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 ÂŁ175 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 PotosĂ, 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 â who was setting up his own record label, Go! Discs â 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" â 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 1984â1985 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.
The Beach Is Free
Billy Bragg Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And the forests belong to the king
These days our pleasures are all behind fences
We have to pay for everything
So turn around and come on down
The beach is free
Just turn around and come on down
Well, the cities are teeming with people
And the highway is jammed up with cars
And the airport is a nightmare in season
But you don't have to go that far
Just turn around and come on down
The beach is free
Just turn around and come on down
The beach is free
Well, they take all the flags down in the evening
And the soldiers stand guard at the keep
But the beaches are always open
'cause the ocean, she never sleeps
So turn around and come on down
The beach is free
Just turn around and come on down
The beach is free
So turn around and come on down
The beach is free
Just turn around and come on down
The beach is free
Billy Bragg's song "The Beach Is Free" is a commentary on the commercialization of leisure. The opening lines illustrate how traditional sources of leisure like fields and forests have been taken over by farmers and kings respectively. Unlike before, when people could experience leisure without having to pay anything, now everything comes with a price tag. Bragg highlights how these pleasures are fenced off and made inaccessible to those who can't afford them. However, in this rather gloomy picture, the beach offers a respite. It is the one place where people can still experience leisure without having to pay, and the ocean is always open. The chorus, inviting people to "turn around and come on down, the beach is free," is a beckoning call to rediscover this free and open space.
The second verse highlights the overcrowded urban centers, where people are packed like sardines, and everything seems to be congested. The highways are jammed with cars, and airports are a nightmare during the season. But despite all this, the beach is still a viable option that doesn't require a lot of traveling. Bragg presents the image of soldiers guarding the keep and flags being taken down in the evening, and that's a metaphor for how our modern-day "leisure" is regulated and controlled. Still, on the beach, there are no barriers, no guards, and no prohibitive regulations. It's open and free to all who come, making it a powerful symbol of freedom and hope.
In conclusion, the song "The Beach Is Free" is an invitation to rediscover leisure in its simplest and purest form. It's a call to break down the barriers that keep us from experiencing leisure, to push against the commodification of leisure and its constrictive rules. The beach represents the unfettered and unrestricted joy of being free, and as Bragg concludes in the song, "Just turn around and come on down, the beach is free."
Line by Line Meaning
Well, the fields belong to the farmers
The farmers own the fields.
And the forests belong to the king
The king owns the forests.
These days our pleasures are all behind fences
Nowadays, we have to pay to enjoy the things we like.
We have to pay for everything
We have to pay for everything we want to do.
So turn around and come on down
Don't go far, just come to the beach.
The beach is free
You can have fun at the beach without paying anything.
Well, the cities are teeming with people
Cities are crowded with people.
And the highway is jammed up with cars
The road is filled with cars causing traffic problems.
And the airport is a nightmare in season
During peak season, traveling by air is problematic.
But you don't have to go that far
You don't have to travel far to have fun.
Well, they take all the flags down in the evening
Flags are lowered in the evening.
And the soldiers stand guard at the keep
Soldiers protect the keep.
But the beaches are always open
The beaches are available to everyone, 24/7.
'cause the ocean, she never sleeps
The ocean is always awake and moving.
So turn around and come on down
Don't go far, just come to the beach.
The beach is free
You can have fun at the beach without paying anything.
Just turn around and come on down
Don't go far, just come to the beach.
The beach is free
You can have fun at the beach without paying anything.
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: BILLY BRAGG
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
David Roon - Explorations in Art & Ecology
Sky is free.
Ocean is blissful.
Trees are divine.
Rocks are enlightened.
So are we.
Who is still searching...
For what?
--Anam Thubten
from "No Self, No Problem"
Keep doing what you're doing mate- always an inspiration.
A. Cat
Actually, the King owns the beach too. đ Fuckall is free.