Ce Ce Rogers 'Someday'

A tune that genuinely changed the world

This game changer of a tune, was written & produced by Marshall Jefferson & featured Ce Ce Rogers on vocals. It first landed in the UK via import, from Atlantic Records in Autumn of 1987.

Where we first heard it

We still vividly recall walking into Hitsville USA (see Classic Record shops in Our History section) in Old Eldon Square, one Thursday in the late 80’s, to get our weekly tunes. We’d go every week, so one of our chums, Tony, Ronnie or Joan, could play us all the new releases.

We were total record fiends & spent all our money in there, just listening to & chatting about the music – So Tony knew just what would turn us on. 

We still remember Tony’s smiling face as he said, ‘I’ve been waiting for you to come in, I’ve got something for you – You are gonna absolutely love this song…’

Then he carefully placed a 12″ tune on the turntable in the shop, stood back & folded his arms. That tune was Someday, by Ce Ce Rogers. 

Er…Marshall Jefferson produced House Music, all orchestrated & recorded with real instruments? Ce Ce on vocals?! The hair on the back of our necks literally stood up..! The minute we heard the first note, time seemed to stop dead, as we heard Someday for the very first time…

When it was over & we had picked our jaw up off the floor & cleaned & wiped our bottom… Tony smiled & said ‘Told you you would love it.’ He was right! 

We immediately bought all of the six, American import copies that they had in the shop & went home properly excited, to spin it for the first time, in the Club that very night.

Where we first played it

At the time, the main Club we played was Rockshots (now sadly turned into flats), on Waterloo Street, which was the main Gay Club in Newcastle. We ran a really good dance night there, spinning all genres, very much like our WHQ Uplifting Groove weekend shows are today.

As the 80’s progressed, our nights there had been gradually moving, more into the hip & ever emerging, House Music.

Someday blows up

Over the next few weeks & months, Someday totally took hold of Rockers, then the entire nation. There honestly, was not a bigger record on the planet.

Rarely have we seen a tune evoke & unlock such a wave of emotion as Someday did, when you dropped it, right near the end of another insane night, in the amazing, ground breaking & genre defying Nightclub, that was the Rockshots of the late 80s.

Coming from a Soul & Disco background, Someday really struck a chord with us. The deeply soulful sentiment of the lyric & its incorporation of racial, drug & anti-war themes resonated deeply. Then with it's overriding positive message of hope, all set to that driving beat, Someday was so on point for the times, that it just totally smashed it..!

The scene it blew up in

These where very emotional times. Exceptionally high quality, designer club drugs were everywhere. We didn’t know it at the time, but we were witnessing the birth of modern dance music as you all know it today. The scale of it was a new phenomenon & the whole City seemed like it was going ‘on one.'

As such, the message of hope in Someday smacked everybody equally, clean across the chops & entered straight into their hearts.

Everyone needs a message of hope at times & to hear one drop, as purely as it drops in Someday, especially when you hear it in the context of being on a dance floor, in a packed Club..?

Just as a major new scene is exploding all over the country & for the first time everyone, from all walks of life are right there with you & all on the exact same page..?

It was simply mind blowing – there's no way could you describe it as anything else.

Rockers was a special, little (yet massive) scene. But it was only one, of thousands of other special, little (yet massive) scenes, as simultaneously, across the nation House Music exploded – like no one had ever seen anything explode before.

In every city, people flirted with decadence, danced to Someday & came the closest they might ever get, to a genuine, spiritual connection with the actual humanity, of the people all around them. 

Someday in Rockshots in the late 80’s was so spiritual, it bordered on a religious freakout. At times, closer to unifying joy & mass elation, than anything else we have ever seen in our lives.

A song for everyone

At this time, daily news of the terrible atrocities taking place in South Africa was heartbreaking. Also, despite our undeniable success, in truth we were lost, deep, deep down, in the excesses of Dj life in underground 80’s Dance Clubs.

We knew we wanted things to shift & desperately tried to turn that mad lifestyle around & somehow grow away from it. 

We needed to go back to basics & survive, shape & develop our game, so that we didn’t just end up as bums & could work, to build what’s now evolved into the World HQ Club you know today.

All those swirling emotions, rolled together, made it feel as though Someday, whenever we would play it, was personal, like it had been specially written, just for us.

However, we were not alone, because the real magic of Someday is, every other person who ever heard it felt that way too.

House Music vs a national disgrace

The pivotal line in the song, that goes… ‘I’ll go to South Africa & I’ll be called a man,’ switched the entire nation’s youth on to the disgusting atrocities that were taking place under Apartheid.

That one line, totally blew away the racist rhetoric, that had been earlier laid down by the then Prime Minister, Margaret (total self awareness bypass) Thatcher. 

