Leon Rosselson

Leon Rosselson (b. 1934) is a satirical songwriter and children's writer.

Big Red Songs

The original "Big Red Songbook" came out in 1977, compiled by Mal Collins, David Harker and Geoff White. Leon Rosselson produced a new collection "The New Big Red Songbook" in 2003. Taking his defiance to the limit, Leon set out to be illegal. Three Law Lords declared that Peter Wright's book "Spycatcher" could not be published in Britain. Leon spent two days reading it, then quoted sentences from it in a specially written song "Ballad of a Spycatcher". In 1987 Simon Bates announced that he was going to play the single on Radio 1. He appeared to expect a police raid or court order, but he played the record and nothing happened. In Leon's words, "So much for subversive intentions..." It even reached number 7 in the NME indie singles charts. From 1995, frequent collaborators on his albums included Martin Carthy, Robb Johnson, Liz Mansfield and Fiz Shapur. The box set "Carthy Chronicles" included 4 songs by Rosselson, including "Palaces of Gold" which also appeared on Carthy's "Crown of Horn" (1976). Leon has toured North America, the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland and Australia. He has written songs for a stage production at the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield of "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?".

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~