Billy gets a bit of a hard time these days from some folks who think of him as a bit of a traitor to socialism (I don't) and for his involvement in debates about English nationalism and an English parliament (which I don't agree with him about).
All that said, I think Mr Bragg has a lot to brag about when it comes to both the composition of his songs and his lyrical mastery of both political outrage and love, by and large of the unrequited variety. I shall have Between The Wars played at my funeral, I like to wake up to and sometimes march with an imaginary red banner to his version of The Internationale and I have sighed empathic sighs for years at The Saturday Boy. I prefer his earlier stuff from Life is a Riot with Spy Vs Spy and Brewing Up with. I do like most of his stuff but I am a stripped down to the basics kind of music fan hence, the earlier stuff trumps the newer more elaborate sound for me.
As for my favourite Billy Bragg song, too hard - possibly The Saturday Boy but this comes close, wow, what lyrics. Buy his stuff please, he deserves it.
2 comments:
You sound just like my friend Em, who is friends with Billy BTW. Says, he is a very neat man both on and off the record. ((Tx Mrs))
Ooh. That is interesting! He must be decent to write the lyrics he writes. His level of insight into people is stunning. Thanks back!
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