When I first learned about him through his pop radio friendly “Workers Playtime” album (1988), Billy Bragg had been a pain in Thatcher’s ass for a number of years. The subversive lyrics of many of the songs collected on the album matched with the bouncy/poppy hooks crowded all other thoughts from my head for about two years.
Tender Comrade is the third song on the album. In the naivety of my youth I thought it was a conventional male/female hetero love song about Soviets or possibly Israeli soldiers finding moments of humanity and love in a fox hole. I laugh at my young self.
