“A New England” was to be reissued as a 7” single on coloured vinyl for Record Store Day on 20th April 2013 (cat no. salvosv004 barcode 698458860477)

1985’s standard seven inch was available in two picture sleeves, by far the most common of which featured a monochrome portrait of Kirsty. Much more scarce was the sleeve featuring a man hoisting a Union Jack flag among the ruins of a bombed-out building. Salvo / Stiff have announced it is their “resounding pleasure to reissue this wonderful record in its rarest colours in an individually numbered, limited run of 500 pieces on blue vinyl.”

The original b-side was “Patrick”, but Salvo have opted for “I’m Going Out With An Eighty Year Old Millionaire” instead (we think a good choice). This was a “typically humorous MacColl composition with a marked Caribbean influence that was previously only available on vinyl on the b-side of the 12 inch single”.

As songwriter Billy Bragg says, “Whenever we had to sing A New England together live, Kirsty always sang it in another key that was really hard for me. I think she thought that I didn’t try hard enough with my singing. You know she’s right! She had an incredible voice. The mark that she made has not dulled in any way since her tragic death. I always say to the crowd at the end of the second verse of A New England that we are going to have a sing a song for Kirsty MacColl and everybody cheers.”