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.
SHE’S GOT A NEW SPELL
Billy Bragg Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Where is it coming from?
All around
What are you running from?
Something you don't understand
Something you cannot command
That's how I know
Yes, that's how I know
That she's got a new spell
What's going down?
Who's moved this room from round me?
Where has it gone?
I fear this night will drown me
So I lie awake all night
'Cause I can't sleep with something I can't fight
The laws of gravity are very, very strict
And you're just bending them for your own benefit
One minute she says
She's gone to get the cat in
The next thing I know
She's mumbling in Latin
She cut the stars out of the sky
And baked them in a pie
She stole the scene and scenery
The script and the machinery
The lyrics of Billy Bragg’s song New Spell suggest a sense of confusion and disorientation. The song begins with a series of questions about an unidentified sound and what the listener is running from. The sense of uncertainty and unease is reinforced by the use of questions rather than statements. This creates an air of ambiguity and the feeling that the singer is grappling with something that he cannot fully comprehend. There is a sense of being outside of one’s comfort zone where the world around the singer seems to be changing as the room moves, leaving him disorientated, vulnerable and at risk of being overwhelmed or drowned by the night. The lyrics are open to interpretation, but one possible reading is that they explore the experience of losing control, feeling powerless, and encountering the unknown or the supernatural.
The chorus employs repetition to emphasize the central message: “That's how I know, she's got a new spell.” The chorus provides some clarification to the mysterious experiences of the singer; the line “she’s got a new spell” connects the disjointed scenes presented and suggests that these experiences are the result of an external force that the singer cannot control. The final verse depicts a transformation happening before the singer's eyes that is so impossible, it feels like witchcraft. The woman is performing acts of magic that defy the laws of physics and basic reason.
In summary, the lyrics of "New Spell" express the feelings of disorientation and uncertainty that occur when we find ourselves faced with something beyond our control or comprehension. The singer feels powerless in the face of an unknown force, and is overwhelmed by feelings of confusion and vulnerability. The song is a powerful exploration of the human experience of encountering unexpected or supernatural events and our sense of frustration in the face of not understanding them.
Line by Line Meaning
What is that sound?
Asks a question to know what he is hearing
Where is it coming from?
Asks a question seeking the location of the sound he hears
All around
Specifies that the sound is coming from all around him
What are you running from?
Asks a question seeking the reason for someone running away.
Something you don't understand
Innocent ignorance of a thing he doesn’t comprehend
Something you cannot command
He knows that it cannot be controlled.
That's how I know
Offering assurance that they know.
She's got a new spell
She has acquired a new power which evades his understanding.
Yes, that's how I know
Reiterates that he is aware of the situation.
What's going down?
Another question seeking information on what is happening
Who's moved this room from round me?
Expresses confusion over his surroundings not being as he remembers
Where has it gone?
He can not locate something tangible and real
I fear this night will drown me
The night is overwhelming him with fear
So I lie awake all night
He is stressing and imagining scenarios, causing him to lose sleep
'Cause I can't sleep with something I can't fight
He is grappling with a force beyond confrontation, which makes him lose sleep.
The laws of gravity are very, very strict
The concept of the earth's natural laws being impartial and tightly regulated for everyone.
And you're just bending them for your own benefit
Playing on his lover’s newfound power, to suggest that she is violating the laws of nature to serve her convenience, altering what is known.
One minute she says,
He is relaying an instance of his lover’s unpredictability, as he starts another story
She's gone to get the cat in
She has gone to retrieve the cat and bring it indoors.
The next thing I know
The swift transition that intervened without warning
She's mumbling in Latin
His lover is uttering Latin words, which he can’t understand.
She cut the stars out of the sky
Extreme imagery of something strange and magical that can’t be comprehended by his lover's actions.
And baked them in a pie
An impossible feat made believable by the power of magic
She stole the scene and scenery
She has to snatch away the artist’s limelight, along with the set dressing and accessories.
The script and the machinery
She has stolen the blueprint of the story, and the technical mechanisms used to bring it to life.
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: STEPHEN WILLIAM BRAGG
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind