ANOTHER BRILLIANT DUET FEATURING THE BARD OF BARKING

This isn't a single that sits within the collection.  For some reason or other, I never did get round to buying it at the time.  Years later, thanks to their inclusion on compilations and box-sets, I got my hands on the two wonderful b-sides:-

mp3 : Billy Bragg - Wishing The Days Away (ballad version)
mp3 : Billy Bragg - Sin City

The former is a stripped back version of one of the tracks on Talking With The Taxman About Poetry....this version is just Billy on vocals and Cara Tivey on keyboards.

The latter is a track, that until I got Volume 1 of Billy's boxsets back in 2006, was one that I knew was a cover version....but it was one I thought was called 'The Lord's Burnin' Rain' and that it had originally been penned by Hank Wangford.  This was all down to me having this bit of footage on VHS tape courtesy of some late night programme on Channel 4:-



It was only decades later that I learned both men were paying tribute to Gram Parsons.

Incidentally, one of the many gigs I never got to but wished I'd seen was at Glasgow University back in 1984. Billy was headlining and the support was the Hank Wangford Band. There was a bomb scare phoned into the venue...but Billy being the ultimate pro followed hs audience out into the street and played an impromptu set on the steps...Click here for more details.

Happy Listening

PS : It's just struck me....and it is pure coincidence......that on the extra day in the leap year I've featured a song from a single with the word leap in it.