“Brighton Rock” is a complicated song, and I was unsure how to feel about it when I first heard it. There is a lot to take in, and it is the sort of song where it takes multiple listens to fully appreciate. While I puzzled over my feelings regarding the matter, my best friend, who recommended the song to me in the first place, was very keen about it. Multiple times he explained to me the technical mastery of the song, and the superhuman range of Freddie’s voice. Like any fine piece of music, the more I listened to “Brighton Rock” the more I appreciated its layered complexity. My friend was completely correct, it is a great song.
That is what “Brighton Rock” meant to me; a great classic rock song, made unique by its dramatic shifts and flamboyant nature. I knew Brighton was some place in England, but I did not know much about it. The primary thing I knew about the existence of Brighton was the Queen song.
Years go by, and the same friend, my best friend, and I went and saw “Baby Driver.” For those who do not know “Baby Driver” is an excellent film where music is used as a fundamental narrative device as well as being married to all the action for dramatic effect. The main character’s favorite song is “Brighton Rock.” There is a great scene where the title character is having a nice moment with a hired gun played by Jon Hamm where they bond over “Brighton Rock;” this sets up the later case scene where “Brighton Rock” plays and, wow, what an action scene. It is the general consensus that “Baby Driver” despite possibly being the weakest script of any Edgar Wright film, that it is also his greatest work of directing to date; and I agree.
So now, “Brighton Rock” possessed some additional flair in my mind.
Earlier this year, the same friend, my best friend, and I went to Europe with the focus being on the United Kingdom. By now we had been best friends for twenty-nine years, so we have had a long time to share adventures together, but this was the first time we had ever travelled together. The city of Brighton was not on my radar as somewhere we were going to visit, but after a recommendation from a very nice Brazilian lady, my friend was eager to have a day trip to Brighton, and why not? We have a Britrail pass with unlimited use for fifteen days. So, we went to Brighton.
As soon as we arrived in Brighton I began thinking of Queen, and “Baby Driver” for obvious reasons. I was also thinking about the Clash, but that was just random. There was a lot of charm for us to appreciate walking down the main road to the beach and this certainly seemed like a fine place to spend some time; so, we did.
We saw the beach and went to the carnival on the dock, where we saw the Helter Skelter slide that Paul McCartney sang about. The song “Helter Skelter” is about this said slide and not a race war, fuck you Charles Manson. We had some overpriced calamari on the beach. Took some photos and started heading back. My friend felt like a beer and he liked the look of this one bar, so we went inside. Having spent far more money than I would have liked on beer in London over the past two days I was trying my best to be sober. I failed. I failed because everyone we spoke to become our friend. The Greek bartender was incredibly charming. The other patrons were friendly and upbeat. But one man really stood out, an older gentleman who correctly identified us as Canadian and proceed to talk to us about all things rock and roll, and also travel. Right around the time we thought maybe we should head back to London, this same gentlemen very politely asked us if we would not mind having a beer with him at a another pub with an old fashion jute box, which sounded like a good idea, so we went.
Our new friend might be described as a travelling rock and beer sage. We talked at length about rock and roll, and beer, and the best pubs, and the best places to visit in the UK and the rest of Europe, but we also talked about life and we got very philosophical at times. From there we made friends with a biker from Cornith, and father and daughter combination from Wales. The bartender started giving us free coins to keep the music going, because he liked our taste in music, which is funny because that old fashioned jute box only had great songs on it. What a great bar, what a great time. Lastly, we made friends with a Polish punk rock anarchist who invited us to a live music show across town, so we had to go to that. Our new friend, the sage, gave us the kindest words of goodbye and I had to insist we leave him only after a hug, what a great guy.
We marched our way drunkenly across Brighton to this live rock show and got even drunker and made more friends. It was a good live show, I was sure to compliment the young man playing guitar on his skills, made friends with him too.
Then we stumbled back to the train station. We feel asleep on the train and nearly missed our stop, it was two-thirty in the morning when we arrived Victoria station in London, I woke up just in time, and I will not lie, that shook me up a little bit, but hey whatever, it was worth it.
I think it was the best time of our entire trip. One of best nights of my entire life.
Of all the places we visited only a few places left me really wanting to come back and see more, and Brighton is on the top of that list.
I used to listen to “Brighton Rock” and simply enjoy that song for what is was, a devilishly complex and fantastically powerful classic rock song, but whole new dimensions have been bestowed upon me now. Brighton is no longer some place in England I do not know anything about, now I know that Brighton is home to great live music, wonderful people, and the location of greatest pub crawl of my life. Thanks to my old friend for joining me on all of these events, and thanks be to the new friends we made in Brighton, especially the rock and beer sage, for making the best night of our European adventure. Lastly thanks to classic rock band Queen, just for being god damn great.
Sometimes, life is good.
- King of Braves
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