Writing collaborations, and setting the lyrics of others to music
Over the years, Leon has recorded more than two dozen co-writes. These come in different forms, but usually consist of his writing music to the lyrics of others, either as contemporary collaborations, or as a means to 'set' already-existing poems (old or new). An outline of all known joint copyrights is given here...
Written circa 1957, this was (according to Leon's comments in the book, Performing Peace And Friendship by Pia Koivunen) his version of a song written and re-written by several writers. We can't therefore say it's all his work, although it seems to be largely so. In researching it we came across the cutting, left, from Melody Maker (21 November 1959) showing it to have been released on an extremely obscure EP, The Gay Cavaliere by Henry Morris, on Satyr Records. The cutting concludes, "'Talking Moscow Blues' is the sort of satire you would expect from the credits: Hasted, Holly, Rosselson" - which confirms it to be a co-write of some sort. It's never appeared in Leon's songbooks but he printed 14 lines of the lyric in his 2023 volume, Where Are The Elephants?. |
"Ever Been Ad!" was registered as a co-write with Nathan Joseph and Alan Twelftree on the satirical LP, Vote For Us. It consists of a song followed by a spoken piece, and it seems likely that the song section is all Leon's work. (As such it is detailed with his other solo compositions, elsewhere on this site.) |
This song from The Three City Four just about qualifies as a co-write. The original song was written by Pete Seeger, but when the group recorded it, Leon made a few alterations including the addition of one new verse. |
All of these started as poems, the first two written by Adrian Mitchell, the others by Charles Causley and John Donne respectively. All were set to music by Leon for the album Smoke & Dust (and three also feature in the songbook, Look Here). |
In 1969, Leon set lyrics to music for two Son et Lumiere shows in Oxfordshire. Both spawned EPs of songs, the first being Hope Is a Star, recorded by the Ian Campbell Folk Group. All lyrics were written by Joy Masefield, music by Leon. |
A snippet of a song, which serves to link "William" with "Remembrance Day 1969" on the Hugga Mugga album, this is an adaptation of "I Want To Go Home", which originated in the trenches of World War I. Vocalised by Martin Carthy and Roy Bailey, Leon does not appear on his own recording - but it's likely he had something to do with its melodic structure, which is formalised. |
This song sets a poem by William Blake, and was published in Look Here as early as 1968. It was recorded and released almost a decade later, on Love, Loneliness, Laundry. |
Leon used the words of Gerrard Winstanley to make up this song for If I Knew Who The Enemy Was. It was later included on Harry's Gone Fishing, under its alternative name. |
These songs sat alongside a few originals wholly by Leon, on the 1981 campaign LP, Nuclear Power: No Thanks. The first two were co-written with Nigel Gray. ("Sleep Well" was later also included on Roy Bailey's Leaves From a Tree (1988).) "Mock Auction" is co-credited with Brian Pearson and Sandra Kerr. |
Leon's main latter-day collaborator, Robb Johnson, released his album, Tony Blair: My Part In His Downfall in 2004. (The album title derives from Spike Milligan, via Johnson's earlier Margaret Thatcher: My Part In Her Downfall.) Leon is credited as writer of the music, and co-author of the lyrics, to the song "Bury Trident (Before It Buries Us)", on which he also sings and plays guitar. |
The lyric is credited to Leon and Earl Pickens, the music to Leon alone - however since Leon has clearly stated, "Words and music by Leon Rosselson. Earl Pickens contributed to the lyrics", we have elected to treat it as a full Leon song, and accordingly it is featured in the main section of this site. |
Ths song is an adaptation of 'Die Gedanken Sind Frei' ['Thoughts Are Free'] by Pete Seeger. Leon has re-drafted most of the lyric, so that it now concerns Israel, and Leon's right to hold whichever views he wishes on the subject. The music is essentially unchanged from the original model. |