Today marks Tom Robinson’s 65th birthday. He’s shortly to release his first solo album in nearly twenty years ,Only The Now. Guests appearances on the new album include Billy Bragg, Martin Carthy, Lisa Knapp, Sir Ian McKellen, TV Smith and Nitin Sawhney.

The first single to be taken from the album is ‘Don’t Jump, Don’t Fall.’ Released today, it’s a poignant and utterly believable story of a teenage boy going off the rails. It is hoped the single will raise awareness and funds for CALM (The Campaign Against Living Miserably) dedicated to preventing male suicide in the UK. Having battled depression himself at various points in his life, CALM is a charity close to Tom’s heart. It runs a confidential and anonymous national helpline and web chat service for men who are down and in need of support, and relies largely on public donations to keep the helpline open and the campaign going.

More about CALM can be found here

I don’t normally post the entire lyrics to songs on the blog, but this is a) a very good song (how do I know it has touched me? When I popped out I was still singing it) and b) it’s a very worthwhile cause. So please: read the lyrics and listen to the song.

‘Don’t Jump, Don’t Fall’

I still remember first meeting you when
You were a small blond kid about nine or ten
Your mother went missing and your father drank
For your first real home you had an aunt to thank

You came to stay when you were still quite young
You had mischievous eyes and a razorsharp tongue
Life has its interludes and this was one
As we’d pretend for the weekend you were our son

We used to pick you up when you were feeling blue
Take you out to the movies & the circus too
But nothing’s forever and it couldn’t last
We had our own baby, and the moment passed

If you felt betrayed, boy, you hid it well
But when I think back now I feel guilty as hell
You hit the bottle when you hit your teens
Became runaway jailbait for chicken queens

Don’t jump, don’t fall
There’s a world of love out there & you can have it all

I must admit it must’ve seemed like fun
The kinda life you lived when you were on the run
The tricks you turned, and the drugs you’d done
As you scraped the barrel with your lowlife chums

You were always so certain you’d never see thirty.
When you called collect to talk drunk & dirty
A restless aching deep within
And the pain of inhabiting a human skin

Don’t jump, don’t fall
There’s a world of love out there, and you could have it all
Don’t jump, don’t fall
Standing on that balcony, your back against a wall

You must have been shaking with a terrible dread
As you climbed unsteady from your unmade bed.
Did you feel relief or did you just feel numb
To know your moment had finally come

When you left the flat on that final night.
Did you lock the door, did you leave the light
Did you think of her, did you think of me
Or did you simply think you were about to be free

The alcohol raging round your veins
The black depression pouring down like rain
I pray to God by every holy name,
My own sweet children never know that pain

Don’t jump, don’t fall
There’s a world of love out there, you could have had it all
Don’t jump, don’t fall
Standing on that balcony, your back against a wall

Words & Music by Tom Robinson.

Tourdates can be found here