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 PotosÃ, 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.
Jane Allen
Billy Bragg Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Might have known she'd wanna find out exactly how married I am
She took me the wrong way home to get me on my own
Jane Allen had a bunch of stuff from the old days she wanted to deal with
How come the things that we had done had left her with a mess of feelings
She took me the long way home, no signal on my phone
I had to let her down gently to bring her to her senses
She took me the wrong way home
I know I should have told you I guess I did not understand
That you might need convincing too, that I'm a faithful family man
Jane Allen went to her bed smiling but without me
I don't know how to tell you this without that you should doubt me
You'd take it the wrong way I know, you just wouldn't let it go
It was over a long time ago - believe me I love you so.
The song "Jane Allen" by Billy Bragg tells a story of a married man who is confronted by a woman named Jane Allen. Jane had heard the man was married and wanted to confirm just how married he was. She takes him home the wrong way, with the intention of getting him on his own. Once at her house, Jane wanted to deal with all the old feelings she had towards the man. She questions why the things they had done together had left such a mess of feelings. She takes him the long way home, and there's no signal on his phone to call for help.
Jane Allen then takes the man to a place where she believes he would be defenseless, hoping to have her way with him. However, he has to let her down gently to bring her back to her senses. She had taken him home the wrong way, and he knew he should have told her that he was a married man. He didn't realize that she needed convincing too, that he was a faithful family man. In the end, Jane goes to bed smiling, without the man at her side. He knows he has to tell his wife what happened, but he also knows she would take it the wrong way, and possibly not believe that it's over between him and Jane.
Overall, the song conveys the struggle of temptation, infidelity, and the importance of honesty in a relationship. The man, although tempted, ultimately resists and remains faithful to his wife. However, this situation highlights the fact that even just the appearance of impropriety can damage a relationship.
Line by Line Meaning
Jane Allen took me by surprise said she heard I was a married man
Jane Allen unexpectedly confronted me about being married
Might have known she'd wanna find out exactly how married I am
I suspected she wanted to gauge how devoted to my marriage I really am
She took me the wrong way home to get me on my own
She deliberately took a different route to isolate me
Jane Allen had a bunch of stuff from the old days she wanted to deal with
Jane sought closure on past experiences
How come the things that we had done had left her with a mess of feelings
Our past actions created a lot of emotional baggage for her
She took me the long way home, no signal on my phone
She purposely took a route where I would not easily communicate with anyone for privacy
Jane Allen took me to a place where she thought I'd be defenseless
Jane led me to where she assumed I would be unable to resist her advances
I had to let her down gently to bring her to her senses
I had to kindly reject her to make her realize that what she wanted was not appropriate
She took me the wrong way home
She led me down a path that was not the normal route
I know I should have told you I guess I did not understand
I realize that I should have communicated with you, however, I failed to recognize the importance of doing so
That you might need convincing too, that I'm a faithful family man
I should have understood that you also needed reassurance that I am committed to our marriage
Jane Allen went to her bed smiling but without me
Jane was happy after our encounter, but I did not participate in her happiness
I don't know how to tell you this without that you should doubt me
I am not sure how to disclose this information without making you lose confidence in me
You'd take it the wrong way I know, you just wouldn't let it go
I am certain that you would misinterpret what I have to say and be unable to let it rest
It was over a long time ago - believe me I love you so.
The situation is in the past, and I genuinely love you
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: MARTYN BARKER, LOUIS S. EDMONDS, SIMON JOHN EDWARDS, BENJAMIN NORMAN MANDELSON, IAN PATRICK MCLAGAN, STEPHEN WILLIAM BRAGG
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind