13th Floor New Song Of The day: Billy Bragg: Saffiyah Smiles

Hey hey…its new music from Billy Bragg! Billy serves Saffiyah Smiles, a tune that will appear on his upcoming mini-album, Bridges Not Walls, due out on November 3rd.

Here’s the record company blurb:

Billy Bragg, currently in North America for the first leg of his ‘Bridges Not Walls’ tour, has released a new single Saffiyah Smiles out now on Cooking Vinyl.

The song is a rousing Hammond-drenched country soul shuffle written by Bragg, and was inspired by the bravery of Saffiyah Khan who smiled benignly in the face of the incensed leader of the far-right group the English Defence League at an anti-immigrant demonstration in Birmingham (UK) in April ’17; a photo of her action immediately went viral on social media.
Billy – ‘Saffiyah Smiles’: “Following the shocking scenes of white supremacists marching through the streets of Charlottesville this past summer, my mind went back to an image of a young woman facing down a ranting fascist with nothing but a serene smile. Saffiyah Khan had been taking part in a counter demonstration against the neo-fascist English Defence League in Birmingham, England, in April this year when she saw a woman being surrounded by taunting EDL supporters. 

Saira Zafar had been verbally opposing the racists and a number of them had left the demo to turn on her. When the police struggled to protect her, Saffiyah stepped up and got in the face of the loudest aggressor, holding him at bay with nothing more than a smile until police intervened. A press photographer captured the moment and the picture went viral. Local Labour MP Jess Phillips memorably tweeted the image with the caption “Who looks like they have the power here?”

Saffiyah Khan’s selfless act of solidarity is an inspiration to us all and a reminder that sometimes you can confront hatred by calmly making plain how ridiculous its propagators are.”

Saffiyah Smiles follows hot on the heels of Billy’s previous single releases The Sleep Of Reason, King Tide And The Sunny Day Flood and Why We Build The Wall which were released in July, August and September respectively, and have gone down a storm on his recent live shows.