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Reaching to the Converted

Album release date: 30 August 1999

"Reaching To The Converted" is a collection of B-sides and rarities spanning Billy's entire 16-year career.
This 17-track collection was compiled by Billy and includes variations on favourites such as "Shirley", a re-working of the originally titled "Greetings To The New Brunette" with Johnny Marr, and "Walk Away Renee (Version)" again re-recorded with Johnny Marr.
Below, exclusive to this web site, Billy introduces each song.

SHIRLEY: A complete re-recording of one of my most popular songs, "Greetings To The New Brunette", this was recorded towards the end of the "Don't Try This At Home" sessions at Johnny Marr's Manchester studio. He was so enthusiastic about the song that he played everything, Harmonica, drums, 27 guitars. All I did was sing the vocals, and make the tea. It's called "Shirley" because that's what everyone calls it anyway.

SULK: When we recorded the Red Stars version of "Accident Waiting To Happen" we didn't have a B-side so this emerged from some between-take jamming. I always felt this was the quintessential Red Stars performance, it has the feel of a Faces song which is ironic because now former Face Ian McLagan plays keyboards on the live version.

ACCIDENT WAITING TO HAPPEN (Red Stars Version): Some songs improve if you play them live and it was felt that if we were going to make a single out of this song that we should re-record it with the Red Stars. We interrupted a US tour to go into the studio in Boston and record this gem.

THE BOY DONE GOOD: Johnny Marr put this tune on a tape for me and I wrote the lyrics shortly after his beloved Man City were relegated from the Premiership. I Originally called it "Big Mal" after famed City supremo Malcolm Allison, but then Grant kept calling it "Big Mal Strikes Again" which eventually got to me. I kept the sky blue reference though.

HEART LIKE A WHEEL: Cara Tivey and I had been doing this one at concerts. I am a great fan of the McGarrigle sisters, proof that Canada was producing great women songwriters long before Alanis and Shania were conceived.

BAD PENNY: This is the closest that any Billy Bragg material ever came to sounding like a Riff Raff song - all hurt pride, and "I'm tough, me" guitars.

ONTARIO, QUEBEC AND ME: Ontario and Quebec have trouble with their relationships - just like me. A song about holiday romances.

WALK AWAY RENEE (VERSION): Whilst he was waiting to record the acoustic guitar part to "Greetings To The New Brunette", Johnny Marr played "Walk Away Renee" as the engineer fixed the mix up in front of him, I whispered to the producer "Run the tape". We got about four minutes worth of stuff and I wrote the monologue on the Piccadilly Line on the way into the studio the next morning.

RULE NOR REASON: I love the sound of a harmonium. There was one in the studio during the "William Bloke" session, not the English pedal type but the type one used by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan to make qawwalli. Cara managed to play it with the help of the studio engineer.

DAYS LIKE THESE: This was my Christmas single in 1985. After the titanic struggle of the Miners' Strike, putting out pop singles seemed a bit, well, trivial. It was beaten to the number one spot by Shakin' Stevens "Merry Christmas Everyone".

THINK AGAIN: Warmongers can only succeed if they are able to demonise any enemy and Mrs Thatcher saw enemies everywhere. She needed them to justify her actions. This song tried to undermine the stereotypes she relied on.

SCHOLARSHIP IS THE ENEMY OF ROMANCE: Wiggy famously misheard the title of this one as "Scottish Hippies Are The Enemy Of Romance".

WISHING THE DAYS AWAY (Ballad Version): Another example of a song that only really came into its own when I began to perform it live. It turned out that, despite appearing on TALKING WITH THE TAXMAN as a jaunty country song, this was actually an aching ballad. This comes from my years as an itinerant worker.

THE TATLER: Ry Cooder is my favourite interpretative performer. I've long admired his understated playing and singing style. I borrowed this one from him.

JEANE: The Smiths cast a long shadow over this compilation, either in the person of Johnny Marr or in the influence on my songwriting. I felt they were my comrades in a struggle to bring the focus of songwriting away from production and videos and back to good tunes and great lyrics. They stopped playing this song so I picked it up and looked after it for a while.

SHE'S LEAVING HOME: My honorary number one, me and Cara recorded it one afternoon for the Childline Charity album "Sgt. Pepper Knew My Father". Childline offers support for homeless and abused young people. Of all the Sgt. Pepper tracks, this one addressed the issue.

I DON'T NEED THIS PRESSURE, RON: In July 1981, I was watching Top Of The Pops in the hope of hearing some music to make me feel the way I first felt when I saw The Clash. Instead Spandau Ballet appeared wearing kilts and singing their Chant No.1 (Don't Need This Pressure On). I realised in that instant that the music that I wanted to hear was not going to emerge so I would bloody well have to do it myself. I went upstairs, picked up my guitar and everything has been a blur since then. This is my credo.

Reaching To The Converted has been simultaneously released in the U. S. where Billy is currently riding the crest of a wave. His Mermaid Avenue album, released in 1998, not only received a Grammy nomination, but was also included in 'Rolling Stone' magazine's list of the most influential album of the 90s.

See a review of Reaching To The Converted at BBC News online

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