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Turning Silence Into Song: The Music of Leon Rosselson (Online Concert)

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Join People’s Music Network on Sunday, May 22:

  • 12-2pm (PST, U.S.) 
  • 3-5PM (EST, U.S.) 
  • 7-9PM (GMT)

“Turning Silence Into Song” – Leon Rosselson has been doing that for six decades, creating a sound track for unsung heroes and unspeakable scoundrels.  Revisit his classics or be introduced to one you never heard before.  Invite someone who never heard of Leon – it’s about time!

Please join us to enjoy an international lineup of musical luminaries celebrating the life and work of Leon Rosselson on May 22, 2022 (times above). This live Zoom concert, sponsored by The People’s Music Network, is totally free to the public.  Donations to support PMN’s year round work of presenting workshops, conferences, and songswaps are gratefully accepted.

JOIN US ON ZOOM

PMN members may register for free.  Non-members receive the Zoom Meeting info as soon as they register after any contribution to People’s Music Network of $2 or more.   Registration isn’t required to tune in to the free livestream, but when you register, you get an automatic reminder about the show with the option to tune in via Zoom.

Register to get the Zoom link

TUNE INTO THE FREE LIVESTREAM

The show will also be livestreamed via the People’s Music Network Youtube page.

ARTISTS

Each artist will perform a song written by Leon Rosselson.  For more information on them and their recordings, see their websites: 

INVITE SOMEONE ELSE BY SHARING THE EVENT ON FACEBOOK

https://www.facebook.com/events/5286915234693222

Register

About Leon Rosselson

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Leon Rosselson is an acclaimed singer and songwriter with more than 50 years of performing under his belt and the author of 17 children’s books. Here you can find more information, a complete bibliography and musicography of Leon’s works as well as an up to date list of upcoming gigs.

You can also get in touch if you’d like more information or to purchase a book or record.

The World Turned Upside Down – 2011

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FUSE RECORDS CFCD 077
The 4 CDs in this box set contain 72 songs, covering 5 decades of songwriting, from the sparky sixties to the curdled present, and encompass a wide variety of song subjects and song forms. They have been written out of hope, anger, love, scorn, laughter and despair.  And because they have something to say about the times in which they were written, there is an 80 page booklet containing copious notes on the political and personal environments that formed them, along with some pointed observations on the craft of songwriting. 
Frankie Armstrong, Roy Bailey, Mark Bassey, Steve Berry, Billy Bragg, Martin Carthy, Howard Evans, Clare Lintott, Chris Foster, Sue Harris, Paul Jayasinha,  John Kirkpatrick, Elizabeth Mansfield, Janet Russell, Ruth Rosselson, Fiz Shapur, Dave Swarbrick, Miranda Sykes, Roger Williams, The 3 City 4, The Oyster Band, and The Sheffield Socialist Choir all contribute.
Released on 3rd October 2011. Distributed by Proper Music Distribution.
 
Price: £30
Postage to the UK included in the price.  
Send a cheque as per Mail Order instructions here or click the Buy Now button below.
 
Paypal button for buying The World Turned Upside Down
 
 
In the USA, you can purchase it from PM Press. 
 

“It’s the life work of of one of Britain’s finest contemporary writers – not just songwriters but writers in any form…. The World Turned Upside Down concludes with ‘The Power of Song’, to which this magnificent retrospective is a living testament.” – review in Songlines January 2012

“Sitting here with a four-CD boxed set, including an extensive booklet offering valuable insights into the whys and wherefores of it all…. you not only get the full benefit of his stinging satire , you get a sharp sense of the times for which they were written. This is a remarkable achievement for any songwriter, whether it’s the 17th century stories recounted in The World Turned Upside Down and Abiezer Coppe – sung so powerfully by Roy Bailey – to the modern follies depicted by the likes of They’re Going to Build a Motorway, Ballad of a Spycatcher and The Wall that Stands Between.

…a well-rounded picture of a remarkable artist who’s never taken his eyes off the ball even – or especially – when that ball is bouncing in a determinedly anti-popular direction.” – fRoots May 2012

” …to my mind, one of the best songs ever written is Song of the Olive Tree, about the fate of a tree and the people of Palestine. It’s a song that is at once beautiful, depressing, anger-inducing and, finally, hopeful and inspiring.” – Taplas January 2012

“I’ve sung his children’s songs to my children (and other people’s children) and his grown-up’s songs to my grown-ups (and, more than likely, to other people’s grown-ups) and in the process of singing, have never ceased to marvel at the skill and care of Leon’s writing. We’ll not see his like again, even if we wait for fifty years…” – Tykes News Winter 2011/2012 

“And along with the 4 CDs (the first three covering the best of his output in the 60s, 70s, 80s, and the fourth the 90s/noughties) we have a quite magnificent liner booklet with nearly 80 pages of text and photos. Really informative text on the writing of each song, as there was no need to waste space filling it with song lyrics; if there is a better enunciator of song lyrics than Leon, then I’d like to know where that person is. Every word he sings is crystal clear. “ – The Living Tradition May 2012

“An anarchist Noel Coward” – Irish Left Review (see full text) 

Israeli Checkpoint

WELCOME TO THE WITCH HUNT

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My local Labour controlled council has just voted, like other councils, as well as universities and the UK government, to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism. This consists of a rather loose basic definition, followed by a rambling discourse around the subject that twice mentions Israel and then 11 examples, 7 of which refer to the state of Israel. Anyone with a functioning brain might suspect that this definition has less to do with protecting Jews from antisemitism than with shielding Israel from criticism.

When the European Parliament were due to vote on whether to adopt this definition, I wrote to my MEPs urging them to reject it. Two replied in identical terms, pointing out that the definition makes it clear that ‘criticism of Israel cannot be regarded as antisemitic’. Except that it doesn’t. They lied. Why would they do that? What it actually says is that ‘criticism of Israel similar to that levelled against any other country cannot be regarded as antisemitic’.

The italicised phrase changes everything. Why is it there? Obviously to muddy the waters. Who is to decide whether criticism of Israel goes beyond that levelled against any other country? In any case, Israel is not like any other country. It is a settler colonial state, founded on massacres and ethnic cleansing. It is, by any definition, a criminal state. Transferring Israeli settlers into the occupied territory is illegal, as is transferring Palestinian prisoners into Israeli jails. The Wall, built largely on Palestinian land was judged illegal by the International Court of Justice in 2004. The collective punishment inflicted on the people of Gaza is a war crime under the Fourth Geneva Convention. Israel itself is a racist state where ‘Arabs’ are viewed as a demographic threat. Unlike other countries (Myanmar is an exception), it is not a state for all its citizens but for all the Jews in the world, who are given the ‘Right of Return’, a right denied to the indigenous people.

Continue Reading on Medium >

Sign reading "Justice for Grenfell - We demand the truth"

Palaces of Gold

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PALACES OF GOLD by LEON ROSSELSON 

 

If the sons of company directors and judges’ private daughters

Had to go to school in a slum school

Dumped by some joker in a damp back alley

Had to herd into classrooms cramped with worry

With a view onto slagheaps and stagnant pools

Had to file through corridors grey with age

And play in a crackpot concrete cage.

Buttons would be pressed

Rules would be broken

Strings would be pulled

And magic words spoken

Invisible fingers would mould

Palaces of gold.

If prime-ministers and advertising executives

Royal personages and bank managers’ wives

Had to live out their lives in dank rooms

Blinded by smoke and the foul air of sewers

Rot on the walls and rats in the cellars

In rows of dumb houses like mouldering tombs

Had to bring up their children and watch them grow

In a waste land of dead streets where nothing will grow.

Buttons would be pressed 

Rules would be broken

Strings would be pulled

And magic words spoken

Invisible fingers would mould

Palaces of gold.

I’m not suggesting any sort of a plot

Everyone knows there’s not

But you unborn millions might like to be warned

That if you don’t want to be buried alive by slagheaps

Pitfalls and damp walls and rat-traps and dead streets

Arrange to be democratically born

The son of a company director

Or a judge’s fine and private daughter.

Buttons will be pressed

Rules will be broken

Strings will be pulled

And magic words spoken

Invisible fingers will mould

Palaces of gold.

 

“The lesson of Aberfan is never put your faith in experts or authority….Unless ordinary people take notice there will be another Aberfan, another Chernobyl and much worse.” – Cyril Vaughan, Vice-Chairman of the Aberfan Disaster Fund 18 October 1986, 20 years after Aberfan.

Liberty Tree flyer - Cecil Sharp House, March 8th

Don’t miss The Liberty Tree in Leeds!

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THE PERFECT POST-ELECTION MORALE BOOSTER!

 

 I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish Church, by the Roman Church, by the Greek Church, by the Protestant Church, nor by any church that I know.  MY OWN MIND IS MY OWN CHURCH. 

“When the rich plunder the poor of his rights, it becomes an example to the poor to plunder the rich of his property.” 

 

Liberty Tree flyer - Cecil Sharp House, March 8th

Don’t miss The Liberty Tree – March 8th!

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The only London performance this year!

Cecil Sharp House, 2 Regent’s Park Road, London NW1 7AY.

Box office: 020 7485 2206 or book online here.

 

 I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish Church, by the Roman Church, by the Greek Church, by the Protestant Church, nor by any church that I know.  MY OWN MIND IS MY OWN CHURCH. 

“When the rich plunder the poor of his rights, it becomes an example to the poor to plunder the rich of his property.” 

 

They Come Like Armies

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They come like armies, they assault the land
They pump down vast amounts of water, toxic chemicals & sand
To crack the rocks and win the prize
The shale gas they hope will see their profits rise.

They say it’s safe, nothing to fear
But it doesn’t take a fracking scientist to spot a bad idea
Just one small leak in the wells they sink
Will contaminate the water that we drink

Ask who will profit? Who pay the price?
This patch of earth they’re violating isn’t theirs to sacrifice.
Why can’t they see that it’s insane
To heat the planet, scar the earth for short term gain?

Earth’s buried treasures they take by force
And fracking uses so much water it depletes the water source
So now in Texas they’re asking why
The shale gas flows while the water taps run dry.

Let’s choose clean water, let’s choose clean air
Let’s choose a future that’s sustainable for everyone to share
Let’s choose clean energy sea, sun and wind
So we can keep those fossil fuels in the ground.
Book Cover - That Precious Strand of Jewishness that Challenges Authority

That Precious Strand of Jewishness that Challenges Authority

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Now available from Five Leaves Bookshop Occasional Papers

 
Singer-songwriter Leon Rosselson questions what it means to be Jewish.
 
“For my parents and grandparents, Jewish identity, in religion, culture and language, was a given. Not so for me. I’m not religious, not a Zionist, so in what consists my Jewishness? Is a love of chopped liver and a belief that chicken soup cures all ills enough? And does it matter? This is the story of my search for answers. It is an argument with myself, with song lyrics to embellish the argument.”
 
28 pages £4.00
ISBN 978-1-910170-33-5
 
Order from Five Leaves (UK P&P free)
 
Send your name, address and a cheque for £4
payable to Five Leaves, 14a Long Row,
Nottingham NG1 2DH
or call 0115 837 3097, 10–5 Mon–Sat, with
your address and credit card details
or pay via PayPal to [email protected] 
 
This essay was originally presented as the 2015 Yerushah Lecture at the Faculty of Divinity, University of Cambridge at the invitation of Dr Daniel Weiss 
Where are the Barricades? CD Cover

Where are the Barricades? – 2016

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Leon Rosselson has been at the forefront of songwriting in Britain for over 5 decades.  His latest collection (and final recording) features some of his finest songs, ranging from the humorous to the poignant and from the lyrical to the satirical. Stories for our times, musically varied and not a word out of place

Track List:  1. FULL MARKS FOR CHARLIE  2. WHERE ARE THE BARRICADES?  3. LOOTERS 4. BENEFITS  5. SIXTY QUID A WEEK  6. I’M GOING WHERE THE SUITS WILL SHINE MY SHOES 7. LET’S GIVE THANKS  9. REJOICE  8.  MARITAL DIARIES  10. FAIR’S FAIR  11. ACTIVE AGEING  12. PARIS IN THE RAIN 13. THE BALLAD OF RIVKA & MOHAMMED  14. FOUR DEGREES CELSIUS  15.  AT DAWN 

With Roy Bailey, Robb Johnson, John Kirkpatrick, Liz Mansfield, Janet Russell and Fiz Shapur.

Price: £12
Postage to the UK included in the price.  
Send a cheque as per Mail Order instructions here or click the Buy Now button below. 
In the U.S.A. & Canada, this CD can be bought via the PM Press website
 
 



 
“Every selection’s a sparkling example of definitively literate wordsmithery, right-on social, political and philosophical commentary, polemic and invective, waspish wit, humour and irony, passion and compassion in equal measure.”  – fRoots
“Heartily recommended listening – and packaged with care and with extensive explanatory notes, this is a classic on every level.”
– Living Tradition
“a clutch of passionate, thoughtful and melodic songs…”   – Rock ‘n’ Reel
 
 
Where are the Barricades? CD Cover

New CD: Where are the Barricades?

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NOW AVAILABLE! 

Leon Rosselson has been at the forefront of songwriting in Britain for over 5 decades.  His latest collection (and final recording) features some of his finest songs, ranging from the humorous to the poignant and from the lyrical to the satirical. Stories for our times, musically varied and not a word out of place

Track List:  1. FULL MARKS FOR CHARLIE  2. WHERE ARE THE BARRICADES?  3. LOOTERS 4. BENEFITS  5. SIXTY QUID A WEEK  6. I’M GOING WHERE THE SUITS WILL SHINE MY SHOES 7. LET’S GIVE THANKS  9. REJOICE  8.  MARITAL DIARIES  10. FAIR’S FAIR  11. ACTIVE AGEING  12. PARIS IN THE RAIN 13. THE BALLAD OF RIVKA & MOHAMMED  14. FOUR DEGREES CELSIUS  15.  AT DAWN 

With Roy Bailey, Robb Johnson, John Kirkpatrick, Liz Mansfield, Janet Russell and Fiz Shapur.

Price: £12
Postage to the UK included in the price.  
Send a cheque as per Mail Order instructions here or click the Buy Now button below. 
 



 
In the U.S.A. & Canada, this CD can be bought via the PM Press website  
 
 

A song for Gaza – The Ballad of Rivka and Mohammad

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The Ballad of Rivka and Mohammad

 
 
I was watching the news from Gaza
And I fell asleep on my chair
And when I woke up from my slumber
A young girl was standing there.
She said, My name is Rivka
They killed me because I’m a Jew
I died in the ghetto of Vilna
In nineteen forty two.
The ghetto was like a prison
They wouldn’t allow us to leave
Some said they were going to kill us all
We didn’t know what to believe.
That day I wore my new red dress
My bubbe had made for me
And in that crowded ghetto
It made me feel proud and free.
I looked up at the soldier
I looked him in the eye
I forgot to bow my head down
And so I had to die.
He smashed my head with his rifle
Because I was too bold
I was killed in the Vilna ghetto
When I was seven years old.
And then out of the darkness
A young boy’s gaze met mine
He said, My name is Mohammed
My country is Palestine.
I’ve lived all my life in Gaza
And the only time I feel free
Is when I go down to the harbour
And feel the wind from the sea.
That day I went with my cousins
We ran down to the beach to play
Then the soldier fired a shell at me
And blew my life away.
They want to crush our spirits
They want us to be afraid
Locked up in the prison of Gaza
The prison that they have made.
To them our lives don’t matter
They force us to live in a cage
I was killed on the beach in Gaza
At eleven years of age.
They don’t think that we deserve freedom
Or belong to the human race.
Mohammed, my brother, said Rivka,
This world is a cold, cold place.
Mohammed, my friend, my brother,
Let us leave this world of war.
Then each took the hand of the other
And then they were seen no more.
But I saw spokesmen and politicians
Lining up to speechify
And every word was a hypocrite
And every word was a lie.
I saw children still being slaughtered
The monster must have its fill
While the people with power sat on their hands 
And supplied the weapons that kill.
I weep for the people of Gaza
And they are weeping still
And I curse the ones who do nothing
And encourage the monster to kill. 

…. five die in outbreak of West Bank unrest over Gaza

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They walked to the wall in their thousands
They came like a surge of the sea
They crossed the hard and barren earth
Where their olive groves used to be
They flew flags in freedom’s colours
Sang songs of victory
The Wall carved through the landscape
For as far as the eye can see.

The Wall towered over them
The Wall barred their way
Above them an Apache
Hovered like a bird of prey
Some of them picked up stones and rocks
And hurled them against the Wall
And stood and watched in silence
As if waiting for it to fall.

Uneasy in their watchtowers
Uncertain what to do
The soldiers looked down on the swelling crowds
And their nervousness grew
The Brigadier phoned the General
Who arrived in his APC
‘There’s trouble here,’ said the Brigadier
Said the General, ‘Leave it to me.’

He climbed up into the watchtower
He spoke through a megaphone
‘Go back now where you came from
This is a military zone.’
‘We want justice, we want freedom,’
They chanted in reply.
‘You won’t find them here,’ said the General.
‘Don’t you know they’re in short supply?’

‘We want bread, justice, freedom,’
They sang out with one voice.
‘We are the third intifada
You give us no other choice.
You turn our lives to rubble
You turn our hopes to dust
But you cannot break our resistance
For we know our cause is just.’

Said the General, ‘You’ve had your last warning.’
‘This is our land,’ they said.
The soldiers’ hands gripped their rifles
The gunship buzzed overhead.
They said, ‘Do you think you can kill us all?’
The General said, ‘Why not?’
A woman screamed out to the heavens
When they fired the first shot.

The Minister of Propaganda
Alerted the BBC
‘Terrorists tried to breach the fence
And attack our troops,’ said he.
A hostile mob assembled
Where civilians aren’t allowed
And gangs of armed militants
Hid themselves in the crowd.
Of course any civilian casualties
Are a matter of great regret
But we have the right to defend ourselves
When our soldiers are under threat.’

The white flag the boy was waving
Was a white scarf stained blood red
And the vow he made was a promise
That one day their blood would be shed.
They gathered up their wounded
They gathered up their dead.
‘We will come again tomorrow.’
‘Your choice,’ the General said. 

 

(From A Proper State Fuse CFCD 024 released 2008.)

TONY BLAIR to advise the Egyptian President, Abdel Fattah El-Sisi..

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FROM TALKING DEMOCRACY BLUES.
Democracy so fine, so fair
How come it landed us with Blair?
Gave us as our leader one
Who thinks that he is God’s own son
A tricky politician who
Believes what he believes is true.
Some think him bumptious, vain and smug
Regard him as a well-bred thug
But Blair’s an amiable guy
Look he wouldn’t harm a fly
But when he smiles, children die.
I met murder on the stair
He had a mask like Tony Blair
He cracked a smile, he cracked a joke
A pretty straighforward sort of bloke.
And a crusading politician
Democracy, that’s his mission
To spread it here, to spread it there
So everyone can have a share.
Western democracy, the prize
The surest way to civilise
The backward nations, set them free
And if they dare to disagree
They must be bombed for their objections
Until they learn to hold elections.
They call this, I forgot to mention, 
Humanitarian intervention.
And did the slaughter his war brought
Ever give him pause for thought?
And did the chaos he created
A country smashed and devastated
The tortured, the incarcerated
The shattered millions who fled
The maimed, the half a million dead
Cause him to pause or hesitate? 
Or did he simply calculate
That this was a price that was worth paying
And salved his conscience by praying?
Well afterwards you couldn’t get
From Blair a smidgeon of regret.
Indeed this unrepentant man
Declared a wish to bomb Iran
Liar, fantasist and faker
Will answer only to his maker.
Now think on this – for all his crimes
We elected Blair – three times.
Friends and family

Happy Birthday Leon!

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On 22nd June 2014, Leon turned 80!

Friends and family joined him for a day of singing and merry-making  

Singing in the garden 

Leon’s life in records was served up for dessert, in flavours of ginger, date and lemon. Yum!

80th birthday cake 

People’s Assembly Protest

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One day before his 80th birthday, Leon joined forces with Owen Jones, Russell Brand and fifty thousand people to protest against austerity at a rally organised by the People’s Assembly 

We spotted this video of Leon in action on the web.

Credit: Garlic Toothpaste on YouTube 

Visit the People’s Assembly website to find an event near you and keep an eye on our Gigs page for Leon’s next performance!

No Masters No Gods DVD Cover

No Masters No Gods – Live in Concert – 2014

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2 DVD Live Set Now Available!

Leon Rosselson and Robb Johnson 

In this glorious 2 DVD set, Britain’s finest living songwriters are captured
live (on tour in Berkeley, CA), presenting two nights of their original songs,
words, and inimitable performance.

Turning Silence into Song (Disc One) showcases a pair of career-spanning
“greatest hits,” with a suitable sprinkling of new and previously unreleased
material. All introduced and contextualized with a large helping of trade-
mark wit and dry irony.

The Liberty Tree (Disc Two) tells the story of Tom Paine’s extraordinary life,
interweaving Paine’s own words, from his letters and the pamphlets which
made him one of the most influential and dangerous writers of his age, with
extracts from newspaper reports, diaries, letters, and other documents of
the times. The songs of Robb Johnson and Leon Rosselson add another di-
mension to the story, reflecting Paine’s radical ideas and evaluating them
in the context of the 21st century. This unique blend of words and music
challenges received opinion in the same way Paine’s writings did.

Together, herein you’ll find over four hours of the finest contemporary songs,
stories, humor, and observation from the greatest practitioners of the craft.  

 

Price: £15
Postage to the UK included in the price.  
Send a cheque as per Mail Order instructions here or click the Buy Now button below.
 
PayPal — The safer, easier way to pay online.

In the U.S.A. & Canada, this CD can be bought via the PM Press website 

 

ABOUT THE PERFORMERS

Leon Rosselson has been at the forefront of songwriting in England for 50
years. His songs range from the lyrical to the satirical, from the personal
to the political, from the humorous to the poignant. His best known song,
“The World Turned Upside Down,” has been recorded by, amongst oth-
ers, Dick Gaughan, John McCutcheon, and Billy Bragg (who took it into
the pop charts in 1985) and has been sung on numerous demonstrations
in Britain and the U.S.

Robb Johnson is now widely recognized as one of the finest songwriters
working in the UK today. His songs feature in the repertoires of a wide va-
riety of musicians, from folk legend Roy Bailey to acclaimed cabaret diva
Barb Jungr, and he enjoys a similarly diverse spectrum of critical acclaim.

ACCOLADES

“. . . some of the most literate and well-made topical songs now being
written” —The New York Times [on Leon Rosselson]

“Britain’s finest songwriter since Richard Thompson.” —Venue [on Robb Johnson]

“A highly subversive pairing of two of the left’s most eloquent songwriters.” —Daily Telegraph