Info

GUIDE TO THE HOMEPAGE QUICKLINK COLLAGE

When on the homepage just hover your mouse cursor over the lower right corner graphic

and the above guide will overlay the collage. View | Download a hi-res image of the "Big Grid" collage on the homepage.

WHAT DO ALL THOSE SYMBOLS MEAN???

Throughout the site, tracks are marked as follows:

Studio Track (Dark Blue)

Live Track (Aqua)

Live In Studio (Pink)

Digital Source (CD & DVD)

Analog Source only (Vinyl, Audio/Video Cassette) (italicized)

Along with colour coding of song variations, I have placed a “Variation Notation” on most pages to make it easier to determine on what album a particular version of a song. Some songs have variations that are enough to have their own page. If there is no symbol next to the release in a song’s discography, that particular version is unique. Unless noted, the country of release is The United Kingdom.

The colour of the ‘◆’ symbol follows the following list:
◆ Album or common studio track
◆ Single edit
◆ 12” edit
◆ Alternate studio track
◆ , ◆ or ◆ Demo or Rarites track
◆ Alternate studio or demo track
◆ Alternate Mix, Edit, Demo or Rarities version
❖ , ❖ , ❖ , ▲ , ▼ , ▶ , ◀ , ◀ or ▲ Studio track edited to fade for video/television or otherwise noted as similar to album/single (◆) edit.
◇ , ◇ , ◇ , or ◇ Skids tracks with no performers from Big Country

For live tracks, these symbols refer to the origin of the concert in its entirety:
BBC Radio 1 - David Jensen Session (12 August 1982) Œ 1982-08-12
Peppermint Lounge (21 August 1982) $ 1982-08-21
Riverside BBC (17 January 1983) Œ 1983-01-17
Oxford Road Show (25 February 1983) Œ 1983-02-25
BBC Radio 1 - John Peel Session (23 March 1983) Œ 1983-03-09
Old Grey Whistle Test (29 March 1983) Œ 1983-03-29
Glasgow Locarno (4 July 1983) £ 1983-07-04
Hammersmith Palais (27 June 1983) Æ 1983-06-27
Pop Carnival - Sefton Park (Liverpool) (2 July 1983) Æ 1983-07-02
BBC - Reading Festival (26 August 1983) Æ 1983-08-26
The Ritz (New York City) (10 September 1983) $ 1983-09-10
Roseland Ballroom (New York City) (9 December 1983) $ 1983-12-09
King Biscuit Flower Hour / Live / Homecoming ’83 (31 December 1983) £ 1983-12-31 1984-01-01
Defrostin’ (22 March 1984) $ 1984-03-22
BBC Radio 1 In Concert - Wembley Stadium (28 June 1984) Æ 1984-06-28
Glasgow Apollo (21 December 1984) # 1984-12-21
Edinburgh Playhouse (31 December 1984) Æ 1984-12-31 1985-01-01
Live In Essen (Rockpalast) (15 March 1986) ß 1986-03-15
BBC - Reading Hexagon (14 April 1986) Æ 1986-04-14
Philadelphia Tower Theatre (26 August 1986) $ 1986-08-26
The Seer Live In New York / Live In New York City 1986 (27 August 1986) $ 1986-08-27
Peace Concert (Live In East Berlin 1988) (18 June 1988) ß 1988-06-18
BBC Radio 1 - Live From The Soviet Embassy (London) (21 September 1988) Æ 1988-09-21
Peace In Our Time / Moscow 1988 (1 October 1988) Я 1988-10-01
Moscow Palace of Sport (2 October 1988) Я 1988-10-02
BBC Live In Concert (23 January 1989) Æ 1989-01-23
Live at The Town and Country Club (10 August 1990) £ 1990-08-10
Country Club Convention 1991 (31 August 1991) Ð 1991-08-31
No Place Like Bonn (6 September 1991) ß 1991-09-06
Keep On Truckin’ (4 October 1991) Æ 1991-10-04
Mandela Hall (Belfast) (25 November 1991) # 1991-11-25
Live ’93 Bootleg / Live In Cologne (14 March 1993) ß 1993-03-14
Minneapolis First Avenue (6 November 1993) $ 1993-11-06
Without The Aid of a Safety Net / W.T.A.O.S.N. (expanded edition) (29 December 1993) £ 1993-12-29
Stirling Mc Robert Centre (29 April 1994) Ð 1994-04-29
Live at Wolverhampton Civic Hall (23 June 1994) £ 1994-06-23
Balingen SWF Festival (9 July 1994) ß 1994-07-09
Tunbridge Wells High Rocks (9 June 1995) Ð 1995-06-09
Glasgow Tower Records (23 June 1995) Ð 1995-06-23
Das Fest (22 July 1995) ß 1995-07-22
Freiburg Jazzhaus (21 August 1995) ß 1995-08-21
Wolfsburg (25 August 1995) ß 1995-08-25
Rotterdam Rotown (28 August 1995) ƒ 1995-08-28
2 Meter Sessies (NOB Audiostudio1, Hilversum, Netherlands) (29 August 1995) ƒ 1995-08-29
Brighton Rock (5 November 1995) £ 1995-11-05
Eclectic (20/21 March 1996) # 1996-03-20/ £ 1996-03-21
Dunfermline Tappie Toories (24 May 1998) Ð 1998-05-24
Nashville Sessions (1999) $
Driving To Perth (25 July 1999) Ð 1999-07-25
Country Club Convention 1999 (18 September 1999) Ð 1999-09-18
Driving To Newcastle (8 December 1999) Æ 1999-12-08
Come Up Screaming (London 20 May 2000 £ 2000-05-20
Come Up Screaming / Final Fling (Glasgow 31 May 2000) £ 2000-05-31
Rothes Hall (The Buffalo Skinners) (19 October 2001) @ 2001-10-19
Eastworld (Casbah Club) (14 April 2004) @ 2004-04-14
Ivory Blacks (Glasgow) (Four Good Men) (10 November 2005) @ 2005-11-10
The Who Convention (Casbah Club) (1 April 2006) @ 2006-04-01
25 Live (18 August 2007) & 2007-08-17
What Are You Doing In My Living Room / Live at Lathones (6 March 2009) @ 2009-03-06
Another Concert For The Damned (Bruce & Jamie Watson) (11 September 2009) @ 2009-09-11
Back In A Big Country USB Series (31 December 2010 - 6 January 2011) & 2010-12-31 2011-01-02 2011-01-03 2011-01-05 2011-01-06
Dreams Stay With You (London) (15 April 2011) & 2011-04-15
Dreams Stay With You (Sheffield) (17 April 2011) & 2011-04-17
Dreams Stay With You (Edinburgh Picture House) (21 April 2011) & 2011-04-21
Radio Clyde 2 w/ Billy Sloan (14 July 2011) # 2011-07-14
RAK Studios (13 January 2012) & 2012-01-13
Crossing The Country USB Series (6 - 18 February 2012) & 2012-02-06 2012-02-07 2012-02-08 2012-02-09 2012-02-11 2012-02-12 2012-02-13 2012-02-15 2012-02-16 2012-02-17 2012-02-18

The colour and symbols combinations are based on the legend below:
£ UK concerts
Ð VHS only or audience recording of UK show
# Miscellaneous UK single track performances
Æ BBC releases (in concert)
Œ BBC releases (in studio)
Я Russia performances
$ USA performances
ƒ Netherlands performances
ß Germany performances
& Performances 2002-present
§ Live performances from The Skids (<2001)
∫ Live performances from The Skids (>2001)
@ Live performances from other solo efforts

...and in this chart.

signifies that the discography entry has a companion page with additional graphics and also shows variations (if applicable) of that release.

signifies that the track has an accompanying page that has tabs and chords for use for guitar playing.

Click on this icon on any page and you will be taken to a random page on the site.

I have adopted (borrowed, stolen, plagiarized, etc.) most of the elements of Mike Wallack’s compilation . They are just too good not to use. On the lyrics pages, where applicable, a graphic is on each page depicting the cover of disc where the song first appeared. Below that are listings for each album/single/CD the song has appeared. Also, for some songs, additional notes and/or quotations are added. Hopefully, more will be added in the future. Some songs have more than one page. This is only the case when the two versions have significant lyrical variations.As for some of the other elements, I might as well, like the originator, explain them as well:

What’s with the symbol? The lyrics for many of the songs in this book were transcribed by myself and members of the Big Country internet community by careful listening and discussion. Nevertheless, without definitive written lyrics from the songwriters it remains nearly impossible to be sure that all lyrics presented are correct. Songs for which “official” lyrics have never been made available are indicated by the question mark icon. Sources for “official” lyrics are the liner notes to the albums, Big Country Words by Stuart Adamson, the music book for “Wonderland”, and Country Club magazine (the old official magazine for Big Country). Lyrics have recently been posted on the official website for the “No Place Like Home + Peace in Our Time” release. Some revision to songs marked with the icon is still needed.

What’s with the miniature album pictures?
Big Country released nine studio albums. For the sake of chronological categorizing, all of Big Country’s songs have been assigned to an “era” associated with the album for which the song was recorded or, in the case of unreleased songs, approximating the time that the song was recorded. A timeline of the nine studio album is used to show where each song fits chronologically, with the appropriate album image shown in color and all other albums shown in greyscale. Thus, a reader can simply glance at the album timeline to get a rough idea of where that song fits within the Big Country chronology.