This Fine City by Lisa Redford & Friends

Out Now!

This Fine City is a charity single created to raise funds to help Future Radio, Norwich’s community radio station, relocate following the loss of our offices and studios when our landlord’s premises closed. You can go and buy it for just a £1 donation

Future Radio currently homeless

At the start of lockdown, our landlord, Open Youth Trust, sadly closed its doors, and we’ve been operating remotely since then. In a magnificent effort, Future Radio’s volunteers have pulled together to help raise funds for a new home. The ambitious idea to create and release a charity single was put forward by the producer of the station’s Future Vegan show and local singer/songwriter and host of Future’s Afternoon Session, Lisa Redford stepped up to the plate.

Local volunteers and musicians pull together

The song has been written by Lisa as a tribute to Norwich and produced by Andrew Todd, a volunteer presenter at Future Radio. As the project came together, it drew in more and more musicians from the local music scene. The track features the talents of 10 leading local musicians alongside Lisa. Lisa said “I was delighted to be asked to compose the single as a tribute to my home city, for the radio station I love. The song is a tribute to Norwich and how we’re getting through such a challenging time. Future Radio, which is facing some tough times itself, is such an important part of the life of the city, I hope people will enjoy this anthemic celebratory song and help the station to move to a new home.”

Help to preserve Norwich’s last independent Radio Station

With other local radio stations across Norfolk recently having been taken over by a national brand, Future Radio is now the only local station in Norwich other than the BBC, so the team is eager for the station to remain rooted in the city centre, where it can be easily accessed by volunteers, guests and artists.

Christopher Remer, Income and Volunteer Coordinator at Future Radio, who pulled the project together, said “This has been a fantastic effort by Lisa, Andrew, their fellow volunteers and local musicians. We’ve been really touched by all the hard work everyone has put into this fantastic single. Although we still have a long way to go, we hope sales of the song will mean we’re able to reopen Norwich’s community radio station for our volunteers, guests and listeners as soon as possible.”

Lyrics

This Fine City
Words and music by Lisa Redford

Walking the lanes of this fine city
It’s coming back to life
Here in the Market Square
People around have kept their distance
We’ll soon be side by side
Hope is in the air
But I remember When it was all
Late night bars, playing our guitars
Singing at the Blue Joanna
Canaries call “we’re always on the ball”
Screaming for the green and yellows
I know we’ve been low, living the unknown
I believe within these city walls
We’ll rise above – it all

All of these changes that we’ve been through
They won’t hold us back
Now hope is on our side
Every street is full of memories
We’ll soon be making more
The future will be bright
In this together, standing tall

The Playhouse Bar is underneath the stars
Weekends at the Warwick Social
Flyin’ high like Pablo’s kite
Tuning into Future Radio
I know we’ve been low, living the unknown
I believe within these city walls

We’ll rise above – it all In this city, this fine city
Rise above it, rise above it all
In this city, this fine city
Rise above it, rise above it all

I remember when it was all
Late night bars, playing our guitars
Singing at the Blue Joanna
Canaries call “we’re always on the ball”
Screaming for the green and yellows
I know we’ve been low, living the unknown
I believe within these city walls

We’ll rise above – it all In this city, this fine city
Rise above it, rise above it all
In this city, this fine city
Rise above it, rise above it all
We’ll rise above We’ll rise above it all