host, heckler and accomplished destroyer of pretension, talked to me about it and, having convinced me that it truly was a superb song with a lot to say, wrote out the words and told me to try singing it slowed down. So I did—nobody with any sense ever argued with Jimmie when he had his mind set on something!

Fara sang Games People Play on the 2015 Orkney Folk Festival album Fiddle Gathering. They recorded in in 2016 with a chorus of Fiona Black, Euan Burton, Rachel Lightbody, Siobhan Miller, Fergus Mutch and Mike Vass for their album Cross the Line. They noted:

This song became a firm favourite of ours as soon as we heard it. We’re delighted to be joined by some pals to create a proper ‘live’ feeling sound for the final choruses of this one!

This video shows Fara at the Hebridean Celtic Festival in Stornoway on 15 July 2016:

Ian Bruce and Marilyn Middleton Mellor sang Games People Play in 2023 on Bruce’s album of collaborations, Together Forever.

Lyrics

Dick Gaughan sings Games People Play

The games people play, now
Every night and every day, now
Never meaning what they say, now
Never saying what they mean
While they while away the hours
In their ivory towers
’Til they cover them with flowers
In the back of a black limousine

Chorus (after each verse):
Na na na, na na,
Na na na, na na,
Talking ’bout you and me
And the games people play.

We make one another cry
Break a heart then we say goodbye
Cross our hearts and hope to die
That the other was to blame
Neither one of us will give in
And don’t you know it is a sin
When you think of things that might have been
Well it’s a goddamned shame

People walking right up to ya
Singing Glory Hallelujah
And they try to sock it to ya
In the name of the Lord
They teach you how to meditate
Read your horoscope and see all your fate
And it’s almost to Hell with hate
Come on brother get on board

So look around you tell me what do you see
What’s happening to you and me
God gave us this serenity
But he said remember who I am
For you’ve thrown away your sanity
For your pride and your vanity
Turned your back on Humanity
And you don’t give a damn