In 1977, Bragg formed the punk rock/pub rock band Riff Raff, and toured London's pubs and clubs. The band released a series of singles, which did not receive wide exposure. He also worked in Guy Norris Records in Barking. Bragg became disillusioned with his music career, and in May 1981 joined the British Army as a recruit destined for the Queen's Royal Irish Hussars of the Royal Armoured Corps. After three months, he bought his way out of the army for £175 and returned home, having attended basic training but having never served in a regiment as a soldier.
Bragg began performing frequent concerts and busking around London, playing solo with an electric guitar. His roadie at the time was Andy Kershaw, who became a BBC DJ (Bragg and Kershaw later, in 1989, appeared in an episode of the BBC TV programme, Great Journeys, in which they travelled the Silver Road from Potosí, Bolivia, to the Pacific coast at Arica, Chile). Bragg performing at South by Southwest in 2008.
Bragg's demo tape initially got no response from the record industry, but by pretending to be a television repair man, he got into the office of Charisma Records' A&R man Peter Jenner. Jenner liked the tape, but the company was near bankruptcy and had no budget to sign new artists. Bragg got an offer to record more demos for a music publisher, so Jenner agreed to release them as a record. Life's a Riot with Spy Vs. Spy was released in July 1983 by Charisma's new imprint, Utility. Hearing DJ John Peel mention on-air that he was hungry, Bragg rushed to the BBC with a mushroom biryani, so Peel played a song from Life's a Riot with Spy Vs. Spy although at the wrong speed (since the 12" LP was, unconventionally, cut to play at 45rpm). Peel insisted he would have played the song even without the biryani and later played it at the correct speed.
Within months, Charisma had been taken over by Virgin Records and Jenner, who had been laid off, became Bragg's manager. Stiff Records' press officer Andy Macdonald – who was setting up his own record label, Go! Discs – received a copy of Life's a Riot with Spy Vs. Spy. He made Virgin an offer and the album was re-released on Go! Discs in November 1983.[citation needed] In 1984, he released Brewing Up with Billy Bragg, a mixture of political songs (e.g., "It Says Here") and songs of unrequited love (e.g., "The Saturday Boy"). The following year he released Between the Wars, an EP of political songs that included a cover version of Leon Rosselson's "The World Turned Upside Down" – the EP made the top 20 of the UK Singles Chart and earned Bragg an appearance on Top of the Pops. Bragg later collaborated with Rosselson on the song, "Ballad of the Spycatcher". In 1985, his song "A New England", with an additional verse, became a Top 10 hit in the UK for Kirsty MacColl. After MacColl's early death, Bragg always sang the extra verse in her honour. In 1984–1985 he toured North America.
In 1986, Bragg released Talking with the Taxman about Poetry, which became his first Top 10 album. Its title is taken from a poem by Vladimir Mayakovsky and a translated version of the poem was printed on the record's inner sleeve. Back to Basics is a 1987 collection of his first three releases: Life's A Riot With Spy Vs. Spy, Brewing Up with Billy Bragg, and the Between The Wars EP. Bragg released his fourth album, Workers Playtime, in September 1988. With this album, Bragg added a backing band and accompaniment.
In May 1990, Bragg released the political mini-LP, The Internationale. The songs were, in part, a return to his solo guitar style, but some songs featured more complicated arrangements and included a brass band. The album paid tribute to one of Bragg's influences with the song, "I Dreamed I Saw Phil Ochs Last Night", which is an adapted version of Earl Robinson's song, "I Dreamed I Saw Joe Hill Last Night", itself an adaptation of a poem by Alfred Hayes.
The album Don't Try This at Home was released in September 1991, and included the song, "Sexuality", which reached the UK Singles Chart. Bragg had been persuaded by Go! Discs' Andy and Juliet Macdonald to sign a four-album deal with a million pound advance, and a promise to promote the album with singles and videos.[citation needed] This gamble was not rewarded with extra sales, and the situation put the company in financial difficulty. In exchange for ending the contract early and repaying a large amount of the advance, Bragg regained all rights to his back catalogue.[citation needed] Bragg continued to promote the album with his backing band, The Red Stars, which included his Riff Raff colleague and long-time roadie, Wiggy.
Bragg released the album William Bloke in 1996 after taking time off to help raise his son. Around that time, Nora Guthrie (daughter of American folk artist Woody Guthrie) asked Bragg to set some of her father's unrecorded lyrics to music. The result was a collaboration with the band Wilco and Natalie Merchant (with whom Bragg had worked previously). They released the album Mermaid Avenue in 1998, and Mermaid Avenue Vol. II in 2000. A rift with Wilco over mixing and sequencing the album led to Bragg recruiting his own band, The Blokes, to promote the album. The Blokes included keyboardist Ian McLagan, who had been a member of Bragg's boyhood heroes The Faces. The documentary film Man in the Sand depicts the roles of Nora Guthrie, Bragg, and Wilco in the creation of the Mermaid Avenue albums.
