Billy Bragg, and Steven Wells: A New England, A New Day, A New Way?

A local journalist died recently, and was lovingly yakked about in the local press. He was Steven Wells, and we wrote loud, short-but-they-feel-longer pieces, about music and general goings-on (like knitting, and how much he despised it).



Sounds like my blog, correct?: but he was, admittedly, better. In part, because he was British, so when he swore (often), it was with words like "SLAG!".

Accident Waiting To Happen - Billy Bragg

[[[ I'm putting a YouTube clip below, because you can maybe only listen to 30 seconds of the above, correct? If you don't have an Imeem.com account at least, correct? Be Honest: has anyone actually got one? (...comments plz...)I do, obv, but do you guys? Or are you all just hearing mini-tiny-itty-bitty clipz? ]]]

So, this qualifies the 'local' aspect, but he'd been here a while and made a life for himself. In fact, he must have deliberately chosen Philly, because he used to be mad famous in England, writing for NME and such. One day he picked up and came here, quite making his mark.
Anyhow, he was famous enough (and impassioned enough, and liked enough) that Billy Bragg wrote about him upon his death.
Now I love Billy Bragg; when I still had a list under the MUSIC section on my Myspace page, he was on there. You understand the relative significance of this, yeah?



(Above is the YouTube version to listen to -IF- you've never heard the song before; if you've heard it a bit, listen to the one at the bottom. It better shows his camaraderie with his audience [funny, because he's a Socialist, get it, Comrade?], his folk and punk roots when he makes them singalong, and how he's funny/charming. These would all be reasons why he and Steven Wells were on friendly terms...)

I won't launch into a grand description of him here, for these reasons:
1) Dude's pretty big- and you are a big girl/boy- so you can figure it out on your own
2) I may write more about him later, maybe vis a vis my "Slept On" series, where I discuss 'really-favorite' music that I never hear my friends talk about

Dig?



Here are some lyrics from that song:

"I was twenty one years when I wrote this song
I'm twenty two now, but I won't be for long
People ask when will you grow up to be a man
But all the girls I loved at school are already pushing prams

I loved you then as I love you still
Tho I put you on a pedestal
They put you on the pill...

I don't want to change the world
I'm not looking for a new England
I'm just looking for another girl

I loved the words you wrote to me
But that was bloody yesterday
I can't survive on what you send
Every time you need a friend

I saw two shooting stars last night
I wished on them but they were only satellites
Is it wrong to wish on space hardware
I wish, I wish, I wish you'd care"

heh