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.
I Don't Need This Pressure Ron
Billy Bragg Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
It was the next big thing
Exploding over our heads
And soon the next generation
Will emerge from behind the bike sheds
What are we going to offer 'em
The exact same thing as before
But a different way to wear it
Oh pity the pressures at the top
The tantrums and the tears
And the sound of platinum cash deals
Ringin' in their ears
Money maketh man a Tory
Don't fire that assumption at me
I like toast as much as anyone
But not for breakfast dinner and tea
So don't saddle me with your ideals
And spare me all your guilt
For a poet with all the answers
Has never yet been built
I see no shame in putting my name
To socialism's cause
Nor seeking some more relevance
Than spotlight and applause
Neither in the name of conscience
Nor the name of charity
Money is put where mouths are
In the name of solidarity
We sing of freedom
And we speak of liberation
But such chances come
But once a generation
So I'll ignore what I am sure
Were the best of your intentions
You were judged by your actions
And not by your pretensions
There's drudgery in social change
And glory for the few
And if you don't tell me what not to say
I won't tell you what not to do
The song "I Don't Need This Pressure Ron" by Billy Bragg talks about the pressure of the music industry, the politics behind it, and the need for change. Bragg starts with mentioning the next big thing that explodes over their head and the new generation that emerges from it. However, he questions what people in the music industry will offer them. Bragg points out that the industry offers the same thing as before, but in a different way by promising more. The pressure at the top is evident as Bragg sings about their tantrums and tears and the sound of platinum cash deals ringing in their ears.
Bragg suggests that money makes man a Tory and he doesn't like it. He clearly states that he supports socialism's cause and seeks relevance in terms of spotlight and applause, but not at the cost of conscience or charity. He believes that in the name of solidarity, money is put where mouths are. Bragg also highlights the need for freedom and liberation, but he suggests that such opportunities come once a generation.
Finally, Bragg concludes the song by saying that there's drudgery in social change and glory for the few. However, he suggests an open and honest dialogue without any imposition of ideas or expectations. He believes that judgments should only come from actions and not from pretensions.
Line by Line Meaning
What was that bang
What was the latest trend or sensation?
It was the next big thing
It was the newest trend that had captured everyone's attention.
Exploding over our heads
Spreading rapidly and becoming popular beyond control.
And soon the next generation
And the younger generation will take over and follow the same pattern.
Will emerge from behind the bike sheds
Will come out from the hidden corners or secret places.
What are we going to offer 'em
What can we give them that is different from what they already have?
The exact same thing as before
The same thing that has been offered before, but with new packaging.
But a different way to wear it
With a new style or presentation that is seen as fresh and exciting.
And the promise of a whole lot more
And the assurance of getting more than what one expects.
Oh pity the pressures at the top
Sympathize with the difficulties faced by those in power.
The tantrums and the tears
The outbursts and frustrations they feel under great stress.
And the sound of platinum cash deals
The sound of huge amounts of money being made.
Ringin' in their ears
Continually reminding them of their great wealth and influence.
Money maketh man a Tory
Having money can make someone become conservative or right-wing.
Don't fire that assumption at me
Don't assume that I am conservative just because I have money.
I like toast as much as anyone
I am just like everyone else with normal, everyday likes and dislikes.
But not for breakfast dinner and tea
But I don't want toast for every meal, just like everyone else.
So don't saddle me with your ideals
Don't force your ideas or beliefs on me.
And spare me all your guilt
And don't make me feel guilty because of your own beliefs or actions.
For a poet with all the answers
There is no poet that has all the solutions to social problems.
Has never yet been built
Such a person or character never existed.
I see no shame in putting my name
I am not ashamed to associate myself with socialism.
To socialism's cause
To the beliefs and principles of socialism.
Nor seeking some more relevance
I am not looking for more influence or attention beyond what is required.
Than spotlight and applause
Than just being popular or famous.
Neither in the name of conscience
Not because of moral obligation.
Nor the name of charity
Not because of charitable motives.
Money is put where mouths are
Donations and support for social change show real commitment to the cause.
In the name of solidarity
In the spirit of joining hands with others in the struggle for social change.
We sing of freedom
We talk about the idea of being free.
And we speak of liberation
And we talk about being freed from oppression or tyranny.
But such chances come
Opportunities for true freedom and liberation come only once in a while.
But once a generation
Opportunities for true social change come only once in a lifetime.
So I'll ignore what I am sure
I will overlook the things that I am convinced are true.
Were the best of your intentions
That your motives were pure and noble.
You were judged by your actions
You will be evaluated based on what you do, not by what you say.
And not by your pretensions
And not by the things you pretend to be or do.
There's drudgery in social change
Making societal change is boring, difficult work with long hours and few rewards.
And glory for the few
Only select individuals receive recognition and reward for contribution to social change.
And if you don't tell me what not to say
If you don't censor my speech by telling me what to say or not say.
I won't tell you what not to do
I won't try to control your actions by telling you what to do or not do.
Lyrics © OBO APRA/AMCOS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind