Julie – Levellers

This song broke my heart. I had a chart version on a random indie compilation, it grabbed my attention straight away. Other songs on there by the likes of Suede and Oasis were monster rockers and in their midst was this gentle lullaby. The social messages in it and the sober tone were how I was feeling as a recent recruit to the real world. I had not long started my first proper job with all the stress and complications that brings, back in the days of my Walkman on the train I had this album pretty much on auto reverse for ages.

I had to search out the Levellers to find out more, I was both puzzled and delighted when the rest of their stuff turned out to be nothing like this track. They were basically a punk band for the 90s but not with rocking guitars and heart attack drums but with a more alternative array of instruments. Fiddles and didgeridoos and all sorts, they were on a mission for a fairer society and were akin to all the student movements. I just liked their craziness. Then I found the album version of this song and it confused me all the more, a bag piped extension was the last thing I was expecting.

The lyrics are so well crafted, they sum up how a lot of us feel about being alone in a crowd. The imagery of the stairs and the signing on must have come from real life experiences as they were to well visualised not to have been lived. The gentle melody is transfixing and I can still picture myself on that train, headphones blaring, looking at all the other Monday morning miserable faces and thinking how I’d found a song for life. The Levellers had quite a few albums but they are another band that not many have heard of or remember. Problem being using a social commentary sometimes dates your references even though the same problems still exist for each generation. I can only hope Julie found someone.

Favourite lyric : She'd visit the social every day  / Every time be turned away