The Song Is Nearly Over: Music Stories 1985-2025

The Song Is Nearly Over: Music Stories 1985-2025 by Stuart Bailie

Out now (Published by Dig With It)

£15.99 – 360pp

The Song Is Nearly Over brings together Stuart Bailie’s music writing from across four decades, capturing the people, moments and chaos that shaped modern music culture. It’s a personal, sharp-eyed record of life spent close to the noise.

Stuart Bailie has been in the front line of music journalism from the high times of the mid 90’s, through the game-changing financial crashes and arrival of what was then called file sharing, to the present dominance of social media. Sometimes literally in the front line too, threatened by Weller father and son, or falling in and out with the Gallaghers.

When he started music writing (having realised his own efforts in a punk band were on the road to nowhere) there was still a thriving print scene, with the weeklies like NME, MM & Sounds, the monthly music mags like Q & Mojo, supplemented by style focussed mags like The Face who were always on the lookout for emerging trends in music or fashion. There’s a fairly set narrative now celebrating a golden decade of music writing from the mid 70s, and featuring u/g press graduates Nick Kent, Charles Shaar Murray, among the big names, to be followed by the punk young guns, Julie Burchill & Tony Parsons.

This book demonstrates another aspect, away from the London centred focus, of a group of Scottish and Irish writers who provided a very different perspective to the Home Counties lads at NME & Sounds. Apart from Stuart B, writers like the late Gavin Martin, Dave McCullough & co described local scenes beyond the reach of UK-based writers & could write about acts as diverse as U2, Stiff Little Fingers, the Undertones, the Pogues, Van Morrison
and Sinead O’Connor with real insight and understanding.

One of the book’s many strengths is how the author returns to the same subjects several times, showing how an act can go from headline news to yesterday’s men overnight, or how success can present its own problems. Thus, there are evolving narratives over time with the Manic Street Preachers (pre & Post Richey Edwards’ disappearance), the Pogues with and without Shane MacGowan, and Primal Scream’s evolution from landfill indy to jaded rockstars, while making game changing classic Screamadelica along the way (with great stories of Japanese tours, mixing fanatical fandom with tense scenes when attempts to score lead to trouble with local Yakuza thugs, and plenty of Deep South anecdotes from their time trying to channel Exile on Main Street. The ongoing coverage of groups like Primal Scream or the Pogues shows just how much Stuart was accepted & trusted by groups, particularly with a subject as sensitive as Richey Edwards.

The book is divided into four sections – “Great Artists, Bold Encounters”, interviews with a wide range of people whose music he likes, from Nina Simone, Mike Scott in solo and Waterboys mode, one of several encounters with Joe Strummer & many more.

I found the second section, “Adventures in Irish music”, particularly interesting in presenting a totally different world view to the usual London-centric media coverage & describing in depth some local scenes, alongside the eternal need to go elsewhere to pass “Go” in the search for success. All of this, of course, taking place in what was a war zone for many years, and in one of the most important themes of the book, showing how music can be a great tool in bringing people together & fighting sectarianism. The detailed analysis of the Belfast of Astral Weeks is terrific, taking me back to hours trying to write down the lyrics of the album. We’d quiz a fellow student who came from the city as to the whereabouts of Cypress Avenue or who was throwing pennies at the bridges down below and why, before finding that he came from the other side of town. Stuart Bailie has no such problems, with a sure eye for detail in looking at major players like Terri Hooley & the Good Vibrations record shop.

Interviews with David Holmes show how the scene was much wider than just groups aspiring to be the next Undertones or Stiff Little Fingers, with music once again bringing down barriers in the clubbing/dance scene, with a little help from MDMA, of course.

The third part – Rolling With the Music Press – comprises longer interviews/features from various weeklies and monthlies. In addition to the usual suspects – Manics, Primal Scream and co, there are fascinating pieces on Sabres of Paradise/Andy Weatherall, exploring the Primal Scream connection & the dance/rock fusion of the time. I also really liked the way he isn’t shy of calling himself out when he feels he shouldn’t have been quite so compliant with his subjects, such as an egomanic stoned “I am the greatest” ramble from Ian Brown or Sinead O’Connor’s naïve “Let’s abolish money” speech.

The fourth section, “Back in Belfast”, takes in a wide range of Irish-related subjects and brings us right into the present with the likes of Kneecap. It also tells us more about the author’s work as co-founder of the Oh Yeah Music Centre in Belfast, a practical demonstration of the book’s ideas about the function of music in the community and a great resource for anyone wanting to get started in music.

The book encompasses 40 years of perceptive, insightful writing – with a sharp sense of humour as well. The artists and work considered here are treated with respect without being fawned over, Equally he doesn’t duck, pointing out when certain players are boorish and start playing the Big Star. As further proof of his credentials, Stuart Bailie has also written books, including Trouble Songs: Music & Conflict in Northern Ireland, Terri Hooley: 75 Revolutions, & The Ballad of the Thin Man: the Authorised Biography of Phil Lynott & Thin Lizzy. He also made the BBC documentary on music from Northern Ireland, “So hard to beat” and edits the Dig With It forum of Ulster art and matters counter-cultural.

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Available at Stuarts Bandcamp here:

All words by Den Browne. You can read more on his author profile here: