For the Good of the Nation by Leon Rosselso and Jeff Perks contains songs and poems writ ten over the past five years.
The songs are capitalism and all it stands for in Britain -patriotism and the monarchy. religion, racism, sexism, the press, the police, advertising and consumerism, war and nuclear weapons.
poverty of working people in this country:
I can't afford meat on the money 1 earn And I'm growing steadily thinnes But it's all for the good of the nation y black workers in South Africa and Namibia, are describ ed in 'Who Reaps the Profit?' We drown in the dust We choke in the heat Our skin grows sore: our tunes rot You take the uranium out of the earth You throw the corpses in ....
"Barney's Epic Homer' perience work in our society as alienating and grinding. Press, ture very day the sales rot ane Turning little piggies into plastic-packaged sausages To sell in the helport canteen i a different mood, so doe 'ork Harder So that the turners of wheels may die of boredom every day. every day.
His description of the monarchy is apt:
The solemn, sacred emptiness, the monumental yawn And the stime exuding daily blistering attack on In the title song, Rosselson denounces the increasing The conditions of workers in other countries, especial describes how people exlift, early shift and late shift •Why Workers Must cov This is a great songbook for singers -of the words being set off by simple catchy tunes down and read.
plus six other songs by Rosselson includes old favourites such as 'Stand Firm - 'A Question of Numbers, as well as newer songs.
tunity for witty introductions and asides dead.
Rov Bailey include That's Not the knew Who the Enemy was.
Fuse Records', 28 Park Chase, Wembley, Middx.
And the Coronation ash-[r01s and the Coronation mugs...
Nothing is spared, nothing is sacrosanct. Few of those of us with a Christian upbringing, however firmsly we nave rejected it, will fail to be shocked by "Stand up for Judas':
Judas sought a world where no one starved or begged for bread The poor are always with us Jesus sald The songs are complemented by artist Jeff Perks' striking graphics. Particularly memorable is the book's front - the complexity But it's also a songbook which you can buy just to sit "For the Good of the Nation" is also the name of Leon Rosselson's latest LP. It was recorded before a Yorkshire folk club audience and at the 'Beyond the Fragments' con ference. It has five songs and a poem from the songbook Covering much the same themes as the songbook, i bomb song written in 1964 and still frighteningly relevant The live-recording format gives him plenty of oppor ROY BAILEY's fine voice joins with Rosselson's on the first track Let's Give Thanks and FRANKIE ARM STRONG, a feminist singer well-known for her work in sings in some of the choruses.
All three have been doing concerts and gigs together all this year. The next one is at the Tricycle Theatre in Kilburn described as tan anti-nuclear show to raise the spirits of the Other satirical political records by Leon Rosselson and Way it's Got to Love, Loneliness and Laundry, Palaces of Gold, and if / If you have problems obtaining any of these, write t