{{Infobox song | name = The Banner Man | cover = | alt = | type = single | artist = Blue Mink | album = | B-side = Mind Your Business | released = May 1971 | recorded = | studio = | venue = | genre = Bubblegum pop<ref name=Carmody/><ref name="Stanley 2024"/> | length = 3:27 | label = | writer = Roger Cook, Roger Greenaway | producer = | prev_title = | prev_year = | next_title = | next_year = }} "'''The Banner Man'''" is a 1971 song by the British pop band Blue Mink. The song managed to reach the top ten on the UK charts peaking at #3 in May 1971. It was released as a single with the B-side "Mind Your Business".<ref>{{cite web |title=Blue Mink |url=https://www.officialcharts.com/artist/13841/blue-mink/ |website=Official Charts - UK |access-date=March 31, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=The Banner Man |url=https://www.discogs.com/release/1558633-Blue-Mink-The-Banner-Man- |website=Discogs |date=7 May 1971 |access-date=March 31, 2023}}</ref> The single was written by Blue Mink founders Roger Cook and Roger Greenaway.<ref name="Carmody" />
In 2002, Robin Carmody of ''Freaky Trigger'' named "The Banner Man" the best British bubblegum song of 1971, deeming it Blue Mink's "second masterpiece" after "Melting Pot" (1969) and one of numerous hits written by Cook and Greenaway wrote in the genre. He described it as "Salvation Army-themed" and added: "Its theme is naturally distant from today, but it’s one of the few chartpop records to make ritualism sound like a perfectly normal and enjoyable part of life (which I guess it was back then, at least for more people than now)."<ref name="Carmody">{{cite web |last1=Carmody |first1=Robin |title=The Cottage Industry of Moments |url=https://freakytrigger.co.uk/ft/2002/01/cottage |website=Freaky Trigger |access-date=20 November 2022 |page=1 |date=1 January 2002}}</ref> Carmody also listed it among the ten best British bubblegum songs, writing: "Ritualism and pop don’t normally go together unless someone can make an arcane ritual sound like the very stuff of pop. This was such a song."<ref name=Carmody3>{{cite web |last1=Carmody |first1=Robin |title=The Cottage Industry of Moments |url=https://freakytrigger.co.uk/ft/2002/01/cottage/3/ |website=Freaky Trigger |access-date=20 November 2022 |page=1 |date=1 January 2002}}</ref> Bob Stanley describes "The Banner Man" as a brassy bubblegum song that "made light of the heavy session musician talent in [Blue Mink's] line-up."<ref name="Stanley 2024">{{cite book|title= The Story of the Bee Gees - Children of the World|first=Bob|last=Stanley|date=6 February 2024 |chapter= Trafalgar|page= 149|publisher=Pegasus Books|location= New York City|isbn=9781639365531 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9uigEAAAQBAJ&source=gbs_book_other_versions_r&cad=1|access-date= 28 February 2026}}</ref>
== Track listing == {{Track listing | all_writing = | title1 = The Banner Man | length1 = 3:27 | writer1 = Roger Cook, Roger Greenaway | title2 = Mind Your Business | length2 = 3:07 | writer2 = Alan Parker, Madeline Bell | total_length = }}
==Weekly charts== "The Banner Man" reached the top ten on the UK charts, as well as in Australia and Belgium.
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" ! scope="col" |Chart (1971) ! scope="col" |Peak<br />position |- ! scope="row" |Australia (Kent Music Report)<ref>{{cite book|title=Australian Chart Book 1970–1992|last=Kent|first=David|publisher=Australian Chart Book|year=1971|isbn=0-646-11917-6|location=St Ives|page=271|author-link=David Kent (historian)}}.</ref> | style="text-align:center;" |4 |- {{single chart|Flanders|4|artist=Blue Mink|song=The Banner Man|rowheader=true}} |- {{single chart|Germany|38|artist=Blue Mink|song=The Banner Man|songid=297486|rowheader=true}} |- {{single chart|Dutch40|11|artist=Blue Mink|song=The Banner Man|rowheader=true}} |- |New Zealand (Listener) <ref>https://www.flavourofnz.co.nz/index.php?qpageID=search%20listener&qsongid=3923#n_view_location search Listener</ref> |style="text-align:center;" |2 |- {{single chart|UKsinglesbyname|3|artist=Blue Mink|artistid=13841|rowheader=true|refname=uk}} |}
==Other uses== "The Banner Man" appeared in the 1999 film East is East.<ref>{{cite web |title=East is East Soundtrack |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0166175/soundtrack/?ref_=tt_trv_snd |website=IMDB |access-date=March 31, 2023}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Banner Man, The}} Category:1971 songs Category:1971 singles Category:Blue Mink songs Category:Songs written by Roger Greenaway Category:Songs written by Roger Cook (songwriter) Category:Bubblegum pop songs