She had referred to Nelson Mandela as a ‘terrorist’ & then blatantly disregarded the global sanctions, that the rest of the world democratically voted for & (quite rightly) had in place, against the South African Apartheid regime, as an attempt to get them to respect human rights. 

Read the lyrics a little further down the page… Young people in Clubs actually listened to, related to, understood & agreed with every sentiment this song expressed – That the world didn’t have to be shit, just as long as people got on with each other & stopped being twats.

The fact that this was inextricably linked in the song, to the ongoing South African struggle, meant youth in the UK were now aware, that this had to be addressed & the need for justice out there had to be recognised by the UK Government.

Otherwise Thatcher’s little gang of self serving, snivelling, toffs, would be at odds with the sentiments, humanity & wishes of every switched on young person in the country.

Someday landed, exploded & almost overnight, a whole generation woke up & just thought she was a complete dick… 

Quite right too, as her behaviour around these issues was unforgivable, racist, embarrassing & nothing short of a national & international disgrace. 

The legacy of Someday

So that one single line in this one song, highlighted overnight & then changed completely, the way the youth of the UK viewed the South African struggle forever.

Someday’s release was without question, as catalytic & significant (& possibly even more catalytic & significant, depending on the scene you partied on), as the release of the absolutely inspired – Free Nelson Mandela by Jerry Dammers & the Specials was, way back in 1984. 

So, Someday, is a record that not only blew up Nightclubs, defining a generation in the process, it also reached out & changed young people’s attitudes & opinions in this country, politicising them. By doing all that, it actually helped to free the South African people & change & shape, the world all the rest of us live in today.

Someday & WHQ

It is impossible to put into words what this tune did to WHQ Club, on the night Nelson Mandela was finally released…

So let’s not even try. Have a listen, you’ll work it out. No wonder it was then & still is today, such a massive tune.

Irrespective of what style of music you play or what age you are, if you are a Dj & you have never owned a copy of Someday, then you should either download it immediately. Or just stop being a Dj, as you have totally missed the point & this whole Dj thing, is honestly not for you.

Somehow, Ce Ce got to see this page on our site & a while back & he got in touch to thank us. We honestly nearly fell over when this came through & we are now chummed up with Ce Ce.

Given that World Headquarters grew out of that whole 80’s scene, it’s no wonder that when today, you hear Someday played in the Club at the weekend, it all seems so perfectly in context with every single thing about the place.

It’s quite literally, as if WHQ was built around the song & it’s timeless message of unity - because it was.

Someday Bonus Features

Ce Ce’s vocal on Someday was later sampled by Liquid for the Raver’s anthem – Sweet Harmony, which as music purists, pissed us off at the time. But looking back now in retrospect, if Ce Ce & Marshall actually got their dues from them & got paid for that, then we’re cool & over that now. As far as we’re concerned, they both deserve to be given the Freedom of the Planet.

Danny Bryd also got in on the act with this Drum ‘n Bass version. 

Marshall also made the earth shattering game changer – Move Your Body. What a tune! He played WHQ a while back & we also hooked up with him again, when we both played that big Hacienda Classical thing at Times Square. He's a total Don & a really lovely fella. 

Ce Ce also recorded All Join Hands & No Love Lost. He also recorded some R&B stuff & toured & recorded with the Italian funky House outfit Jestofunk. 

Even now in 2020/1, Ce Ce is still making outstanding top quality, unifying music at an incredible rate. We love him & there aren’t many musical artists working today, who have consistently held the bar so high. You can subscribe to his you tube channel here.

Someday lyrics

The world is cold and times are bad.

Everytime I think about it, it makes me sad.

War and drugs are everywhere

and it’s getting so hard to breathe the air.

But it doesn’t have to be like this,

all the rancour and bitterness.

If we can just open our eyes

we can make the world a paradise – Someday.

We’ll live as one family in perfect harmony.

Someday.

When we all pull together we will all be free.

Someday.

Free from the pressure and the prejudice

we can change it all with tenderness.

There’ll be no void between black and white.

We’ll be able to walk the streets at night.

I won’t be fooled while someone dies of starvation,

the whole world will be my nation.

We will walk hand in hand.

I’ll go to South Africa and be called a man – Someday.

We’ll live as one family in sweet harmony.

Someday.

If we all pull together we will all be free.

Mmmm, someday.

We’ll live as one family.

Remembering our friend

The words on this page are dedicated to Tony Bromwich, the man who introduced us to Someday & a Newcastle music business mover & shaker.

A true tune head & proper grafter, at both Callers Music Department & Hitsville USA Records, where he turned so many people onto the Black Music he so loved, it's ridiculous.

Tony is the among the original individuals, responsible for moving Black Music, Club Culture & Gay Culture, forward in Newcastle, for the benefit of us all. Buying records will never, ever be as much fun, as it was back in the day when Tony had our backs - a beautiful Soul.