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A NORTHERN SOUL

by Joe Solo

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wranglingoutlaw
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wranglingoutlaw Another belter from a True Northern Soul. Favorite track: 29 More Stolen Summers.
maureenb
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maureenb This has been a hard year as a social worker I recognise that I am not facing the reality of the saving of lives and I despair at how the government have treated our nhs people. I have been responding to the needs and crisis faced by children and young people in care . Carers with health vulnerability with challenging teens who won’t follow the rules- risks there create anxiety, carers of children who have been abused and traumatised- limited services - songs like this keep me going thanks
emmarc
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emmarc Thank you for everything you continue to do and for putting it in song - big love xxx
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  • Full Digital Discography

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    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Farewell Hatfield Main, Sledgehammer Songs, Twenty From Twenty, Answer Machine/See You When I Get There, These Are My People, Fight The Good Fight Club Revisited, Upstairs At Park Street, Collected, and 38 more. , and , .

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  • A NORTHERN SOUL limited edition CD
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1.
No matter how old you die, you always die young So get out there and have some fun See you're a long time dead regretting things never done No matter how old you die, you always die young I knew an old man, when I was a kid And he'd go on and on about the things that he did It was the biggest crock I'd ever heard But the way he'd bang on made me hang on every word He told me: "I know the secret, son So listen up I'll tell it you now!" No matter how old you die, you always die young So get out there and have some fun See you're a long time dead regretting things never done No matter how old you die, you always die young Get one thing clear before we start Your body may be aching or be falling apart But if your heart still beats, you'll hope and dream Cos somewhere in your head you'll still be 17 He told me: "I know the secret, son So listen up I'll tell it you now!" No matter how old you die, you always die young So get out there and have some fun See you're a long time dead regretting things never done No matter how old you die, you always die young Now I've got old, my hair turned grey I've kids who never listen to a word I say But it's their world now, so that's all right And I still kick it hard as anyone here tonight You see cos I know the secret son So listen good I'll tell it you now! No matter how old you die, you always die young So get out there and have some fun See you're a long time dead regretting things never done No matter how old you die, you always die young
2.
They could lock up the back rooms In all of the bars Slash all the microphones Smash the guitars Then take an axe to that brand new PA But the music will still Will still find a way. They could take down the lighting Dismantle the stage Burn all the songbooks there Page by page Then sweep up the ashes And lock them away But the music will still Will still find a way. They could take all the jukeboxes Out of the pubs Wreck all the DJ decks Lock up the clubs Drain all the colour from life Cept the grey But the music will still Will still find a way. So if people you trusted Have all sold you out If the only thing left That you're certain of's doubt When the whole world is telling you You'll never win Be like the music And never give in.
3.
I'm the double decks I'm the vinyl case I'm the diet pills I'm the all night chase Of the treble lost Trying to find the bass I'm a Northern Soul I'm the 9 to 5 I'm the drive out west I'm the Saturday night Sunday best As the week's wave breaks I will ride the crest I'm a Northern Soul Chorus: My heart is an all-nighter that'll never ever stop Keep your beats per minute, Doc, I'm dancing til I drop I just weren't made to play it safe I'm a Northern Soul and I keep the faith I'm the mirrorball lit All-out war I'm the talcum slip On the polished floor I'm the hinges kicked Off the bolted door I'm a Northern Soul Chorus: My heart is an all-nighter that'll never ever stop Keep your beats per minute, Doc, I'm dancing til I drop I just weren't made to play it safe I'm a Northern Soul and I keep the faith I'm the long lost song I'm the killer track From the dusty Detroit Vinyl rack That the crackling needle's Bringing back I'm a Northern Soul I'm the broken heart With the Soul Boy feel That the Mecca And Casino heal I'm the Golden Torch I'm the Twisted Wheel I'm a Northern Soul Chorus: My heart is an all-nighter that'll never ever stop Keep your beats per minute, Doc, I'm dancing til I drop I just weren't made to play it safe I'm a Northern Soul and I keep the faith
