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Happy Birthday Leon!
On 22nd June 2014, Leon turned 80!
Friends and family joined him for a day of singing and merry-making
Leon’s life in records was served up for dessert, in flavours of ginger, date and lemon. Yum!
People’s Assembly Protest
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 – Live in Concert – 2014
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.
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
Sixty Quid A Week
Lyrics
Don’t you feel guilty when you meet
Some poor soul begging in the street?
The other night I’m hurrying home
From Waterloo when from the gloom
An apparition gaunt and grey
Limped towards me, barred my way.
He wanted money, yes, but worse
This stranger wanted to converse.
.He spoke to me as to a friend
And laid his life out end to end.
He’d been a window cleaner all
his life until he’d had a fall
Broke both his legs, was still in pain
They said he’d never work again.
His wife was dead, his children gone
Abroad somewhere, he lived alone
On sixty quid a week, ’That’s what
I get,’ he said, ‘My friend it’s not
Enough to keep a man alive.
See how I’m struggling to survive.’
‘Ive always worked, I’m proud to say,
I’ve paid my taxes, paid my way
But now I’m on the scrapheap so
I must be punished, pushed so low
They’ve taken everything from me
My self-respect, my dignity –
On 60 quid a week, I try
To manage but there’s food to buy
And heating bills, it goes so fast
My two weeks’ money doesn’t last.’
‘Before the fortnight’s up, my friend
I’m skint, I’ve nothing left to spend.
Can’t even buy a loaf of bread
On sixty quid a week,’ he said.
I’d like to see that Tory prat
That arrogant slimeball live on that.’
He looked at me and clutched my arm
He said ‘I don’t mean any harm
But could you spare a coin or two?’
‘No change,’ I said, which wasn’t true.
But,look, there’s no use blaming me
I’m not a walking charity.
‘Blame the government,’ I said.
‘I do,’he said. ’That lot, they’ve bled
Me dry, they must have hearts of stone.
Their cuts have cut me to the bone.
I hate that Cameron,rat-faced phoney.
Tell me, how did he get his money?
Talks like he’s Lord God on high
And every word’s a fucking lie.
And Osborne, evil little git
And him, that useless piece of shit –
What’s his name? Clegg. Rich bastards all
I’d line them up against the wall
And shoot them. They should rot in hell.
They think they have the right to tell
People like us how we should live.
And that, my friend, I can’t forgive.’
I reached into my pocket found
Two coins, twenty P, one pound.
Her took the money, thanked me. ‘When
This money’s gone,’ I said. ‘What then?’
‘When you’re living on the edge,’ he said,
‘It doesn’t do to look ahead.
But if prices go up any higher
I might just set myself on fire.
He limped away into the gloom.
I wished him luck and hurried home.
Don’t you feel guilty when you meet
Some poor sod begging in the street?
AVAILABLE NOW – 2 DVD Live Set
live (on tour in Berkeley, CA), presenting two nights of their original songs,
words, and inimitable performance.
5th January – Concert at Walthamstow Folk Club
Leon’s first gig of the new year will be on Sunday 5th January at 7.30pm at Walthamstow Folk Club.
Ye Olde Rose & Crown Theatre Pub,
53 Hoe St., London E17.
Call 07740 612607 for more details or visit www.walthamstowfolk.co.uk
Leon performs with London Lucumi Choir
On the 10th November, Leon will join forces with the London Lucumi Choir, which counts his daughter Daniela Rosselson amongst its singers, for a performance at Jamboree.
Click here for more information.
Lullaby for Naila
Lullaby for Naila is a collection of lullabies & children’s songs put together for Naila, Leon’s granddaughter, by his daughter Daniela Rosselson. The collection is made up of songs from countries with which Naila has a connection and features the London Lucumi Choir, Juwon Ogungbe & Reem Kelani.
The CD is not yet available but songs can be downloaded here: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/
Anticapitalist Roadshow, 29th September
ROYALTY SPEAKS TO THE NATION on the occasion of another royal birth
Review of The World Turned Upside Down in ILR
The Irish Left Review listens to The World Turned Upside Down and compares Leon to “an anarchist Noel Coward”
Gigs for 2013
Go to the gig calendar to see Leon’s performances in 2013, including concerts in Lewes and Islington, the Doncaster Folk Festival and an Anti Capitalist Roadshow performance in April, for which you can now buy tickets online.
Purchasing Tickets Online
For some gigs, such as the Anti-Capitalist Roadshow concert in Oxford, you can now purchase tickets in advance from this website. Payment is securely handled by PayPal and tickets will be waiting for you under your name at the door.
Hope to see you at a gig soon!
Thank You
Thank you!
We have received your order and will be shipping it to you promptly!
The Anti-Capitalist Roadshow CD Now Available
Review in Counterpunch
A piece on Leon and the World Turned Upside Down by Scott Borchert was recently published at Counterpunch.org.
“Most of all, he’s thought about what it means to be a radical songwriter, someone who accepts the foolish challenge of channeling their critical perspective on society through their artistic impulses. I say “foolish” because we’ve all seen the sort of aesthetic train wrecks that often result from the best-intentioned “political” art. It’s a risky thing to be a serious, radical artist—but I think Leon Rosselson pretty much nailed it.”
The Anti Capitalist Roadshow
You may have noticed a few gigs in the calendar entitled “The AntiCapitalist Roadshow”. If you’re wondering what it’s all about, read on!
The Anti-Capitalist Roadshow….
… is a collective of singers and songwriters Frankie Armstrong, Roy Bailey, Robb Johnson, Reem Kelani, Sandra Kerr, Grace Petrie, Leon Rosselson, Janet Russell, Peggy Seeger, Jim Woodland plus one (there is only one) socialist magician, Ian Saville.
New gigs in the calendar
Six new gigs have been added to the calendar for the next few months, including three Anti-Capitalist Roadshow performances, two concerts in London and a workshop in Wales.
Interview and 5 Star Review in R2 Magazine
R2 Magazine recently published an interview with Leon Rosselson as well as a 5-star review of his 4-CD boxed set, The World Turned Upside Down.
Sean McGhee first interviewed Leon Rosselson back in 1988 for the launch of Rock’n’Reel (now R2) Magazine. 24 years later, following the release of the boxed set, the pair talk again about fame, the art of songwriting, Harry Potter, pop songs and Israel.
Read the full R2 interview here.
Click on the image below to see R2 Magazine’s 5-star review of The World Turned Upside Down, or get hold of R2’s January/February issue!