don't try this at home

Twenty years ago, Billy Bragg toned down his politics to expand his musical horizons and his audience with this diverse and polished pop gem. Produced by Grant Showbiz, the album features even more sophisticated arrangements and instrumentation. Guest appearances from the likes of Kirsty MacColl, Michael Stipe, Peter Buck and Johnny Marr flesh out his sound more than even before. 'Don't Try This At Home' gave Bragg his second top ten on the British album chart.

'Accident Waiting to Happen' speaks to a generational split. It made it to number thirty three in the UK.

"Goodbye and good luck to all the rubbish that you've spoken

Goodbye and good luck to all the promises you've broken

Your life has lost its dignity, its beauty and its passion

You're an accident waiting to happen"

'Sexuality' features Johnny Marr as guitarist, singer, producer, and co-writer. It made it to number twenty eight in the UK and became Bragg's biggest hit in the US, reaching number two on the Modern Rock Tracks chart. Kirsty MacColl sings backup.

"I'm getting weighed down with all this information
Safe sex doesn't mean no sex it just means use your imagination
Stop playing with yourselves in hard currency hotels
I look like Robert De Niro, I drive a Mitsubishi Zero"

'Cindy of a Thousand Lives' is about photographer Cindy Sherman. Marr did the lush production and played guitar and MacColl sings.

"Something broken, something stained

Something waiting for the worms to claim
And you can never go there again
Except in nightmares
The voyeur who dares not come near
Knows excitement is merely the beginning of fear"

'You Woke Up My Neighbourhood' tells of a disruptive love affair and features Michael Stipe on background vocals and Peter Buck on mandolin. It hit fifty four in the UK and sixteen on the Modern Rock Tracks chart.

"When I think of how we were together

No, we couldn't be like that forever
Beneath the Seven Sister stars
The night we let it go too far
I slept out in the car"

'Wish You Were Her' may be his sweetest pop song.

"And this time

It's gonna take a train to pull me through
Some brief distraction from your memory
Is all that I had hoped that she might be"

full album:


https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLB0xGdhVdMlZ4XluJpQp7s1kNwNkcobfF





All tracks written by Billy Bragg except where noted.

"Accident Waiting to Happen"
"Moving the Goalposts"
"Everywhere" (Greg Trooper/Sid Griffin)
"Cindy of a Thousand Lives"
"You Woke Up My Neighbourhood" (Bragg/Peter Buck)
"Trust"
"God's Footballer"
"The Few"
"Sexuality" (Bragg/Johnny Marr)
"Mother of the Bride"
"Tank Park Salute"
"Dolphins" (Fred Neil)
"North Sea Bubble"
"Rumours of War"
"Wish You Were Her"
"Body of Water" (Bragg/Philip Wigg aka "Wiggy")