We Laughed

"We Laughed"
Single by Rosetta Life featuring Billy Bragg
Released	31 October 2005
Format	CD single
Genre	Folk, Country, Pop, Rock
Length	11:04
Label	Cooking Vinyl
Writer(s)	Billy Bragg (all tracks) Maxine Edgington (track 1) Lisa Payne (track 2) Veronica Barfoot (track 3)
Producer(s)	Robbie McIntosh
Billy Bragg singles chronology
"Take Down the Union Jack" (2002) "We Laughed" (2005) "I Keep Faith" (2008)

"We Laughed" is a three track single by English musician Billy Bragg as part of the Rosetta Life project. The single was released in 2005. The single peaked at #11 in the UK, spending 15 weeks on the charts.^[1]

The single peaked at #11 in the first week, followed by the positions #15, #26, #49 and #57 respectively. The final chart appearance at #57 was on December 10, 2005, however on January 14, 2006, the single re-appeared in the top 200 chart at #199.^[2]

The single entered the Irish singles chart on March 2, 2006, where it peaked at #38 for 2 weeks, dropping to #50 on the second and final week.^[3]

The music of the tracks were written by Bragg whilst three patients of Trimar Hospice in Weymouth wrote lyrics based on their illness and feelings. The songs were produced by English guitarist Robbie McIntosh who has worked as a session guitarist for both The Pretenders and Paul McCartney.

Background

Rosetta Life is an organisation of professional artists that enables people with life-threatening illnesses and their families to explore experiences of significance through video, photography, drama, music, poetry, dance, fiction and other digital art forms. The Rosetta Requiem focuses on music.^[4]

Billy Bragg described how the songs came about: "The three songs on this CD are the product of a series of song-writing workshops that I conducted at the Trimar Hospice in Weymouth during February 2005. I was invited to take part in the project by Rosetta Life, a charity dedicated to helping those facing terminal illness to share their experiences through the medium of art, poetry, film or song. Every Friday morning for six weeks, I worked with half a dozen women who came to the hospice for palliative care as they fought against the effects of breast cancer. After a couple of weeks of talking about the process of songwriting and a few singalongs, the 'Friday Girls' began opening up to the idea of writing a song. Maxine Edgington had the clearest idea of what she wanted to do. In our first one-on-one session, she pulled a framed picture out of her bag and said "Look, I've been given six months to live. I don't want to mess about. I want to write the song of this picture". Over the following weeks, she wrote reams of words. My job was to take the words that best expressed the sentiments in the photograph and shape them into a song. I provided the melody, but the words are Maxine's alone. She called the song "We Laughed". In June, I got together with some local musicians and we recorded this CD. The additional tracks feature lyrics written by two of the 'Friday Girls', Lisa Payne and Veronica Barfoot. That there is not a shred of self-pity or morbidity in any of these songs is a testament to the spirit of these three women. I found the experience of collaborating with them to be inspirational."^[5]

In a 2005 BBC article based on the song, Bragg spoke of meeting the patients who co-wrote the tracks for the single. "It was a great privilege actually to be able to work with them, to sit with them and talk with them and try and get their feelings and thoughts down on paper. I found it to be an inspiration."^[6] In the same BBC article Bragg also stated "It's not just sending people into the hospice with cameras and laptops to get a website together, when we said 'we want to make a record' they said 'OK, here's some money to make a record'. They've been so supportive, they've given Maxine, Veronica and Lisa their voices back, which is a great thing to do."^[6]

Upon release, the single was well received critically.^[7] The song had its first airing on Jeremy Vine's BBC Radio 2 programme on 20 September, prompting an immediate response from listeners wanting to know how to get hold of a copy of the song. The single largely relied on word of mouth to keep it in the charts, as there was no commercial backing allocated. By mid-November it was announced via a press release that another 1000 copies were needed for the single to make the top ten.^[8]

In a January 2010 interview with Billy Bragg for The Guardian, Bragg was asked if there was anything about his career that he regretted. Bragg replied "Yes. A few years ago I worked on a record called "We Laughed" with some incredible women in a hospice. We got the single to No.11 in the charts. But now that those women are no longer with us, I sometimes wonder whether I could have done more for them."^[9]

The lead singer of the three tracks, Helena Eden (officially credited under the name Helena), recorded a solo acoustic version of "We Laughed" for her solo album as well as a live version that appeared on her live album Feels Like Coming Home (The Live Sessions).^[10] On July 6, 2006, the generic named Studio Group released a soundalike version of "We Laughed" with an unknown female vocalist. Studio Group are known for their karaoke/soundalike versions of many songs.^[11]

