Growing Up with Billy Bragg

The music of Billy Bragg has been an important companion for almost two thirds of my life. His were the first songs to enter the catalogue of what I’ve come to think of as ‘my music’. Before him the songs I listened to came from my parents or school friends. As a child I worshiped the Beatles and Rod Stewart, but it never felt like my music.

The Saturday Boy Speaks to a Broken Hearted Adolescent

I discovered Billy Bragg one night listening to an Irish Radio show hosted by Dave Fanning (I have to thank this show for most of my early music choices), I was fifteen and my hormones were all over the place; I couldn’t walk past a girl without falling hopelessly in love with her. That night Dave Fanning was playing tracks from Billy’s first full length album ‘Brewing Up with Billy Bragg’. One of the songs was called the ‘Saturday Boy’ and there has been no other song before this (or indeed since) that connected with me so powerfully after only one listen. Billy sang;

In the end it took me a dictionary to find out the meaning of unrequited.
While she was giving herself for free at a party to which I was never invited.

He was describing my life and my pain. I was that boy. At last I’d found somebody who got me. Other songs I listened to described a universe where I wanted to belong, but this song described my real world. I begged my father for the money to buy Billy’s first two records and for a few months these were the only thing I listened to. The first collection of songs had been released the previous year (1883) on an EP called ‘Life’s a Riot with Spy Versus Spy’. Billy’s voice and his electric guitar are the only instruments, but it is just perfect. At the time he was being described as a ‘one man Clash’, but I think he was even better than this. There were 7 tracks on Billy’s first release and each of them became precious to me. The song that ended up being most popular off that album was ‘A New England’, but that was because Kristy MacColl made it famous. The second album felt more polished, but it didn’t take away from Billy’s raw energy. For me ‘Saturday Boy’ is the highlight of the album, but there are plenty of other good tracks on there.

Talking to the Taxman About Poetry

Billy’s third album was called ‘Talking to the Taxman about Poetry’ and by the time this had been released in 1986 I had my first proper girlfriend. It wasn’t a romance made in heaven, and I’d already discovered the wonders of alcohol. She threatened to break up with me because I wouldn’t stop singing Billy Bragg songs in public. I promised to stop but a few weeks later she broke up with anyway. I felt devastated but Billy was there to offer me some comfort.

‘Talking to the Taxman about Poetry’ has become my favorite of all his albums. Dublin was a gloomy place back in the late eighties. Most people just seemed to be getting by in life. Almost every weekend we would have a leaving party for friends who were abandoning Ireland in the hope of greener pastures. As soon as I turned eighteen I joined them. The song the ‘Home Front’ perfectly sums up the mood of the time for me.

When it rains here it rains it rains so hard
But never hard enough to wash away the sorrow
I’d trade my love today for a greater love tomorrow
A lonely child looks out and dreams of independence from this family life sentence

Billy’s music followed me throughout my twenties and thirties right up until day. The great thing about following his music is there are no worries about the band splitting up – every couple of years or so I can look forward to a new batch of songs. These always end up fitting my life circumstances at the time perfectly. It really is like I’m growing up with him.

I Used to Want to Plant Bombs

Billy Bragg has influenced me more than any other musician. Nowadays I don’t care much for politics, but there was a time when I considered myself to be a sincere socialist. This was Billy’s influence, and I don’t regret any of it. I still believe in many of the same things, but I just came to realise that the only person that I can really change is me. Beating my alcohol addiction six years ago and the arrival of my son in the world have played a huge part in my new outlook. Once again Mr Bragg was able to describe my situation perfect in his song ‘Brickbat’

I used to want to plant bombs
At the last night of the proms
But now you’ll find me with the baby in the bathroom, with the big shell
Listening to the sound of the sea
The baby and me

Thanks Billy

Billy Singing The Saturday Boy