Lovers' Town Revisited

You're absolutely right, incidentally -- despite this song not necessarily being one of the best among Bragg's early material, there is something rather intriguing about it. "What it's all about?" I can't seem to track down the "Lovers' Town" reference, but I assume it points to a pub or club or such ... it reads, to me, like a shy young man's complaint about the prospects for public socialization in a rather rough climate. Bullied by the skinheads, ignored by the ladies, fretting about the possibilities of constructive "political" discourse in such an environment ...

I may be reading it too simply, but this strikes me as the reason for its short length -- it's an glib, offhand complaint. I'd be interested to hear how the title reference operates, though ...

Nitsuh's analysis is broadly otm.

'Lovers' Town' was a Bragg song - it's on the Peel sessions, I think. But I don't have the Peel sessions. I have always assumed that 'LTR' was a return to the theme of 'LT', but presumably not a rehash of its music. (You know, maybe I have heard the original... I can't quite remember.)

Lyrics: 'That summer of the evening' is good - but what does it mean: an evening in summer, or some alternative logical metaphor (the middle of the evening?). Why 'get ready and roll the cassette'? This sounds like a reference to recording, which would be META in relation to the subject matter of the song. Unless... it's about a performance, in which someone has to roll a cassette for Bragg (to go on stage)?

'There's something gone [?] tomorrow / That I lost when I was at the drink' - this is a very *strange* lyric. The end ('a big bloke on the door', etc) does seem to back up Nitsuh's nightclub vibe.

This is why I find it intriguing - the bits are individually interesting, but don't obviously add up.

'I wish myself was back at home' is unusual.

I never knew it was 'born'. That makes the line, if anything, even stranger. I *knew* this was a strange song.

I also think there's something telling in the running order, and the way this is sandwiched between "Richard" and "A New England," both clear favorites.

First para: broad agreement. I agree that he usually tidies up too much; or at least, that he's not usually "about" mystery. I still think that the fact that he left the strangeness intact here is good and interesting. And one of the reasons why the song resonates with me after all this time (c.11 years in my case, not 18).

i think this is probably bragg's best song, maybe a dead heat with waiting for the great leap forward but that's in a sense a continuation of what he begins here. it lacks the preachiness that turns so many off, i actually sort of like that aspect of his work. it's a faith is doubt thing. LTR is young bragg weighing up his chances just before he makes the leap. the music actually sounds like the tense heat of a summer saturday night in some british town centre. it's the antithesis of "Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others", yeh it's the same shitty provinical Britain but Bragg wants, though he knows it is perhaps impossible, to "save the world". unlike moz he is unwilling to just give up but at this moment he could just give in.