23. Billy Bragg

 

 

“I was twenty one years when I wrote this song, I'm twenty two now, but I won't be for long. People ask when will you grow up to be a man but all the girls I loved at school are already pushing prams”

 

“I've had relations with girls from many nations, I've made passes at women of all classes

and just because you're gay I won't turn you away, If you stick around I'm sure that we can find some common ground”

 

“A nuclear submarine sinks off the coast of Sweden; headlines give me headaches when I read them. I had an uncle who once played for ‘Red Star Belgrade’, he said some things are really left best unspoken but I prefer them all to be out in the open”

 

“I don't want to change the world, I'm not looking for a new England, I’m just looking for another girl”

 

“Shirley, it's quite exciting to be sleeping here in this new room, Shirley, you're my reason to get out of bed before noon”

 

“Thinking back now, I suppose you were just stating your views, what was it all for? For the weather or the Battle of Agincourt and the times that we all hoped would last like a train they have gone by so fast and though we stood together at the edge of the platform we were not moved by them”

 

 

To people of a certain age, the description of a guitarist with a large amp on his back, could only conjure up one pop star’s name, that of the one time ‘Bard of Barking’, Billy Bragg.

 

Billy Bragg is one of Britain’s greatest folk-pop songwriters and maybe one of the most under-valued. I say under-valued, because even though he is an alternative music great, I guess that there will be still a lot of people who think that his vocals are ‘ham-fisted’ and a lot of people who, when hearing just him and his guitar, would think ‘What the hell is this?’.

 

Looking back to when I was younger, it was a few years from when I first heard one of his records, as a track on my ‘Now That’s What I Call Music 8’ cassette, to his album called ‘Don’t Try This At Home’ when I realised what a great artist he was (though these were with singles recorded with a full band). In addition to this, I think it was also due to the fact that on the lead single from this album, Kirsty MacColl had popped up on backing vocals and Johnny Marr had been recruited on guitar, which was very interesting to me at the time.

 

Actually a couple of years before then (and about a year after his ‘Childline’ Number One with ‘Wet Wet Wet’), Billy Bragg had released a brilliant soulful house record called ‘Won’t Talk About It’ with Norman Cook from ‘the Housemartins’. This record was an oddity as Bragg put on a falsetto and sounded more like Bryon Stingily from ‘Ten City’ than the ‘Bard of Barking’. The record had come about because both acts (Billy Bragg and ‘the Housemartins’) were on the one-time indie record label called ‘Go! Discs’ and this record was actually the first in the ‘Beats International’ project. The single was double A-side release with another cut featuring the rapper ‘MC Wildski’, and was also later re-recorded under Norman’s ‘Beats International’ name with the vocalists Lindy Layton and Lester.

 

Whilst I am talking about re-recordings, I must again point out the brilliant cover of the Billy Bragg song ‘St. Swithin's Day’ by the mid 1990s indie-dance band ‘Dubstar’. In addition to what I have already stated about this track, may I just add that even though the record utilises a ‘Soul II Soul’ type of ‘shuffle beat’ and jangly indie guitars, Sarah Blackwood has this lovely ‘folk’ quality to her dictation that makes it such a lovely record.

 

Some people may have one view of Billy Bragg, that of the ‘Red Wedge’ folk-pop protester and may have a defined thought of what a Billy Bragg record is. However, I hope that if these people were to listen to any compilation records of his, they would soon realise that he has recorded in a number of genres and written some of the most perfect pop songs ever.

 

Songs such as ‘Waiting for the Great Leap Forwards’ and ‘Upfield’ are as ‘poptastic’ as anything that acts such as ‘Madness’ or ‘the Lightning Seeds’ have ever produced, and, in my opinion, these are records that do not need the iconic vocals of Kirsty MacColl to make them sound wonderful.

 

All the girls at my school hated it when they played the 'c**p' side from the Wet Wet Wet / Billy Bragg childline number one.

 

I reckon 'Sexuality' is one of the greatest songs from 1991 - super pop with a great video.

Yes it is one of the greatest ever pop songs but my memories of the video are vague. Was it the one where he dresses up as a 1940s footballer?

Yes - that bit accompanied the excellent line 'I had an Uncle who once played for Red Star Belgrade'

 

He also held up 'Safe' and 'No' over a road sign for Essex for the 'Safe Sex doesn't mean no sex it just means use your imagination' line.

 

Ah, great video.

 

In fact, here it is

 

Edited October 16, 200717 yr by richie

Ho ho, I just spotted a young Phill Jupitus at the end of that video too!