Londoners filmed enjoying impromptu Underground singalong
A spontaneous -- and intensely un-British -- London Underground chorus of 1988 Erasure hit "A Little Respect" has hit YouTube. Watch the video here.
Anyone who's travelled on the London Underground knows it's not the first place you'd associate with meaningful human interaction. But the emotional barriers that separate British commuters can be seen breaking down in this thoroughly charming video uploaded to YouTube today.
Titled "The strangest things happen on the London Underground", the above video hit Google's video-sharing site today, and sees one vocalist's opening lines of Erasure's "A Little Respect" blossoming into a rousing chorus featuring many of the travellers on the platform.
The unlikely sing-song, which took place at London's Kentish Town station, didn't come completely out of the blue -- Erasure played a gig at the nearby Forum music venue last night, so many of the folks seen waiting for their train will likely have been fans of the track, which hit number four in the UK singles chart in 1988.
The singer who gets the crowd going in the rapidly spreading clip is 47-year-old singer Neil Francis, The London Evening Standard reports. The vocalist told the paper, "I have had some absolutely amazing comments from people all over the world who I do not even know."
The heartwarming clip, which has all the makings of a viral sensation, was posted to a London-centric subsection of Reddit earlier today. "Well, what else are you going to do whilst you wait for a Northern Line train that's been delayed at either Camden Town or East Finchley?" one commenter wrote. "Countdown until we find out what this is an advert for," noted another.
Here's Erasure's original track, should you wish to compare London's efforts with those of the Eighties synth-pop duo: