The surprising Labi Siffre song which is a Spotify hit

The way we listen to music has changed so much since the dawn of the internet era and has led to a resurgence in many artists' careers - and the uncovering of some previously little known gems.

That appears to have happened to Labi Siffre.

The singer, to many older music lovers, would be familiar through his top twenty chart hits, (Something Inside) So Strong, Crying, Laughing, Loving, Lying and It Must Be Love.

But they are not his most streamed song on Spotify - instead it is Cannock Chase, an album cut from 1972, with 79 million streams.

"Sitting in the back seat of my car, with my arms 'round my guitar.

And the rain falls, from the roof of the world."

Cannock Chase was written by the singer-songwriter at the location after which it is named after, the woodland in Staffordshire.

The man himself, speaking in a video posted on his official Facebook page in December, said the opening lyrics were exactly what happened.

"I was sitting in the back seat of my car with my arms around my guitar and the rain fell," he admitted.

Siffre added that he used to, when he was away from home for gigs, during the day he would go into the country until he found "unfenced land.

"I used to do that and I'd find a spot and I'd sit down and practice. Well in this one, I found Cannock Chase," he said.

But the reason for its massive, recent popularity? One music journalist believes it could be through its connection with films and use on TikTok.

Callum MacHattie, from Far Out Magazine, said the song had come to people's attention through two recent movies.

Cannock Chase has also been heavily used as background music for TikTok videos recently and he said: "There is something about the atmosphere of the song."

Although he said there was often "no rhyme or reason" why songs became popular on social media, be believed the song fits perfectly with TikTok reels which show serene, natural environments.

People are craving tranquility in a hectic world, he said and "Cannock Chase is so open in the fact that it is paying tribute to somewhere in nature".

"I believe he was touring and I think it was very much a ritual for him to just find the nearest area of countryside," he said.

"Wherever it was he was playing a show and just drive and sort of take stock of what was around him."

The song is reflective, but MacHattie said it was also "very much a literal song".

MacHattie described the song as "a classic Labi Siffre song in terms of how it is arranged and the lyrics".

But he said, while it perhaps did not get the attention it deserved in the 1970s, it "likely lived in the subconscious of music fans".

Siffre's music has been "sampled by hip-hop artists many times" so by the time Cannock Chase featured in the soundtrack of the films Sentimental Value last year, as well as The Holdovers, his music was already familiar.

"I think fans were already kind of aware of his voice and wanted to hear more and wanted to dig a little bit deeper," he said.

Sentimental Value is a Norwegian film which won the Best International Feature Film at the Oscars and the Cannock Chase song featured in "quite a key scene," MacHattie said.

He believed the song then fell into an "intersection of music that's hidden under the radar and films that have hit that independent indie niche".

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