As Long As You've Got Your Health
A lack of full documentation has left the origins of some of Leon's song uncertain. This particular number was written for the Red Ladder Theatre Company, who are based in Leeds and are funded in part by the Arts Council. It will be recalled that the Arts Council also funded Leon in 1970-72 to work for Inter-Action. Meantime, the live album on which this song appears was part-recorded at the Beyond the Fragments conference, also in Leeds - but how these organisations and movements overlap remains unclear. It is probable that the theatre troupe was somehow connected to the conference, but we lack further details.
The song itself is a wry comment on the working-class philosophy that, so long as you have your health, the rest of life's problems remain trivial. In the lyric, all manner of privation is apparent, but the singer recalls the words of wisdom - despite the fact that what he is experiencing is having a positively disastrous effect on his well-being. The well-received live recording of 1981 remains the only one available.
The song itself is a wry comment on the working-class philosophy that, so long as you have your health, the rest of life's problems remain trivial. In the lyric, all manner of privation is apparent, but the singer recalls the words of wisdom - despite the fact that what he is experiencing is having a positively disastrous effect on his well-being. The well-received live recording of 1981 remains the only one available.
Recordings
Version 1 (1981) Live version