Frank Turner on reconciling with his trans parent: ‘Miranda is a really nice person – my dad wasn’t’

The songwriter’s fractious relationship with his parent led to them becoming estranged for almost a decade – but after her transition, Miranda is reconnecting her son, who has written a song for her

A north London pub, walls dripping vinyl. Fingers white on an acoustic guitar, spittle roared on to microphone. For folk-punk star Frank Turner, it’s a gig like hundreds he has played on his 17-year path from squat parties to arenas. The song, though, is unlike any he’s performed before.

“My father is called Miranda these days,” he sings. “She’s a proud transgender woman and my resentment has started to fade …”