A guest posting by Ady Hodges
I was at a Frank Turner gig and it struck me that he’d be a good ICA subject. He has a good body of work now, but he’s someone whose success has happened a little bit off the radar. He regularly sells out halls all over the UK and had a number one album back in 2022, but rarely seems to get much publicity.
I was a bit late to the Frank Turner party myself. Like many people, I first noticed him when he played the 2012 Olympics Opening Ceremony, but didn’t get to see him live until 2016. Since then I’ve seen him live another 5 times (as he often plays near where I live in Portsmouth), I have also sought out and listened to his earlier work, such that I’m confident I can offer up a decent retrospective.
The tricky bit was narrowing it down to 10 songs, there are definitely songs I could have included (“The Road”, “Reasons Not To Be An Idiot”, “A Wave Across A Bay”, “Get Better”, “Glory, Hallelujah”, “Polaroid Picture”) and I wonder if the “England Keep My Bones” album is over-represented, however, overall I feel these 10 songs provide a good overview of Frank’s career to date, both musically and lyrically.
A Wessex Boy Done Good – A Frank Turner ICA
Side 1
1933 (from Be More Kind, 2018)
We start with a call to arms, Frank Turner style. Frank started his career in the punk band Million Dead and this is one of the tracks that betrays those influences. Lyrically, it was inspired by the rise of Trump in the US, the reference to 1933, is a call back to the rise of the Nazi Party in Germany and although written during the first Trump presidency, this song has even more relevance now.
Wessex Boy (from England Keep My Bones, 2011)
Now we see Frank’s folk side. Frank definitely plays on his Hampshire heritage, sometimes a little too much. Every time, I’ve seen him in Portsmouth, he claims it’s a home town gig, which given he was brought up in and around Winchester (30 miles away), is stretching things a bit. I’ve also heard him do the same thing when he plays in Southampton (20 miles from Winchester). Even so, I feel this song has a resonance for anyone who has moved away from their hometown, particularly if that hometown is a small town or city. I grew up in Bromsgrove, south of Birmingham and I can relate to some of the sentiment expressed here.
Sister Rosetta (from No Man’s Land, 2019)
I like it when a song drives you to Wikipedia to look-up the subject and that was the case here. Sister Rosetta is Sister Rosetta Tharpe, according to Wiki, she
“was an American singer, songwriter and guitarist. She gained popularity in the 1930s and 1940s with her gospel recordings, characterized by a unique mixture of spiritual lyrics and electric guitar. She was the first great recording star of gospel music, and was among the first gospel musicians to appeal to rhythm and blues and rock and roll audiences, later being referred to as “the original soul sister” and “the Godmother of rock and roll”. She influenced early rock-and-roll musicians including Little Richard, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Eric Clapton”
The album this comes from is a concept album where all the songs are about women and is an example of how Frank tries different things lyrically.
Good & Gone (from Tape Deck Heart, 2013)
How can you not like a song with the lyrics “Fuck you Motley Crue”? This is a break-up song with nods towards the hollow dreams that Hollywood and the music industry sell. Sometimes there isn’t a happy ending, and we all end up back where we started from.
Letters (from Undefeated, 2024)
Now for something from Frank’s most recent album. He spends a lot of this album grappling with ageing, which as someone who styles himself as a punk and outsider, is clearly nagging at him. You can hear it in songs like Ceasefire and the title track. My favourite from this album is Letters, which tells the story of an old pen-pal and the impact her friendship and letters had on him. There is a wistfulness here for the loss of an age when we spent time writing letters to each other, an age I can remember, but also the realisation that that time has passed and a recognition that we need to find a time to move on somehow.
Side 2
Recovery (from Tape Deck Heart, 2013)
One of Frank’s more familiar tracks, despite the triumphant feel, the song is about the realisation that you’re not in the best place in your life, and it’s time to change your lifestyle. It has become a concert favourite and kicks off side 2 of the ICA in an upbeat mood.
Long Live The Queen (from Love Ire & Song, 2008)
Frank has recorded a number of songs about the death of friends. There is “A Wave Across A Bay” from his FTHC album about the suicide of Scott Hutchison of Frightened Rabbit, as well as “Song For Josh” on “Positive Songs For Negative People”, which dealt with another friend’s suicide. However, I’ve gone back to the earliest example, which was prompted by the death of his friend Lex from breast cancer. I love the positivity in this song, how the dying Lex tells Frank not to be sad, but to go out and celebrate her life, which is a wonderful message.
Haven’t Been Doing So Well (from FTHC, 2022)
From his number one album, which was described as a return to Frank’s punk roots. That is a bit of an exaggeration, but some of the tracks, this one included, are much more punk influenced than a lot of his solo back catalogue. It deals with mental health issues and the impact the pandemic had on people’s emotions in a cathartic way. One of the things Frank is good at is singing about what he thinks and feels in an open manner, being unafraid to be vulnerable.
Rivers (from England Keep My Bones, 2011)
It is often lamented that there are lots of songs about the USA, but much fewer about the UK. Frank, like Billy Bragg (who he is sometimes compared to) does write about the UK, well England mainly. This is a song that beautifully evokes what it is like to live in a place where “An island is my home”, something that is not just true about England, but also Scotland, Wales & Ireland.
I Still Believe (from England Keep My Bones, 2011)
Frank’s most famous song and his only Top 40 single, it charted after his performance of it at the 2012 Olympics opening ceremony. It’s a call and response song about the power of rock ’n’ roll. In many ways it’s a manifesto for Frank (it even calls itself a “Folk song for the modern age”) and often closes his main set. I think it’s very apt to close this ICA with these lyrics, that are very much an agenda from Frank.
“Now who’d have thought that after all, Something as simple as rock ‘n’ roll would save us all”
Ady
THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN 