kiss me goodnight and say my prayers…..

It’s just possible that you recognise the above words? They’re the first lines of Billy Bragg’s “Tank Park Salute”, which I think is probably the best song in the world, ever (maybe). I’ve been playing it quite a lot again recently and never tire of it. I came across the following comments when I googled the song a couple of days ago:
“Billy Bragg wrote Tank Park Salute about his father, who he watched die of lung cancer when he was 17. Though he knew his Dad was dying, they never talked about it. He said watching his father die was like a slow car crash. He spoke of the regret of neither him or his father ever acknowledging that his father was dying over the two years he watched him die. This is a deeply personal song that moves us precisely because it is personal. It's not that we can relate to Billy Bragg's memories of his father; it's more that the honesty and beauty of these memories allows us, or maybe even forces us, to access our own”.

My own father died of lung cancer in 1992 after a brief six month illness (the song was published in 1991). He too refused to acknowledge that he was dying and I therefore wasn’t able to ask him all the questions I wish I’d been able to put to him. In some strange way, the song acts as my own memorial to my Dad. Thank you Billy.