Today on BBC 6 Music, Gideon Coe was getting listeners to vote for ‘great lost tear-jerkers’. Three tracks to choose from, including ‘Ship-building’ by Robert Wyatt and ‘Tank Park Salute’. I hadn’t heard ‘Tank Park Salute’ for years, all my Billy Bragg records are locked on vinyl, away from my iPod, and so I voted for it. It won.
I vaguely remembered the song bringing a tear to my eye back in 1991. I hadn’t reckoned on what having three children and the death of my father would do the emotional power of this song. I cried for ages and keep welling up when I think of the lyrics which have been in my head all day.
Some photographs of a summer’s day
A little boy’s lifetime away
Is all I’ve left of everything we’ve done