Song For Josh

Album: Positive Songs For Negative People (2015)
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Songfacts®:

  • This is a somber dedication to Josh Burdette, the security guard at Washington punk hangout, the 9:30 Club who committed suicide in 2013. "He was a staple of the American punk scene. When he died, Green Day had his picture up behind them in stadiums, Frank Turner recalled to NME in 2015. "He and I were very good friends. When I did the show at Wembley he did security for me, which was just an excuse for me to hang out with my buddy."

    "He took his own life a year and a half ago – nobody saw it coming at all," he added. "The song was recorded in front of his crowd in his venue. His whole family and all the 9:30 crew were there."
  • The song is the closing track of Positive Songs for Negative People and brings a really poignant end to the record. Turner told Digital Spy: "You know, I'm a songwriter. The things that bother me tend to emerge sooner or later in the form of songs. Once it was done and out there I was thinking about how and when to record it... should it be on the album, that kind of thing. And in the end, the version on the record we recorded live at the 9:30 club with family and all his workmates there. It was a really moving, special occasion and once it was done, it was just like, 'This has to go on the record'. And there wasn't really anywhere else to put it other than the last song. I don't think you could have had that tune followed by something else - that was it."

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