4.
September the 10th 1933 That was the day The British Union Of Fascists came Across the river from Thornaby way Jackboots on Victoria Bound for our Market Square Where huddled in alleyways We were waiting, waiting right there Chorus Fists were flying Voices crying "You'll not bring our town to its knees!" Devil save em We sure gave em A welcome to Stockton-on-Tees Ran em back to the Riverside Kicked em down Silver Street One of them swung a chair leg there And found my fist in his teeth See that scar on my knuckle there? A souvenir of that day When they came they were marching, boy When they left they were running away Chorus The war should have killed em off But here they are on the news Hating people they've never met Without walking a mile in their shoes This fight is your fight now My life, well it's history But if they march on your Market Square You give em a kicking from me Chorus
5.
They kicked you and they punched you They laughed and called you names You were way too weak to fight back And that made you feel ashamed The after-school club classes? Well, you've seen the last of them And you never want to see that Bloody six-string thing again But pick up that guitar And write that bloody song You haven't got the skills yet So it will not be the one But every word you write now And every chord you play Will take you in their arms, son And save your life one day So pick up that guitar You never go back to those classes But you find a place to start There's a girl who'll sit and listen And she'll someday break your heart The pain will almost kill you It'll take ten years to mend But that six string in the corner It'll always be your friend So pick up that guitar And write that bloody song They'll say you'll never make it But go out and prove em wrong Every word you write now And every chord you play Will take you in its arms, son And save your life one day So pick up that guitar Drag yourself up off that teenage bed, son Wipe the blood from off that case Don't hang your head like poor Tom Dooley Force them blistered fingers in to place That band you always dreamed of Will come to nothing in the end And once the cheering stops, son You soon run out of friends But through every broken dream now And every tear I've cried That six string in the corner Has never left my side So pick up that guitar And write that bloody song Let out all that anger Then get up and carry on Cos every word you write now And every chord you play Will take you in its arms, son And save your life one day So pick up that guitar
6.
I had a dream Something turned me round and took me Through the graveyard of my years Faces trapped in fading photographs All the laughter and the tears Just reminded me of stolen hours somewhere Sat in all-night motorway cafes Trying to stall the sleep I need until tomorrow So that I can make it through today 29 more stolen summers have gone now There's still a fight I fight alone 29 more stolen summers have gone now That child inside of me's all grown He's got kids now Kids of his own Money talks I guess I never listened I'd rather leave you with a song Cos money's spent It's spent and then forgotten But you could sing me when I'm gone 29 more stolen summers have gone now There's still a fight I fight alone 29 more stolen summers have gone now That child inside of me's all grown He's got kids now Kids of his own So light a candle to the past for me And let it shine out in the dark Let it flicker, let it falter, let it burn out yeah, but Don't ever let it break your heart 29 more stolen summers have gone now There's still a fight I fight alone 29 more stolen summers have gone now That child inside of me's all grown He's got kids now Kids of his own
7.
I knew an old man who taught me how to fight Lead with my left and hit em with my right He said: "Your bark is better than your bite." And I listened. He said: "You'll never take em pound for pound Do that and son you'll end up on the ground. Keep out their reach until you've worn em down" And I listened. He told me: "Sometimes the winning isn't winning. No, the winning is dealing with defeat." He said: "You choose to be a loser, And a loser is beaten when they're beat." Chorus: "It isn't how you fall it's how you land And someday soon you're gonna understand Until that day I'll show you all I can But son, it isn't how you fall it's how you land." I took the bell when I'd took the blows They blacked my eyes and they broke my nose I never had the rhythm in my toes But I listened. I shook his hand the day I walked away He'd taught me all I'd need to make my way And I'm singing him this song tonight to say That I listened. I weren't a fighter like the fighters Who drew my blood and put me on the floor I never made it in the ring but I could sing And understood a metaphor He said: "It isn't how you fall it's how you land And someday soon you're gonna understand Until that day I'll show you all I can But son, it isn't how you fall it's how you land."