Promotion

The song's first performance featured Billy Bragg solely performing the song to an audience of patients, hospice staff and volunteers at the Trimar Hospice, Weymouth.^[12]

The song was performed by the Rosetta Life band on 'The Late, Late, Show' in Ireland.^[10]

Songs

We Laughed

We Laughed was written by Billy Bragg and Maxine Edgington. The song celebrates the power of laughter and love between Maxine, who has cancer, and her teenage daughter Jessica.^[13] The song was first performed by Billy Bragg at Trimar Hospice in Weymouth in April 2005.^[14]

Edgington described the inspiration of the song "The picture is a legacy for Jess, a reminder to laugh with her children. The prospect of me seeing them were small so I wanted us captured in a pose that they could aspire to and that Jess would remember fondly. I also wanted her children to have a complete understanding of who I was - not a harsh stern grand parent but one that was fun and would love them and be good to know so We Laughed, relaxed and free. I feel it's important that we were photographed for an instant and that during that short moment we did not have a care in the world. We both knew why we were there. How long had I got to live? Was it our last Christmas together?"^[15] One of the photographs of Edgington and her daughter that inspired the song appeared on the single's cover.^[16]

Edgington also described the effects of the song "I was sceptical at first as I thought that so many other things needed major attention - such as finding some one who would look after my daughter and be her guardian after I had gone. However I was drawn to the project and it turned out to be the opening of the door that I sought. Billy Bragg was to give me a creative opportunity and this was to be my path to freedom and hope. Somehow in the process of writing with Billy Bragg I had found the freedom to become whole."^[17]

In a BBC article based on the single, Edgington mentioned the writing of the lyrics. "I actually wrote 30 pages of all my feelings, and my emotions and what I felt, and from that I felt I had a whole balance come into my life. Yes, there were many things I had regrets about but there were an enormous amount of things I wanted to revisit, do again because they were such good fun... I understood that death wasn't just about me."^[6]

The Light Within

The Light Within is by Billy Bragg and Lisa Payne. Lisa describes the inner spiritual strength she has discovered through her illness.^[18]

Payne described the song "It was scary when I first heard it, I couldn't quite believe it. It expressed what I felt and the upbeat music suited the words and the way I've been tackling the illness. I'm not too bothered about it being on the CD, I care more about it pleasing my family and helping other people."^[19]

Payne also described working on the song "I'd been coming to Trimar Hospice when we learnt that Billy Bragg was coming to help us write songs. I was panicking, I thought “I won't be able to that, I think we all did. If we hadn't been given a push, I don't think I would have had the courage to do it. I had heard of Billy Bragg but I didn’t know what he'd be like to work with, I just knew him from seeing him do political stuff on the television. Once we went away and worked one to one, I was pleasantly surprised how nice he was, and how easy he was to work with. I knew how I felt about my illness and he helped me express it, he gave me ideas about ways of turning my experience into a song."^[20]

My Guiding Star

My Guiding Star is by Billy Bragg and Veronica Barfoot. This moving song shows how love endures, when your lover becomes your carer.^[21]

The song reflects the message of how the love between two people may strengthen when serious illness threatens. Veronica and her partner retook their wedding vows and the song is a testament to their love.^[22]

Barfoot described the song "When I was asked to write a song with Rosetta Life I thought, “No way, I can’t do that.” Then the words came to me for this song which I have dedicated to my husband who has helped me come through all of this."^[23]

Barfoot also described working on the song "I was asked if I would like to go the Trimar Hospice Day Care every Friday. My first thoughts were "Oh no, this is the end." I thought that everybody would be sitting in their chairs feeling depressed, but it wasn't quite like that. I was encouraged to write a song as part of the Rosetta Life project with Billy Bragg. I thought, "I can't do that." Then the words came to me for this song which I have dedicated to my husband."^[24]

Track listing

CD Single

1. "We Laughed (Full Length)" - 4:34
2. "The Light Within" - 3:02
3. "My Guiding Star" - 3:25

Chart performance

Personnel

• Bass – Chris Lonergan
• Drums – Ady Milward
• Engineer – Mike Hallett
• Guitar [Acoustic Rhythm Guitar] – Billy Bragg
• Guitar, Percussion, Producer – Robbie McIntosh
• Piano – Julie Lewis
• Vocals – Helena

References