The World Turned Upside Down

Leon Rosselson sings 'The World Turned Upside Down', preceded by Robb Johnson's 'Red and Green', Tolpuddle, 2009. 'Upside Down' begins at 2:30. See the words.


This song has been in my head for a couple of days now - not that it's ever far away. I was doing a version of our family walk through the Jewish East End with cousin Helen, over from Australia for a brief visit. One of the first places we stopped at was a gap between two buildings in Whitechapel Road, which we think is the site of the house where Leon's grandmother first lived when she came to London with her young daughter, Leon's mother. Leon is a sort of a cousin of mine, so I know these things. 


A few minutes later we stopped outside the Freedom Press, looking at the panel of Anarchist heroes on the wall of the shop. Helen had said she was thinking of visiting Burford in Oxfordshire, and I'd mentioned that the town had connections with the English Revolution of the 1640s (Leveller soldiers were imprisoned in the church, and three of their leaders were shot there, in 1649). So I pointed out the figure of Gerrard Winstanley on the Anarchist wall, and explained briefly about the Diggers movement during the Revolution. As we were talking it struck me that Leon had a song about the Diggers . . .


And it's been in my head ever since.


You poor take courage
You rich take care
This earth was made a common treasury
For everyone to share


See Leon's website.

Show us some values, Ed

A letter in The Guardian calls for the new leader of the Labour Party, Ed Miliband, to live up to his promise to base foreign policy on "values, not just alliances", by declining to become a patron of the Jewish National Fund, which raises money for the purchase of land for Jewish settlement in Israel and the Occupied Territories. The letter accuses the JNF of complicity in the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from villages on the West Bank.

There are over 40 signatories to the letter, including Leon Rosselson, the singer-songwriter. Leon is a relative of mine, and his name caught my eye as I skimmed the page in this morning's paper. He has long written and sung of the injustices of the occupation, most movingly in The Song of the Olive Tree. Someone has recently put up this clip of Janet Russell singing it, and I would like everyone who reads the letter to listen - including Ed Miliband.

Talking Democracy Blues

Leon Rosselson voices his frustration on 13 years of labour rule and an imminent Tory government. Words, music and video: Copyright Leon Rosselson 2010.

Leon at the 100 Club

Sun 9 Nov
100 Club, Oxford Street

A family reunion (Beatrice and Ken, Peter and John, Brian and me) - thanks to the Geni family tree site - and another chance to hear Leon singing some of his current set. I should have posted on his evening at the Komedia in Brighton in May - My Life as a Songwriter or How I Failed to Become Rich and Famous - a wonderful, heart-warming, and very funny show - but here goes, better late than never, as usual.

Leon demands full attention from the listener - he must have the highest syllables-per-bar quotient of any songwriter on earth, so if you're not concentrating, you'll miss half of it. And it's all acutely observed, tightly woven, and witty, and constantly challenging, so it's well worth not missing any of it.

Just as when I saw him in Brighton, and in Lewes last year, I was convinced he sang the last two songs just for me - the Song of the Old Communist and My Father's Jewish World; well, this time, just for us. And The World Turned Upside Down for everyone, of course.

Thanks due to Robb Johnson for asking Leon to do support for his CD launch - as Leon said, it was going to be an evening of contrasts.

* * Coming shortly - Leon and Robb celebrate the bi-centenary of the death of Tom Paine with The Liberty Tree. This show just has to come to Lewes! * *

Listen to Leon's songs on his myspace, and get his records direct from his website.