In 2004, Bragg joined Florida ska-punk band Less Than Jake to perform a version of 'The Brightest Bulb Has Burned Out' for the Rock Against Bush compilation.
At the 2005 Beautiful Days Festival in Devon, Bragg teamed up with the Levellers to perform a short set of songs by or associated with The Clash in celebration of Joe Strummer's birthday. Bragg performed guitar and lead vocals on "Police and Thieves", and performed guitar and backing vocals on "English Civil War", and "Police on my Back".
In 2007, Bragg moved closer to his English folk music roots by joining the WOMAD-inspired collective The Imagined Village, who recorded an album of updated versions of traditional English songs and dances and toured through that autumn. Bragg released his album Mr. Love & Justice in March 2008. This was the second Bragg album to be named after a book by Colin MacInnes. In 2008, during the NME Awards ceremony, Bragg sang a duet with British solo act Kate Nash. They mixed up their two greatest hits, Nash playing "Foundations", and Bragg redoing his "A New England". Bragg also collaborated with the poet and playwright, Patrick Jones, who supported Bragg's Tour.
In 2008, Bragg played a small role in Stuart Bamforth's film "A13: Road Movie". Bragg is featured alongside union reps, vicars, burger van chefs and Members of Parliament in a film that explored "the overlooked, the hidden and the disregarded."
He was involved in the play Pressure Drop at the Wellcome Collection in London in April and May 2010. The production, written by Mick Gorden, and billed as "part play, part gig, part installation", featured new songs by Bragg. He performed during the play with his band, and acted as compere.
Bragg curated the Leftfield stage at Glastonbury Festival 2010.
He took part in the Bush Theatre's 2011 project Sixty Six where he has written a piece based upon a chapter of the King James Bible.
Bragg performed a set of the Guthrie songs that he had set to music for Mermaid Avenue during the Hay Literary Festival in June 2012. Mermaid Avenue Vol. III and Mermaid Avenue: The Complete Sessions were also released in early 2012.
On 18 March 2013, Bragg released his latest studio album, five years since Mr. Love & Justice, titled Tooth And Nail. It featured 11 original songs, including one written for the Bush Theatre, and a Woody Guthrie cover. Stylistically, it continues to explore genres of Americana (music) and Alternative country, both of which he has said he has been playing and writing regularly since Mermaid Avenue (1998).
In November 2017, he released all six tracks from the mini-album Bridges Not Walls as downloads and CD through the Billy Bragg website and other sellers, followed by the single Full English Brexit through Cooking Vinyl.
Cindy of a Thousand Lives
Billy Bragg Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Half glimpsed in the headlights between the trees
Who punctured the beauty
And invited monsters such as these
The pig faced boy, the corrupted clown
The grotesque figure who never comes into town
Something broken, something stained
Something waiting for the worms to claim
Except in nightmares
The voyeur who dares not come near
Knows excitement is merely the beginning of fear
My shadow came this morning
And left some candy in my shoe
They're always watching me
Watching the things I do
Cindy of a thousand lives
Cindy of the Stepford Wives
I've looked at all the photographs
But Cindy, which one of them was you?
The lyrics of Billy Bragg's song Cindy of a Thousand Lives are evocative and haunting. The opening lyrics, "blue velvet America, half glimpsed in the headlights between the trees," immediately set a dark and eerie tone, as if the song is describing a place that is not quite real or not quite of this world. The phrase "something broken, something stained, something waiting for the worms to claim" adds to the sense of decay and desolation, suggesting that whatever was once beautiful here has been corrupted and destroyed.
The song then turns to the figure of Cindy, who is described as having "a thousand lives" and being associated with the Stepford Wives. The Stepford Wives are a cultural reference to a book and later film about robotic housewives controlled by their husbands. This reference suggests that Cindy is similarly controlled or manipulated in some way. The lines "my shadow came this morning and left some candy in my shoe, they're always watching me, watching the things I do" suggest that the singer is being stalked or surveilled in some way, and that Cindy is somehow involved in this surveillance or manipulation.
Overall, the song seems to be a dark and enigmatic meditation on the perils of American life - on the way that beauty and idealism can be corrupted, and on the way that individuals can be controlled or watched without their knowledge. The figure of Cindy - with her "thousand lives" and ambiguous relationship to the singer - adds to the sense of unease and mystery that pervades the song.
Line by Line Meaning
Blue velvet America
An allusion to the idea of the American Dream and the beauty within it, but how obscured that vision can be.
Half glimpsed in the headlights between the trees
The beauty that is attempting to emerge, but still veiled and mysterious.
Who punctured the beauty
The forces that have negatively impacted the American Dream and hurt the pursuit of beauty.
And invited monsters such as these
The consequences of the aforementioned forces which attract unsavory and harmful individuals.
The pig faced boy, the corrupted clown
The individuals that have been attracted to harm the American Dream and create a grotesque vision for it.
The grotesque figure who never comes into town
The absence of the individuals in everyday life, but their constant presence in affecting everyone's lives.
Something broken, something stained
The remnants of the American Dream, no longer perfect and full of stains and flaws.
Something waiting for the worms to claim
The decay and ultimate destruction of the once beautiful dream.
And you can never go there again
The realization that the dream is gone and cannot be revisited.
Except in nightmares
The only way to revisit the dream is through the dreams and nightmares that people experience.
The voyeur who dares not come near
Those who cannot experience or be a part of the American Dream due to their own limitations or social status.
Knows excitement is merely the beginning of fear
The excitement around the dream is only the beginning, for it can quickly turn into a nightmare.
My shadow came this morning
A reference to the mysterious and unknown forces at work.
And left some candy in my shoe
The fleeting moments of happiness and hope that the dream brings.
They're always watching me
The constant presence and influence of the unknown and harmful forces.
Watching the things I do
The control that these forces have over the actions and behaviors of everyone involved with the dream.
Cindy of a thousand lives
A reference to the idea that Cindy represents the many people affected by the loss of the American Dream.
Cindy of the Stepford Wives
A reference to the homogenization and lack of individuality present in the society that the American Dream has created.
I've looked at all the photographs
The many attempts to revisit and recover the American Dream, through looking back at the past and attempting to understand what went wrong.
But Cindy, which one of them was you?
The question of personal identity and the role of the individual in the larger societal and cultural context.
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: STEPHEN WILLIAM BRAGG
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@ThomasWilliamMusic
Blue velvet America
Half glimpsed in the headlights
Between the trees
Who punctured the beauty
And invited monsters
Such as these
The pig faced boy
The corrupted clown
The grotesque figure
Who never comes into town
Something broken
Something stained
Something waiting
For the worms to claim
And you can never
Go there again
Except in nightmares
The voyeur who dares
Not come near
Knows excitement is merely
The beginning of fear
My shadow came this morning
And left some candy in my shoe
They're always watching me
Watching the things I do
Cindy of a thousand lives
Cindy of the Stepford Wives
I've looked at all the photographs
But Cindy, which one of them was you?
@immediate66
I've always loved the spooky, evocative soundscape that Johnny Marr built around this beautiful Billy Bragg song, he completely nailed it - it's a standout track on this album. And now the perfect video to accompany it - nice work.
@azcarf44
Thanks for watching. It was fun assembling the montage on this extraordinary song. Completely agree with you... kudos to Marr!
@ThomasWilliamMusic
@azcarf44 Johnny's production is so spooky perfect. This is my favorite music video ever man!!!! Great story and connection w. Billy Bragg. How cool!!! Proud of ya...tw-
@mackeydirk8643
This song still gives me chills.....I was going through a rough patch in college and this song takes me back to that time. I always thought that some of Billy's best lyrics reside within this song.
@ohitbe3616
Mad that you posted this comment three hours ago, i woke up after a cheeky nap earlier and it was the first thing i thought of for some reason. Hadnt heard it for a good 20 years or so. Still magnificent, especially the final lyric in the outro.
@veritasrex66
"The voyeur who dares not come near knows excitement is merely the beginning of fear." wow. I don't believe this guy has ever penned a bad lyric.
@jdshearer
Can this sticky stuff really be love... there's one
@eyevocal
IMHO, he did pretty badly with "Trust" on the same album. It's meant to be a song about AIDS, but it wound up coming off like it was sung from the POV of a molested child.
@JeffreySmith84
It took me a long time to warm up to this album. Bought it on CD in the pre-YouTube era not having heard any of the tracks. Wasn't sure if I liked it at first but over the years, it's become one of my favorite Bragg albums. This song in particular is brilliant. Love the subject matter (I'm a former postman myself, so any song about mail is A-OK!) and the production/mix is more interesting than the average Bragg track. Thanks for making this video which puts it all in context.
@mountainman8775
Inspiring, Billy is a full-fledged musical genius imo, and what a dedication to this photographer that she should have had an impact like this.
Oh and thank you to the creator of the music video, finally, to accompany it! It’s deeply evocative and you’ve done a perfect job.