Songs The Lord Told Us # 8

I think that I don't have to say much about Billy Bragg at these place. Most of you will know (and maybe love) him and the music he made throughout the years. There many songs I like to listen almost every time when they shuffle up on my mobile phone. To pick out one is difficult but in my opinion Northern Industrial Town shows exactly his abilities in songwriting. It is very seldom that an artist is able to describe the working people and how they life. This song is in the tradition of Ray Davis and The Kinks who described the working people way back in England in the 60s.

Enjoy

It's just a northern industrial town

The front doors of the houses open into the street

There's no room for front gardens, just a two-up two-down

In a northern industrial town

And you can see the green hills 'cross the rooftops

And a fresher wind blows past the end of our block

In the evenings the mist come rolling on down

Into a northern industrial town

And there's only two teams in this town

And you must follow one or the other

Let us win, let them lose, not the other way 'round

In a northern industrial town

And the street lights look pretty and bright

From the tops of the hills that rise dark in the night

If it weren't for the rain you might never come down

To your northern industrial town

And on payday they tear the place down

With a pint in your hand and a bash 'em out band

Sure they'd dance to the rhythm of the rain falling down

In a northern industrial town

And there's plenty of artists around

Painters steal cars, poets nick guitars

'Cause we're out of the black and we're into the red

So give us this day our daily bread

In a northern industrial town

But it's not Leeds or Manchester

Liverpool, Sheffield nor Glasgow

It's not Newcastle-on-Tyne, it's Belfast

It's just a northern industrial town

Merry Christmas, war is over

In a northern industrial town

Billy Bragg - Northern Industrial Town