Also an interesting note to add to this is how much Raglan Road seems to inspire this song. Note the lines from Raglan Road:
"On a quiet street where old ghosts meet I see her walking now
Away from me so hurriedly"
and Bragg's line:
"And when I see you
You just turn around and walk away like we never met"
And this bit about Kavanaugh who wrote Raglan Road: "Kavanagh was besotted with Hilda, he even acquired a painting of the Kerry beauty which he had propped on top of the mantle piece in his dwelling on Dublin’s Pembroke Road."...which could be where Billy Bragg got the title.
There is a documentary on Patrick Kavanaugh called Gentle Tiger that aired right around the time Billy Bragg was writing this album.
Found in an old review of one of his concerts on Oct. 15, 1988:
"Bragg left the stage after "Help Save the Youth," and returned to sing three of the new record's most painful love songs. "Must I Paint You a Picture," with Cara Tivey sharing the lead vocal, was particularly pretty, but all three were sung with enormous feeling by Bragg. He told us why. "Part of performing," he began, "is not just coming out onstage and talking. A lot of these 'confessional' songs are important, because the feelings, after I sing the songs, come back to me as well."
It wasn't precisely clear what he was saying, but he pressed on. "When I sing them, I feel a lot less of an asshole. I want to thank you for letting me feel this way.
"The woman I wrote the last three songs about got married today," Bragg said, and suddenly the room was respectful and quiet. He continued, with an absurd exactness, "She got married at 3 PM England time, 9 AM your time. Generally when we come out for encores we're supposed to leave everyone cheering for more, but I'd like to sing an Irish folk song by Patrick Cavanaugh. Thank you," he said again, "for letting me feel a little closer to you tonight."
The song he sang I don't know the name of; it had a line about "Loving too much, and such, and such," and a recurring chorus of "At the dawn of the day," which could be the title, but I was too moved, and too interested in watching Bragg's face as he sang, to take competent notes. With that song, whatever it was, Bragg concluded one of the rock 'n' roll events of the year."
Also an interesting note to add to this is how much Raglan Road seems to inspire this song. Note the lines from Raglan Road: "On a quiet street where old ghosts meet I see her walking now Away from me so hurriedly"
and Bragg's line: "And when I see you You just turn around and walk away like we never met"
And this bit about Kavanaugh who wrote Raglan Road: "Kavanagh was besotted with Hilda, he even acquired a painting of the Kerry beauty which he had propped on top of the mantle piece in his dwelling on Dublin’s Pembroke Road."...which could be where Billy Bragg got the title. There is a documentary on Patrick Kavanaugh called Gentle Tiger that aired right around the time Billy Bragg was writing this album.
Found in an old review of one of his concerts on Oct. 15, 1988:
"Bragg left the stage after "Help Save the Youth," and returned to sing three of the new record's most painful love songs. "Must I Paint You a Picture," with Cara Tivey sharing the lead vocal, was particularly pretty, but all three were sung with enormous feeling by Bragg. He told us why. "Part of performing," he began, "is not just coming out onstage and talking. A lot of these 'confessional' songs are important, because the feelings, after I sing the songs, come back to me as well."
It wasn't precisely clear what he was saying, but he pressed on. "When I sing them, I feel a lot less of an asshole. I want to thank you for letting me feel this way.
"The woman I wrote the last three songs about got married today," Bragg said, and suddenly the room was respectful and quiet. He continued, with an absurd exactness, "She got married at 3 PM England time, 9 AM your time. Generally when we come out for encores we're supposed to leave everyone cheering for more, but I'd like to sing an Irish folk song by Patrick Cavanaugh. Thank you," he said again, "for letting me feel a little closer to you tonight."
The song he sang I don't know the name of; it had a line about "Loving too much, and such, and such," and a recurring chorus of "At the dawn of the day," which could be the title, but I was too moved, and too interested in watching Bragg's face as he sang, to take competent notes. With that song, whatever it was, Bragg concluded one of the rock 'n' roll events of the year."