The Sound of the Working Class

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Seen It All // Jake Bugg

Like many of his late-20th-century predecessors, Jake Bugg isn’t afraid to bring the troubles of his working class Northern roots fully and powerfully into his music. ‘Trouble Town’ and ‘Slumville Sunrise’ are two perfect examples, but perhaps the rawest and most frightening of Bugg’s homegrown tracks comes in the form of ‘Seen It All’. With typical lyrical talent, Bugg tells the tale of a night of drug-taking and party crashing at “a local house belonging to a gangster’s crew” where “everyone… has a knife”. The stuff of nightmares to many, ‘Seen It All’ is a lyrical portrayal of a stark truth. Whatever your view of the community life so beautifully discussed in Bugg’s music, the greatest thing his songs do is remind us of the array of different lives we lead; whether you identify with his lyrics or see in them a world away from your own, it can’t be denied that Bugg isn’t afraid to discuss his early life truthfully, tinged both with regret and with pride.

Words by Amie Bailey

@amiebailey

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