My Top Twenty-One of 2021: #15

15. Billy Bragg - The Million Things That Never Happened

My initial reaction to this record was that it was probably the most mellow thing Billy had ever recorded... and with the world as it is, surely we need a Billy who's angrier than ever right now?

Then I realised, the idea of Billy as an angry young man that still exists at the forefront of my mind, was already way out of date when he recorded Brickbat 25 years ago...

I used to want to plant bombs at the Last Night of the Proms

But now you'll find me with the baby, in the bathroom,

With that big shell, listening for the sound of the sea,

The baby and me

The Billy we find on this record feels at times defeated, even depressed, most notably on Good Days And Bad Days...

Spending my days like I’m lost in a fog

Got nowhere to walk that big old black dog

And I just can’t believe what this has done to my health

Don’t judge me too harshly, I can do that myself

As the days blur into one

I just can’t seem to get anything done

Then again, isn't that just how many of us feel after the last couple of years? So maybe this is the most honest post-Lockdown record you'll hear. And just as he was on Brickbat, Billy seems resigned to his new role, though hopeful that he might one day rekindle the fires of old...

It's hard to get your bearings in a world that doesn't care

Positions I took long ago feel comfy as an old armchair

But the kids that pull the statues down they challenge me to see

The gap between the man I am and the man I want to be

Ultimately, this is an album that grew on me with every listen, and now I snuggle into it like a comfy pair of slippers. It might not be the Billy I expected, but maybe it is the Billy I need. Maybe it's the Billy we all need right now.