I discovered Frank Turner in the best possible way—live at a show where I’d come to see another band. Turner took the stage and my buddy leaned over to explain that he was “the new Billy Bragg”. That was enough to get my attention since Bragg’s “Talking With The Taxman About Poetry” is an all-time fav. I became a big fan of Turner’s that night too.

There isn’t anything particularly revolutionary about a punk troubadour, but Turner’s songwriting is really great. And I love his voice. In my mind, this is perfectly encapsulated in his folky ode to growing up, “Photosynthesis”. It’s snotty and sincere in all the right ways, with just enough angst to make it timeless and compelling. Sort of like Holden Caulfield singing The Clash’s “The Guns Of Brixton”.

It’s a premature middle-aged call to arms from a twenty-something that already sees the writing on the wall. So when he croons that he “won’t sit down and I won’t shut up” and that he refuses to meekly shuffle “down the path of mediocrity”—well, it’s the kind of thing that just might make you finally write that novel you’ve been going on and on about.

Read the lyrics for “Photosynthesis” HERE.

Previous installments in this series:

• Brian Wilson— “Love & Mercy”
• Taylor Swift— “Mean”
• Big Star— “September Gurls”
• Violent Femmes— “Country Death Song”
• Husker Du— “Books About UFOs”
• Wilco— “Misunderstood”
• The Mother Hips— “Gold Plated”

S.W. Lauden’s short fiction has been accepted for publication by Out of the Gutter, Criminal Element, Dark Corners, Dead Guns Magazine, Akashic Books, WeirdBook, Spelk Fiction, Shotgun Honey and Crimespree Magazine. His debut novel, BAD CITIZEN CORPORATION, will be published by Rare Bird Books in October 2015. His novella, CROSSWISE, will be published by Down & Out Books in 2016.