Leon Rosselson facts for kids
Leon Rosselson (born 22 June 1934) is an English songwriter and author of children's books. He became well-known in the early 1960s during the folk music revival in Britain. He sang his own funny and sharp songs on the BBC TV show That Was The Week That Was.
Leon Rosselson traveled around Britain and other countries, singing his songs and playing his acoustic guitar. Later in his career, he started writing books for children. He has published 17 children's books. His first book, Rosa's Singing Grandfather, was even nominated for the Carnegie Medal in 1991.
Today, he still writes and performs his songs. He often works with other musicians and performers. Many of his songs use satire, which means they use humor, irony, or exaggeration to criticize people's mistakes or foolishness. His work also often includes ideas about radical politics, which means looking for big changes in society.
Contents
Early Life and Interests
Leon Rosselson grew up in North London. His parents came to England as refugees from the Russian Empire. He went to Parliament Hill Grammar School.
He later studied at Fitzwilliam College, which is part of Cambridge University. When he was a teenager and in his twenties, he was a very good chess player. He even played for his school, his county, and his university.
Starting in Folk Music
Leon Rosselson first got involved in folk music while he was at Cambridge University. He joined the university's folk club, called The St Lawrence Society. This is also when he started writing his own songs.
In the 1950s, he joined the London Youth Choir. This choir was formed by John Hasted and Eric Winter. They traveled to several World Youth Festivals.
The Galliards Group
Towards the end of the 1950s, Leon Rosselson joined a group called The Galliards. The group included two Scotsmen, Robin Hall and Jimmie Macgregor, and Jimmie's wife, Shirley Bland. Leon played the five-string banjo and guitar. He also helped arrange most of their music.
The Galliards mostly sang folk songs. They released several records, including an EP and two LPs for Decca Records. They also made a single record for Topic Records. The group eventually broke up in 1963.
The Three City Four
In 1964, Leon Rosselson joined another group called The Three City Four. This group included Marian Mackenzie, Ralph Trainer, and Martin Carthy. Later, Roy Bailey joined the group, replacing Martin Carthy.
The Three City Four focused on singing newer songs, including some of Leon Rosselson's own compositions. They released two LPs with Decca and CBS records.
On Television: That Was The Week That Was
A new kind of comedy show, called the satire boom, began in Britain in 1962. One of the most famous shows was That Was The Week That Was. It was a late-night TV series that started on 24 November 1962.
The show was hosted by David Frost. It featured some of Leon Rosselson's early satirical songs. These songs used humor to comment on the news and important events of the time. The program was very popular and ran until 1963.
Songs and Collaborations
Leon Rosselson's song "Tim McGuire" was about someone who loved to play with fire. It caused some complaints when it was played on BBC radio. However, the BBC decided not to ban the song. They said it was okay because the character in the song eventually gets caught.
An earlier recording of his, an EP called Songs for City Squares, was actually labeled "for restricted listening only" by the BBC. This shows how some of his songs were seen as a bit controversial.
Working with Roy Bailey
Leon Rosselson worked closely with folk singer Roy Bailey. They released an album together called Hugga Mugga in 1971. They recorded That's Not The Way It's Got To Be in 1975.
They also collaborated on two more albums: Love, Loneliness and Laundry (1977) and If I Knew Who the Enemy Was (1979). Rosselson also wrote two shows for them to perform with Frankie Armstrong. One was an anti-nuclear show called No Cause for Alarm. The other was Love Loneliness and Laundry, which explored personal feelings and ideas.
Songs Sung by Others
Many other famous musicians have sung Leon Rosselson's songs. Billy Bragg helped make "The World Turned Upside Down" a popular song in 1985. Dick Gaughan has also performed Rosselson's music, including "The World Turned Upside Down" and "Stand Up for Judas". The Irish folk band The Dubliners recorded his song Don't Get Married in 1987.
Big Red Songs
In 1977, Leon Rosselson helped create The Big Red Songbook. This was a collection of songs about socialist ideas. He later produced a new and updated collection called The New Big Red Songbook in 2003.