8.
45 more men, women and children Died fleeing a warzone last night While some bloke who panic-bought 300 bog rolls says: "They should have stayed there to fight." And upstairs the son of his father spreads hatred With tweets under some made-up name Behold the foot soldiers of Old Empire Island Who shoot before they've taken aim. In the dinghy a desperate child clings to mother Who cries at the first sight of land While the cameramen shoot the reporters Who use the word 'Migrants' as much as they can While there on the shoreline the Union Jack junkies All getting their fix from The Sun A line of foot soldiers for Old Empire Island Who march to the beat of its drum. One more needless corpse in one more needless coffin Is lowered down into the ground While inside the leaders who cut and then cut Tell us there's not enough to go round As huddled in doorways the hungry and desperate Can't get the words out for tears All of them silenced by Old Empire Island Drowned by the sound of the jeers Somebody stands up to speak and he says: "There's a reason that this is our lot! And if you want to know why we're poor Then don't look at the dinghy, look at the yacht!" But inside the rich draw their plans for tomorrow While the poor they still pass them the pen And Old Empire island ships bombs to the warzone And the whole thing starts over again.
9.
One thing's for certain, I know Everybody will remember This year to forget. And all those fallen friends That in our hearts We haven't said goodbye to yet Don't get me wrong, man I still love to see your faces Smiling back at me from Zoom But I can't wait to hear Your raised up voices Filling up this empty room Chorus: Give me hugs and give me handshakes Give me something I can feel Give me hugs and give me handshakes Give me something real I may be dreaming of the future But that's a good good place to start So give me hugs and give me handshakes And give me big big hearts This song is going out To everybody out there Thinking this will never end This song is going out To anybody out there Who is mourning their best friend There will come a time When everything that happened here Is a lesson taught in schools And we can breathe the air And dance and laugh and cheer and sing And tear up all those rules Give me hugs and give me handshakes Give me something I can feel Give me hugs and give me handshakes Give me something real I may be dreaming of the future But that's a good good place to start So give me hugs and give me handshakes And give me big big hearts
10.
The revolution will come Just like it's always done These empires will fall In the same way that came to them all One by one They're here and they're gone The revolution will come Just like it's always done And if your eyes won't allow Your heart to believe that right now They haven't won The revolution will come The revolution will come Sure as the setting son May not be in my time But I'll pass it on to the next heart in line When I'm done And just let them run and run and run and run The revolution will come Just like it's always done And if your eyes won't allow Your heart to believe that right now They haven't won The revolution will come
11.
As he lay there on that bed I knew his final hour had come He fought for every breath I knew His days were almost done He took my hand in his And with the last kick of his game He forced his final words out His burning eyes aflame Chorus; "It's never over til it's over Until the fat lady sings Until you hear the final whistle Who know what tomorrow brings? And you may be on the ropes, son But give it all you've got It's never over til it's over And even then it's not." "I was raised in the Depression The lucky one of ten I fought to win our freedom And son, I'd do it all again. You see hope is like a candle You need it most when times are dark And if you can't be a fire Then at least son be a spark." Chorus He squeezed my hand a little tighter And said: "You never duck a fight I've lived a life of struggle And I've my final one tonight. But the thing about this cancer Is it dies when it kills you. And it may have took me down, son But I'm taking it down too."
12.

about

First of two albums new for 2021. CD copies strictly limited to 300 when they're gone they are most definitely gone, so bag em while you can.

These songs are about mortality and immortality. The stuff Covid has hopefully taught us while we were unable to busy ourselves making other plans.

Enjoy x

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released February 1, 2021

Joe Solo

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Joe Solo Scarborough, UK

Joe Solo is an award-winning musician, writer, poet, activist, broadcaster and washing machine engineer from Scarborough.

Live he has an ever growing reputation as both a performer and raconteur, being thought-provoking, comical and punch-the-air political often in the same breath.

He is not an artist you forget in a hurry.
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