Leon Rosselson - Ballad of a Spycatcher

My interpretation of the magnificent "Ballad of a Spycatcher" by Leon Rosselson.

If you like the song, check out his channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/leonrosselson ..a true bard.

Mr. Rosselson describes the song thus:

"Written to challenge the ruling of the three Law Lords that Peter Wright's book Spycatcher - a biography on his work as...a spycatcher for the British government - could not be published in this country, nor could the press quote from or refer to any of the material in the book. It took me two days to devour the book and regurgitate it (including even the odd lump in intact quotation) in these memorable verses. So the song was definitely illegal, and the least we could hope for was a blanket banning from the airwaves. Alas, after some initial hesitation, a single of the song started to receive radio play and even rose to number 7 in the NME indie singles charts. So much for subversive intentions...
I remember hearing it on a Simon Bates mid morning show on Radio 1 in 1987, with a big run up to the actual playing along the lines of him expecting a court order (or the police) demanding that he not play the song; he did, they didn't. But it was generally frowned upon, just the same."

Ibanez EW50SME

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Leon
• Rosselson
• Ballad
• of
• Spycatcher
• Ibanez
• EW50SME
• Acoustic
• once
• bordering
• on
• illegal
• nearly
• banned
• barely
• legal
• lol
• folk

[airmax1973]

Thank you so much. I have been looking for this for years!

[wesmatron]

@airmax1973 I'm really glad you found it :) I posted it because it was nowhere to be found.

[cathrynwilson]

Takes me back! Still genius :-)

[wesmatron]

@cathrynwilson Rosselson is a great bard :) Thanks for dropping by!

[cathrynwilson]

@wesmatron Most certainly is! I've got a copy of it on an old cassette tape, recored around 1988/89. It was a really random search to put into youtube so i'm mvery chuffed to hear it again :-)

[wesmatron]

@cathrynwilson I had the 7" single that came free with the NME...sadly long gone. I wanted to upload this because it's hard to find anyone talking about it on t'internet

[cathrynwilson]

@wesmatron Most certainly is! I've got a copy of it on an old cassette tape - recored around 1988/89. I thought it was a bit random to search for it on YouTube so i'm very chuffed that it's here. :-)

[wesmatron]

@dlrdanny Cheers bud :)

[dlrdanny]

Loved it! Good sound, voice and story!

Danny

[wesmatron]

@Ajohn13 LOL...cheers mate :)