Harvest for the World - the Isley Brothers
- unclestylus
- Dec 7, 2025
- 3 min read
One of the results of the Isley Brothers expansion into a sextet was the introduction of social and political awareness into their music. The first example of this came early in 1975 when they recorded the angry "Fight the Power" (see https://www.unclestylus.com/single-post/fight-the-power-part-1-2-the-isley-brothers ). On the same day they recorded the gentler, sadder, even despairing "Harvest for the World", releasing it the following year.
Poet John Hegley, who, early in his career was a regular at the celebrated Comedy Store, used to perform his "brother-in-law poems" as an antidote to the overtly sexist "mother-in-law" jokes that were the staple of traditional stand-up. These went down so well that his second book of poems was titled "The Brother-in-Law and Other Animals", pastiching Gerald Durrell one suspects. The first poem in the volume was this:
I wouldn't say my brother-in-law is fat because he is quite thin
he's as miserable as sin
but not as interesting
he's as open as the pub is at twenty past four
in the morning
and as welcome as an open sore
on your eye
but he thinks he is great
he isn't beautiful
he's horrible
he eats crisps in the cinema as a matter of principal
in a previous incarnation he was a beer crate
if he does you a favour then you know that you're in debt
if you want someone to help you he's a very outside bet
if you were in a lifeboat and someone had to go
and my brother-in-law was there
you wouldn't need a ballot
he's ten stone in his pyjamas
and that's ten stone overweight
he's not exactly an artist
but they should hang him in the Tate
he was an adult from the age of eight
and whatever age he dies will be far too late
I don't like him.
© John Hegley
Some describe Hegley as a comic poet, but, although his poems are very funny, they are also very dark. We of course presume that, like the original mother-in-law stereotype, Hegley isn't describing a particular individual, rather a certain "type" of man. Hegley is often styled a "performance poet", an annoying term, as all poets write their poetry to be read out loud to an audience. It's like saying he's a performing performer. Or saying a pianist is a "performing pianist". He's also described as a comic poet, and yes, his poems are usually designed to make you laugh. But they can be savagely biting in their observation of people and the world.
His heart's in the wrong place
it should be in the dustbin
the other night I went to see my brother-in-law for a chat
after five minutes he went and sat in then garage
after ten minutes he came back in saying
here John are you staying the night?
if that's all right I said
then he was gone
up to the spare bedroom to change the sheets
to put the dirty ones back on
© John Hegley
The six man line-up of the Isley Brothers recorded a series of twelve US hit studio albums 1973 - 83 before the younger trio quit. "Harvest for the World" was the title track of their 1976 album and a plaintive plea for a better world. Older brother and lead singer Ronald Isley turns in one of his most controlled yet powerful vocals, so it's easier to sing along to than many of their songs, and well worth it, as doing so has a cathartic effect on the singer, infusing them with a sense of melodious hope.
Just stay away from the news for a good while afterwards, though. Nearly fifty years later, and still it hasn't come.
"All babies together, everyone a seed,
half of us are satisfied, half of us in need.
Love's bountiful in us, tarnished by our greed.
When will there be a harvest for the world?
A nation planted, so concerned with gain,
as the seasons come and go, greater grows the pain,
and far too many feeling the strain,
when will there be a harvest for the world
Gather everyman, gather everywoman,
celebrate your lives, give thanks for your children,
gather everyone, gather all together,
overlooking none, hoping life gets better for the world
Dress me up for battle, when all I want is peace.
Those of us who pay the price, come home with the least.
Nation after nation, turning into beast,
when will there be a harvest for the world?"
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