Song · Billy Bragg
“Between The Wars” by Billy Bragg
From the album Brewing Up With Billy Bragg (1984)
“Between The Wars” by Billy Bragg appears on 2 radio countdowns from 1 station between 1984 and 1985. It was first released in 1984 on the album Brewing Up With Billy Bragg. Its best result is #13 on the John Peel's Festive Fifty of 1984. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #65 alternative song of 1984 and #457 of the '80s.
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Billy Bragg wrote "Between the Wars" out of the UK miners' strike, and in 1985 it became the title track of an EP on Go! Discs whose proceeds went to the striking miners' fund. Every song on the record pulled in the same direction: a refitted version of "Which Side Are You On?", the old pro-union song from 1930s America, and a new recording of "It Says Here", his jab at a British press that mostly opposed the strike.
This is folk punk in work boots, and the EP climbed to 15 on the UK singles chart. Bragg was blunt about it: revolutions don't begin in record shops, but write a song like this one and you owe it some action to match. All four tracks were later added when Brewing Up with Billy Bragg was reissued in 2006.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz.
RockLists rankings
Alternative & Modern Rock
All Rock Formats
Year-end countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1984 | 13 | John Peel (BBC Radio 1) | John Peel's Festive Fifty of 1984 | 48 |
| 1985 | 40 | John Peel (BBC Radio 1) | John Peel's Festive Fifty of 1985 | 50 |
Also listed as: Between The Wars (EP).
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