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.
Remember the Mountain Bed
Billy Bragg Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Do you still sigh there near the sky where the holly berry bleeds?
You laughed as I covered you over with leaves
Face, breast, hips, and thighs
You smiled when I said the leaves were just the color of your eyes
Rosin smells and turpentine smells from eucalyptus and pine
Bitter tastes of twigs we chewed where tangled wood vines twine
I could not see any wrong in you, and you saw none in me
Your arm was brown against the ground, your cheeks part of the sky
Your fingers played with grassy moss, as limber you did lie
Your stomach moved beneath your shirt and your knees were in the air
Your feet played games with mountain roots as you lay thinking there
Below us the trees grew clumps of trees, raised families of trees, and they
As proud as we tossed their heads in the wind and flung good seeds away
The sun was hot and the sun was bright down in the valley below
Where people starved and hungry for life so empty come and go
There in the shade and hid from the sun we freed our minds and learned
Our greatest reason for being here, our bodies moved and burned
There on our mountain bed of leaves we learned life's reason why
The people laugh and love and dream, they fight, they hate to die
The smell of your hair I know is still there, if most of our leaves are blown
Our words still ring in the brush and the trees where singing seeds are sown
Your shape and form is dim but plain, there on our mountain bed
I see my life was brightest where you laughed and laid your head
I learned the reason why man must work and how to dream big dreams
To conquer time and space and fight the rivers and the seas
I stand here filled with my emptiness now and look at city and land
And I know why farms and cities are built by hot, warm, nervous hands
I crossed many states just to stand here now, my face all hot with tears
I crossed city, and valley, desert, and stream, to bring my body here
My history and future blaze bright in me and all my joy and pain
Go through my head on our mountain bed where I smell your hair again.
All this day long I linger here and on in through the night
My greed's, desires, my cravings, hopes, my dreams inside me fight
My loneliness healed, my emptiness filled, I walk above all pain
Back to the breast of my woman and child to scatter my seeds again
The song “Remember the Mountain Bed” by Billy Bragg is a beautiful representation of intense love between two people who find solace and joy in each other’s company. The lyrics are an ode to a love that was shared on a mountain bed made of leaves and limbs. The song starts with the singer asking his lover whether they still remember the mountain bed of leaves and limbs that they made and shared. He asks whether she still sighs near the sky where the holly berry bleeds, indicating the emotional depth of their love. The singer then describes how they covered each other with leaves, how they laughed together, and how the leaves were the same color as her eyes.
The lyrics describe their surroundings, invoking vivid imagery of the woods around them. The smell of rosin and turpentine, the bitterness of twigs, and the thick trees that encased them on all sides, all add to the sensory richness of the narrative. The lyrics describe how they learned about living a worthy life, about love and laughter, and how they found their life's reason why. The singer talks about the joy he felt on that mountain bed, and how it filled his emptiness.
Overall, the song is a beautiful tribute to love, sensuality, and finding a place of respite from the world. It is about the beauty of nature and the joy of love shared between two people.
Line by Line Meaning
Do you still sing of the mountain bed we made of limbs and leaves?
Do you still remember the place where we shared moments of love and peace, surrounded by the natural beauty of a mountain bed composed of limbs and leaves?
Do you still sigh there near the sky where the holly berry bleeds?
Do you still feel nostalgic about the place where we experienced a moment of love and connection with nature, near the bleeding holly berries under the sky?
You laughed as I covered you over with leaves Face, breast, hips, and thighs You smiled when I said the leaves were just the color of your eyes
You enjoyed when I covered your body with leaves, our hearts full of love and laughter, and you felt flattered by my comparison of the leaves color with that of your eyes.
Rosin smells and turpentine smells from eucalyptus and pine Bitter tastes of twigs we chewed where tangled wood vines twine Trees held us in on all four sides so thick we could not see I could not see any wrong in you, and you saw none in me
The surroundings of the mountain were filled with the smells of rosin and turpentine from the eucalyptus and pine trees, and the tastes of bitter twigs we chewed amidst the tangled wood vines. The thick trees surrounded us, leading us to a space that blended us, and in that moment, we couldn't see any wrong in ourselves nor each other.
Your arm was brown against the ground, your cheeks part of the sky Your fingers played with grassy moss, as limber you did lie Your stomach moved beneath your shirt and your knees were in the air Your feet played games with mountain roots as you lay thinking there
As you lay on the ground, your brown arms blended into the earth, making your cheeks become part of the sky. Your fingers moved through the moss as you relaxed and let your body become one with the mountain. Your stomach moved in and out under your shirt and your knees were lifted into the air, and your feet played with the roots of the mountain as you let your thoughts wander.
Below us the trees grew clumps of trees, raised families of trees, and they As proud as we tossed their heads in the wind and flung good seeds away The sun was hot and the sun was bright down in the valley below Where people starved and hungry for life so empty come and go
As we looked below us, we saw the trees raising families and growing together as proud as us. They tossed their heads in the wind, flinging good seeds away. Down in the valley below us, the sun was hot and bright, and people lived their lives, some starved and empty, while others sought to make the most out of their existence.
There in the shade and hid from the sun we freed our minds and learned Our greatest reason for being here, our bodies moved and burned There on our mountain bed of leaves we learned life's reason why The people laugh and love and dream, they fight, they hate to die
Amidst the shade and hidden from the sun, we freed our minds and lived a moment of self-discovery, understanding the greatest reason for our existence. Our bodies moved and burned, and there in our mountain bed of leaves, we understood the reason for life itself. People exist to laugh, love, dream, fight, and hate to die.
The smell of your hair I know is still there, if most of our leaves are blown Our words still ring in the brush and the trees where singing seeds are sown Your shape and form is dim but plain, there on our mountain bed I see my life was brightest where you laughed and laid your head
Even if most of the leaves are blown away, I still smell the scent of your hair embedded in our special place. Our words still echo amongst the brush and trees, where the seeds are singing. Even though the image of your form and shape is fading, I can still see you there on our mountain bed, showing me that my life was at its brightest when you laughed and laid your head there with me.
I learned the reason why man must work and how to dream big dreams To conquer time and space and fight the rivers and the seas I stand here filled with my emptiness now and look at city and land And I know why farms and cities are built by hot, warm, nervous hands
When I was there with you, I learned the reason why humans must work and have big dreams, to conquer time, space, and nature's challenges. Now standing here, filled with emptiness, I look at the city and land, and I understand why farms and cities are built by hands eager to make a living and succeed.
I crossed many states just to stand here now, my face all hot with tears I crossed city, and valley, desert, and stream, to bring my body here My history and future blaze bright in me and all my joy and pain Go through my head on our mountain bed where I smell your hair again.
I traveled across many states, cities, valleys, deserts, and streams just to stand here now with tears burning my face. My past and future blaze brightly inside me, and all my joy and pain goes through my head as I remember our mountain bed, smelling your hair once again.
All this day long I linger here and on in through the night My greed's, desires, my cravings, hopes, my dreams inside me fight My loneliness healed, my emptiness filled, I walk above all pain Back to the breast of my woman and child to scatter my seeds again.
All day and night, I linger here, fighting the greed, desires, cravings, hopes, and dreams inside me. My loneliness is healed, and my emptiness is filled as I walk above all pain, ready to return to my woman and child, to scatter my seeds once again.
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner/Chappell Music, Inc., Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: JEFF TWEEDY, JAY BENNETT, WOODIE GUTHRIE
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind