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.
Over You
Billy Bragg Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
It's barren, hot and gray
And shadows wheel on iron heels
And move along their way
The light that soothes me evening
Has cut me clean in two
But my blood, it runs with stars
And they've fallen over you
They've been whaling all their fear
The town is meaningless, folks unseen by us these many years
The waiting crowd in this blinding light like angry rivers do
But silence builds a bridge which is swinging over you
It used be the wicked who surrender but no more
They'll draw a line through heart of mine, then smooth it like a row
' host give up their ghosts like death is nothing new
But I could live forever when I'm dying over you
I may learn someday to offer more than what I feel
To set aside this wholesome pride and put my shoulder to the wheel
Build our truth then raise the roof and not confuse the true
But still we stand of rafters and the swing and there's laughter risen over you
The lyrics of Billy Bragg's "Over You" create a vivid picture of a street named for flowers that is barren, hot, and gray. The shadows of the people walking along the street are compared to wheels on iron heels. The singer finds some solace in the evening light that cuts them clean in two, but their blood still runs with stars that have fallen over someone they care about deeply. The town is filled with a waiting, angry crowd, but the singer finds some comfort in the silence that builds a bridge which swings over the person they're addressing.
The lyrics also touch on the idea of surrender and death, but in a more positive light than one might expect. Rather than surrendering to wickedness or ghosts, the singer sees the potential for living forever even in death, as long as they're dying over the person they love. The final lines of the song suggest that the singer may eventually learn to offer more than just their feelings, and be able to "build our truth," put their shoulder to the wheel, and raise the roof in celebration.
Overall, the lyrics of "Over You" are filled with poetic images and metaphors that convey a sense of longing, hope, and emotional depth. The song is a testament to the power of love and the way it can transcend time, space, and even death.
Line by Line Meaning
This street is named for flowers
Although the street is named after beautiful things, it's currently barren, hot, and gray.
And shadows wheel on iron heels
The shadows move along menacingly, almost like they have iron heels.
And move along their way
They're not paying any attention to the people on the street.
The light that soothes me evening
The light that used to bring comfort now splits me in two, leaving me unsure how to feel.
Has cut me clean in two
The light is exposing parts of me I didn't know were there.
But my blood, it runs with stars
Despite feeling conflicted, I'm still filled with passion and ambition.
And they've fallen over you
I'm directing my passion and ambition towards you.
Now the birds have stopped their whaling
The birds have stopped singing their sad songs of fear.
They've been whaling all their fear
The birds have been expressing their fear through their whaling.
The town is meaningless, folks unseen by us these many years
The town is empty, deserted, and the people have been absent for years.
The waiting crowd in this blinding light like angry rivers do
The people in the crowd are blinded by the bright light, and they seem to be angry like rushing rivers.
But silence builds a bridge which is swinging over you
Even though things seem chaotic, the silence is bringing peace.
It used be the wicked who surrender but no more
In the past, only the wicked would surrender, but that's not the case anymore.
They'll draw a line through heart of mine, then smooth it like a row
People will hurt me emotionally, but then act like everything is okay.
' host give up their ghosts like death is nothing new
People have become used to death, acting as if it's a routine thing.
But I could live forever when I'm dying over you
Even if I'm dying inside, the passion and love I have for you will keep me going forever.
I may learn someday to offer more than what I feel
I hope to someday do more for you than just express my feelings.
To set aside this wholesome pride and put my shoulder to the wheel
I need to stop relying on just my emotions and do more practical things to help you.
Build our truth then raise the roof and not confuse the true
We need to come together, build something real, and not get sidetracked by distractions.
But still we stand of rafters and the swing and there's laughter risen over you
Even in difficult times, we stick together and find laughter and joy in each other's company.
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: BILLY BRAGG, JOE HENRY
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Aurelio Gago
great album.
Cianan Bakke
does anyone know the chords to this cant find it anywhere