(Track from album, “Brewing Up With Billy Bragg”)
Billy Bragg is something of a recent discovery for me; I always knew about landmark tracks like “A New England”, but my first real introduction to this kind of music, a protesting screech of electric guitar and blunt, realistic lyrics, only hit these ears for the first time about a year ago when, lying by a pool in Portugal, “Honey, I’m A Big Boy Now” came around on shuffle. My Dad didn’t see much of his iPod that holiday…
The sea-shanty feel of the keys, the harsh vocal tainted with an Essex accent, a tragically realistic story of a split-up brought on by one half’s laziness, and of course those sarcastic references to nightlights and the kitchen’s pots and pans; this song is still one of my all-time favourites…
Working through the bonus track discs, having browsed speedily through the albums, I found myself discovering raw protest track after raw protest track, and it was incredible fun, I have to admit. The songs I knew well, I found alternate versions of, and the songs I didn’t, I went back afterwards for the album versions, only to find what I’d heard first was far superior. This was definitely the case for “A Lover Sings”.
The song is one of those sarcastic and realistic love songs you find on every indie record, but some artists pull it off better than others. This is one of those. The ‘lover’ character is the narrator of the lyrics, with the direction of his words being the girl he loves. He bashfully recalls their first coffee together, and perching on the end of her bed waiting for them to make love. Walking in the park and kissing on the carpet are amongst the idyllic recollections of heir relationships, but this song gets its sarky-indie twang from other lyrics too; ‘your tights around your ankles’ and ‘wedding cake and toothache equals love and hate’ are probably my favourites. The album version is a simplistic track, closing the album with a pleasing combination of smooth organ and muted guitar. No impressive riffs or solos. Just a crooner and his guitar – a bit like every other Bragg song but with someone on keys behind it…
And that alternate version? Well…imagine if you will, a protest song – about being in love…I know right?
Part of a series of tracks recorded in Bragg’s flat in late 1983, this alternate version of “A Lover Sings”, along with the Rolling Stones song, “The Last Time” and the Smiths b-side favourite, “Back To The Old House”, was primitively captured on tape with Bragg giving it large on vocals as usual, but with a guest guitarist, infinitely faster than Bragg himself, and with finger-picking skills unrivalled on this particular music scene.
It was this Johnny Marr version of the song that initially captured my attention as the opening riff was copied directly from “This Charming Man”, sped up, and altered slightly to fit Bragg’s song, with a bass line vaguely similar to that of Elvis Presley’s hit record “Marie’s The Name (Of His Latest Flame)”, interestingly enough later covered as part of a medley by The Smiths in concert. The Smiths guitarist does his best here, intimately withdrawing magical sounds from his instrument like there’s no tomorrow; loudly, and with fantastical speed. The guitars spring in every direction, oscillating wildly from ear to ear and giving a manic passion to the song that is, frankly, absent from the original studio take. Maybe less heartwarming, but definitely superior in terms of sound, and in fact, musical emotion, the eclectic mix of Bragg’s voice and Marr’s guitars was a relationship which, I think, given some work, could have produced some amazing tracks…maybe, maybe not…we’ll probably never know now…
This isn’t to totally dispel the standard version from the almighty Bragg catalogue. An early track in the grand scheme of things, Bragg has definitely done better, but there’s something very captivating about this sound, and, at the end of the day, that organ player is a mater of the keys.
If anything, the lyrics really give this song the edge. In every version, the track sounds great and it’s always down to the intelligent choice of words. Those perverse and imaginative representations of how lovers see each other are so emotive and true to life that, alongside the raw guitars, squealing with romantic delight, the overall feel of the track is very intimate and incredibly intense. It feels so personal because of it’s toned down delivery, and though the studio mix does this well with the polished organ somewhat juxtaposing the ideal delivery, and giving the narrator something of a superior voice, the alternate edits are more humble and give the lyrics a much better atmosphere, something which Billy Bragg has always been incredibly good at…
★★★★★
Versions of "A Lover Sings"
Album Version – 3:51
Alternate Version featuring Johnny Marr – 3:57
John Peel Session – 4:05