The Spycatcher Song
In 1987, there was a big legal case about a book called Spycatcher. The book was written by Peter Wright, a former MI5 officer. Important judges in Britain said the book could not be published or quoted in the media in Britain.
Leon Rosselson decided to challenge this rule. He read the book and then wrote a special song about it called Ballad of a Spycatcher. The song summarized parts of the book and quoted from it. It was published in a British weekly magazine called New Statesman.
A single record of the song was released. It featured Billy Bragg and The Oyster Band helping with the music. The song even started to be played on BBC Radio 1, a popular music station. Leon Rosselson thought he might get into trouble, but nothing happened. The song reached number 7 on the NME indie singles charts.
Writing Books for Children
Leon Rosselson has written 17 books for children. His first book, Rosa's Singing Grandfather, was published by Puffin. It was nominated for the Carnegie Medal in 1991, which is a very important award for children's books.
In his most recent novel, Home is a Place Called Nowhere, Leon Rosselson writes about what it is like to be a refugee. This book was published by OUP.
Discography
The Galliards
- The Galliards (EP) (1960)
- Scottish Choice (1961)
- A-Rovin' (1961)
- Galliards (1962)
The Three City Four
- The Three City Four (1965) Decca LK 4705
- Smoke and Dust (Where the Heart Should Have Been) (1967) CBS CBS 63039
- Smoke and Dust (CD) (Compilation of tracks from above two albums, released 2010) Fuse Records CFCD068
Solo Recordings
- Songs for City Squares (EP) (1962)
- Songs for Sceptical Circles (1966)
- A Laugh, a Song and a Hand Grenade (with Adrian Mitchell) (1968)
- Word Is Hugga Mugga Chugga Lugga Hum Bugga Boom Chit (1971) Trailer LER 3015
- Palaces of Gold (1975) FUSE CF 249
- That's Not the Way It's got to Be (with Roy Bailey) (1975) FUSE CF 251
-
- Issued in the US as Songs of Life from a Dying British Empire (1981)
- Love Loneliness and Laundry (with Roy Bailey) (1977) FUSE CF 271
- If I Knew Who the Enemy Was (with Roy Bailey) (1979) FUSE CF 284
- For the Good of the Nation (Live, 1981) FUSE CF 381
- Temporary Loss of Vision (1983) FUSE CF 384
- Bringing the News from Nowhere (1986) FUSE CF 390
- "Ballad of a Spycatcher"/"Song of the Free Press" (single with Billy Bragg and The Oyster Band) (1987)
- I Didn't Mean It (with Frankie Armstrong, Roy Bailey, Billy Bragg, Martin Carthy, John Kirkpatrick, Rory McLeod, The Oyster Band and Fiz Shapur) (1988) Fuse CF 392
- Wo Sind Die Elefanten? (Where Are The Elephants?) (1991)
- Intruders (1995) Fuse CFCD 005
- Harry's Gone Fishing (1999) Fuse CFCD 007
- The Last Chance (EP: 4 song CD) (2002) Fuse CFCD 008
- A Proper State (2008)
- The Liberty Tree (with Robb Johnson) (2010)
- Where Are The Barricades? (2016)
Compilation Albums
- Rosselsongs (1990)
- Guess What They're Selling at the Happiness Counter (1992)
- Perspectives (1997)
- Turning Silence into Song (2004)
- The Last Chance (extended edition of the 2002 EP of the same name) (2010)
- The World Turned Upside Down – Rosselsongs 1960–2010 (2011)
For Children
- Questions: Songs and Stories for Children (1994) (Cassette only. Reissued on CD, 2006)
- Five Little Frogs (with Sandra Kerr, Nancy Kerr and Kevin Graal)
- Five Little Owls (with Sandra Kerr, Nancy Kerr and Kevin Graal)
- The Greatest Drummer in the World
Other Recordings
- Songs for Swinging Landlords To (with Stan Kelly) (1961)
- Vote For Us (with numerous other) (1964)
- Nuclear Power No Thanks (with numerous others) (1981)
- And They All Sang Rosselsongs (sung by 15 other performers) (2005)
In 2009, his song "Greedy Landlord" was included in Topic Records' special 70-year anniversary collection called Three Score and Ten.
See also
- Political Song Network
