The Communards - Don't Leave Me This Way | The Story Behind The Song | Top 2000 a gogo

Keyboardist Richard Coles started in the eighties the band The Communards together with singer Jimmy Somerville. Nowadays Coles has a whole new career: he became a priest!
A short documentary by Top 2000 a gogo from 2021 (Dutch Public Television).

[@Top2000agogo]

Something clearly went wrong here, this is not the video about Vanessa Carltons song. A thousand ̶m̶i̶l̶e̶s̶ apologies!

[@ludochem]

This is a thousand miles from Vanessa Carlton.

[@ernestfrost7015]

Maybe so, buy I enjoyed it!

[@Zetep]

Richard Coles being his genuine self makes this the best clip in the series for me.

[@troyberber2324]

What a story. I truly love both versions of this legendary person.

[@dan_gabriel]

So much good memories about this music! 80's were great!!! The coolest priest ever!!!

[@Oooo-bi7bi]

The first song I learnt all the words. Remember reading them off the back of the single sleeve. The 12 year old me and my 14 year old sister. Would play it loud and sing at the top of our voices. Still makes me feel as happy today.

[@simonnash9563]

As always, great stories. Love the bit about bringing down Thatch with 70s pop covers “Ambitious” 😀 Reminds me when I was at Uni in Edinburgh in the 80s and there was graffiti in the bogs in the library which has stuck with me: “Anarchist student today Tory accountant tomorrow”

[@raginranga3494]

🤣😂🤣😂👏

[@TheOBOM]

Wauw man, deze gast SPOORT. Heeft alles meegemaakt en gedaan wat wel en niet kon, heeft een soort van inzicht gehad en heeft toen zijn eigen, eerlijke keuze gemaakt ... dat is echt heel mooi en puur. Top gozert, wat mij betreft, en leuke muziekskes hebben ze ook gemaakt; soort van 'guilty pleasure' voor mij als ouwe Hippie-Punk, opgegroeid in de jaren '70 en '80.

[@damiennota5446]

What a lovely human being

[@JustRob_NL]

I love the sound of this band and special Jimmy Sommerville, good memories, and still these days i going mad on this music 😄😄😄

[@LFOVCF]

Man, I would give £100 to his church to watch him play that in front of me. This song was everything to me back then, even down to a pretty good Jimmy dance. Thank you both for brilliant music, and the score to my club life.

[@storm1968eu]

i know and have learned to respect Richard Coles from his appearances on BBC's Qi and Hignfy, but i never figured him as half of the Communards or him being gay. i respect him even more now.

[@hawsrulebegin7768]

His humour always makes me smile.

[@peterbustin2683]

What a sweet man!

[@AC-ih7jc]

I may be a straight little old Italian-American lady, but I've always friggin' *LOVED* Bronski Beat and the Communards!!! 💖 🎶 💖

[@diskopoko]

Nothing wrong with straight little old Italian-American ladies. We’re all God’s children after all. ❤

[@juliaconnell]

I came here, as notified, for the Communards story behind their still awesome song 'Don't Leave Me This Way' - pleased I did as usual - seems to be a bit of confusion in the title/description - Vanessa Carlton tells the story of her enormous breakthrough hit 'A thousand miles'.???

[@NeweyAdrian1]

They made stories about both so probably a mistake by the intern😛 Vanessas one will be probably uploaded soon cuz ive seen it

[@Top2000agogo]

yeah, our mistake we fixed it. Vanessa will come later!

[@Axess-sv8nq]

Whoopsie! Better re-title this!

[@eraldopalmero7140]

A true 80's pop classic !!! I love this music until today

[@soin74]

This is amazing, this series is the best thing that has happened to me since the first 3 minutes of the first lockdown, thanks guys!xx

[@DavidBennettPiano]

I never realised Vanessa Carlton was a gay, British vicar. 😅 Super interesting video regardless but perhaps correct the title and description!

[@Top2000agogo]

Something went wrong there, sorry! Carltons video will be uploaded next Thursday.

[@procta2343]

i wonder if him and Jimmy would come back again for a one off, if there was an 80s thing at Glastonbury, i recon people of the 80s era would love it.

[@theRandy712]

Vanessa Carlton's history is so much different than I expected

[@Top2000agogo]

Something went wrong there, sorry! Carltons video will be uploaded next Thursday.

[@stefanhaling2606]

zeer mooi verhaal van een top groep , allebei

[@tedkay_music]

amazing!

[@a120068020]

Wonderful story from a wonderful man.

[@thomashusted]

Beautiful story going full circle as we all will when we pass on “earth to earth ashes to ashes”.

[@cd78]

Amazing

[@robwembley]

Fascinating pop history lesson !

[@robjohnson1189]

Saw Richard on tour at the Lyric, grest story teller

[@geraldthesaint5457]

Richards coles for sure was one o the greatest musicians in Britain and the world. He’s way much more of the sounds of communards 🙌

[@scottakanumba1heathen379]

Richard Coles - long time, no see!

[@franciscoquero459]

muchas gracias don richard coles por tantas grandes canciones

[@gcooper642]

Vanessa Carlton was in the Communards? I never knew that 🙃

[@tobelikenobodyelse]

Lol 😂 top secret fun fact of the music industry 🤫 🎶🎵

[@Burps___]

Next up: Rick Astley's first group, The Smiths. lol

[@raginranga3494]

Rick rolled in a great way

[@citroen-fan]

A very interesting video about a musician from the 1980s. I never thought that a gay member of the Band "The Communards" would become a priest. He has found his way and seems happy with it and that is the most important thing!

[@allanjcarpenter]

Puts an smile on my Anglican face, but I really didn’t learn much about Vanessa Carlton.

[@Jeff_P-1988]

Wrong title. Edit: It's fixed now.

[@laurensparanormalreviewsan860]

i love richard

[@thankyouforyourcompliance7386]

Great Interview like the one with Jimmy. Both seem to be very nice and intelligent persons. I grew up in the 80th and liked their music a lot. Shaped my perception to gay people.

[@troyberber2324]

Cheers if you ended up here somehow and just found out about this, like me.

[@thequintanashow5058]

Interesting but I really wanted to heard about the song in the title … spoiler alert: barely touches on it

[@davidmcdonald6530]

I am interested in the Vanessa Carlton video. Will that be made available?

[@kerryn6714]

I thought it was The Proclaimers who sang "A Thousands Miles". Have I got that song mixed up with another one? 😁

[@73Goodfellow]

@@kerryn6714 That’s 500 Miles

[@kerryn6714]

@@73Goodfellow That's it! I thought I got it mixed up with another song. Thanks for setting me straight ✌😁👍

[@vlantrot1163]

But they would walk 2x 500 miles, so technically you are correct

[@73Goodfellow]

@@vlantrot1163 That’s true. “1000 Miles” would have worked for that song too.

[@gertjanvandermeij4265]

I really liked this, but it was really TOO SHORT ! I think there was so much more to tell !

[@jacquelineboeuf8842]

👍♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️

[@Dirk-van-den-Berg]

In retrospect you can hear Jimmy Somerville was an excellent singer with high-pitch. Like his voice never matured (as usually happens) from childhood. We in Netherlands didn't know about the gay-thing, we were too young for that.

[@I.Toverheks]

I think that is your personal reference. Perhaps it was just you who were to young to understand. I knew. (born in 1972, teen in the 80's in the Netherlands) Thought it was kinda cool that Bronski beat was the first openly gay band at the time. (or so it seemed) By the time they started the communards it really wasnt a secret.

[@Dirk-van-den-Berg]

@@I.Toverheks Nee, dat was het niet. Het speelde gewoon helemaal geen rol toen ik opgroeide, ik ben van 1968. Althans niet in mijn persoonlijke omgeving.

[@I.Toverheks]

@@Dirk-van-den-Berg Misschien ligt het aan de omgeving dan, bij mij op school (randstad, boven rook Amsterdam) was het een stukje kennisgeving. Feitje stond denk ik ook in de pop-agenda.. en zeker in hitkrant. Was ook niet iets waar we heel lang over nadachten. Was gewoon een cool feitje. (al waren er natuurlijk ook altijd wel mensen die t niet konden handelen en er k*t opmerkingen over maakten) Het hielp misschien ook dat ik gay vrienden had... Voor hen was het fijn dat er meer mensen kwamen met wie ze zich konden identificeren.

[@oscargr_]

I haven't the slightest why you say that.. His voice was great on the first album, and it was very clear from the title of their first album ("the age of consent") what the band stood for.

[@kiereluurs1243]

Who the hell is Vanessa Carlton?

[@peterschreuder2600]

Amazing story!! Always hated these covers tho😅

[@shed770]

My youth What great songs Keep safe Richard

[@AalbertTorsius]

This was originally posted with the correct title, it seems. What went wrong?

[@chrisbardell]

That Vanessa Carlton has let herself go, etc. Richard Coles is a wonderful fella, however.

[@RealityVonTrapp]

Wasn't really about the song Don't leave me this way. If anything we hear Never can say goodbye more! But apart from that it was about a call to religion.

[@MrDaddynomates]

I saw you guys live at Glastonbury. It was 1986 or 87 maybe. Jimmy lost his voice 😂 it was still a great gig tho

[@chdimas]

Yezsssss

[@TheTwan85]

Vanessa is er wel op achteruit gegaan de afgelopen 20 jaar

[@davewatkin]

Is there another video somewhere about Vanessa Carlton?

[@NeweyAdrian1]

It will come, keep watching the channel

[@AssortedBits]

Jullie hebben een video over de Communards geupload met een Vanessa Carlton titel en beschijving.

[@Top2000agogo]

Sorry, daar ging inderdaad iets fout. De video over Vanessa Carlton komt komende donderdag online.

[@AssortedBits]

@@Top2000agogo Kan gebeuren! Succes en bedankt! :-D

[@wich1]

I was wondering what reverend Coles had to do with A Thousand Miles….

[@kissesbloody]

Why did Jimmy leave Bronski Beat?

[@oscargr_]

This interview is too short.

[@therookiesplaybook]

Vanessa Carlton?

[@proclaimed75]

Why the title says this is the story of Vanessa Carlton's A Thousant Miles while it's actually the story behind The Communards????????

[@TheStraatjutter]

It only says that on English YT

[@reknakfarg7252]

@@TheStraatjutter Is er nederlandse youtube?

[@TheStraatjutter]

@@reknakfarg7252 er zijn videos die een andere titel hebben als je vanuit Nederland/belgië of met een account wat daaraan gekoppeld is kijkt ja. Er zijn ook video's die wij niet kunnen kijken vanwege gedoe met auteursrechten.

[@Top2000agogo]

Sorry about that!

[@troyberber2324]

Box…checked.

[@MithunOnTheNet]

@Top 2000 a gogo - You have the wrong title for the video!

[@Top2000agogo]

yep, we fixed it. Vanessa will come next week!

[@klaasvanmanen8214]

The title suggests that we are going to see a video on Vanessa Carlton. In fact it is about something related to the Communards. I guess a lot of people will be disappointed. At least I was. Can the administrator of this channel either change the title or change the video?

[@Top2000agogo]

Something went wrong there, sorry! Carltons video will be uploaded next Thursday.

[@cuzzindave]

I didn't even hear Vanessa's name once! 😂

[@misophoniq]

Today I learned that the Communards' drummer was a woman. Not the subject of this video, but informative nonetheless.

[@Shelsight]

Their whole backing band was female. All professional musicians who played for a few other bands in the 80s... :)

[@procta2343]

@@Shelsight i only thought there were the two of them, but then again i don't know much about the band other than they had some up lifting tracks at the time. My mam really enjoys their songs.

[@dubmoyet]

Can’t see where, in this video, he told the story of Don’t Leave Me This Way. Nonsense. 🥴

[@procta2343]

might have been him going into the church side of things why they spilt up? Basically walking away from the pop music etc. Hence the song don't leave me this way. I maybe wrong though.

[@philia12]

'Ik besefte me'.....kom op, mensen.

[@sandoumir4348]

Ik ben aangereden. Nog zoiets.

[@emilegeorge6225]

Starring Jerry Seinfeld as the vicker

[@maxmery_drums]

Where's Vanessa Carlton?.

[@Top2000agogo]

Her video will be uploaded next Thursday

[@bluejay313]

TIL Vanessa Carlton was in the Communards 🤔

[@thefirstdutchguy]

wow, Vanessa Carlton!😂

[@jimmydroid7838]

I clicked for Vanessa Carlton. Is this click bait?

[@Top2000agogo]

Something went wrong there, sorry! Carltons video will be uploaded next Thursday.

[@Evertb1]

Strange. He does not look like Vanessa Carlton at all.

[@LETTYONLY1]

Like Brian Cox Ends up back in the limelight again 🙄

[@kiereluurs1243]

Oh man... What are you doing there? Wise guy, except...

[@vaguevagabond]

LOL

[@nederlanditism1154]

Rather at the end, that juxtaposition isn't correct. It's not sex, drugs, rock'n'roll as the opposite to a clergy life; it's only openly vs. clandestine. That is still in the papers every once in a while.

[@rabbitcaroline666]

It still is hostile.

[@mijnnaamisaaron]

A gay priest walks into a bar

[@snowstrobe]

I'd aways wondered how he had slipped into delusion.

[@wannabeactuary01]

Only dislike for the title!

[@TheStraatjutter]

It's fixed

[@wannabeactuary01]

@@TheStraatjutter Dislike from me gone! And still not updated

[@Top2000agogo]

Sorry about that!

[@wannabeactuary01]

@@Top2000agogo "Enfin" !

[@charlesstepp2083]

Euphemisms. Sodomy is factual. Pride! 😅

[@kelzuya]

How is a gay dude a catholic priest?

[@oscargr_]

He isn't.

[@The.Last.Guitar.Hero.]

Richard Coles gives me the creeps

[@pit6055]

Why is that?,

[@sandoumir4348]

@@pit6055 probably because of how insecure he is about himself and will look for any misguided excuse to feel better than others. Usually.

[@johntate5050]

I knew peanut head was a bummer but I didn't know they were all bummers.

[@emoedison]

Dutch interviewer seems not to understand that Anglican priests aren't required to be celibate.

[@sandoumir4348]

Apart from uttering the phrase 'the world of sex, drugs and Rock 'n Roll' he does not say anything about not being celibate. If you think he does, specifically point to when he did.

[@mavirek]

What a horrible person.

[@qualaup]

Sorry, i can’t take this guy serious.

[@NoahTheGamer567]

shouldnt be a victor if your gay sorry to say