16 Songs About England, By The English

Half my iTunes is nothing but British music. My classic rock is the British Invasion; David Bowie, Beatles, and Led Zeppelin. I was raised at the proverbial auditory feet of Elton John, Eric Clapton, and Joe Cocker. Adele, Mumford & Sons, The Fratellis, The Kooks, Dirty Pretty Things, Kate Nash, George Ezra, Radiohead, make up most of my modern music. So with that love affair in mind, I thought I’d put together a nostalgic English playlist.

However what began as a musical ode to a foggy day in London became a sociological study of how English artists talk about their own country. From Jake Bugg’s two fingers in the sky as he re-visits his hometown in Cumbria to the anarchists Sex Pistols, this playlist captures everything from the day-in-the-life walk through London and being a Wessex Boy, to the hardships and social unrests throughout the nation in the ’70s and the ’80s. It’s a meandering musical venture through what it means to be English, to love and hate it, to counteract the stereotypes (as Lady Sovereign says, “London ain’t all crumpets and trumpets, it’s one big slum pit.”)

So turn it up, sit back, and think of England.

“London Calling” – The Clash

“England Skies” – Shake Shake Go

“Two Fingers” – Jake Bugg

“LDN” – Lily Allen

“God Save the Queen” – Sex Pistols

“Two Nations” – The Streets

“Wessex Boy” – Frank Turner

“My England” – Lady Sovereign

“Fields of England” – Allman Brown 

“This is England” – The Clash

“O’England” – King Charles

“England Made Me” – Black Box Recorder

“Old England” – The Waterboys

“Whole Wide World 4 England” – Wreckless Eric

“Take Down the Union Jack” – Billy Bragg

“Constitutional Peasants” – Monty Python