Taking Sides: Billy Bragg vs John Wesley Harding (the guy, not the album)

On the other hand, you gotta look up to somebody who is called John Wesley Harding and names an album "Dynablod". :-)

Still go for Billy Bragg though.

Search:

All of Life's A Riot...

Brewing Up With...
"It Says Here"
"Love Gets Dangerous"
"A Lover Sings"
"Strange Things Happen"
"The Saturday Boy"

[Above two are collected on Back To Basics along with Between The Wars, from which Search: title track and "The World Turned Upside Down"]

Talking With The Taxman About Poetry
"Greetings To The New Brunette"
"Levi Stubbs' Tears"
"The Passion"
"The Home Front"

Workers Playtime
"Little Time Bomb"
"Valentine's Day Is Over"
"The Only One"
"Waiting For The Great Leap Forwards"

Don't Try This At Home
"Sexuality"

Internationale
"My Youngest Son Came Home Today" (Eric Bogle cover)

William Bloke
"Brickbat"
"The Pict Song"

Mermaid Avenue (with Wilco)
"Way Over Yonder In The Minor Key"
"Ingrid Bergman"
"Eisler On The Go"

Also search for "Days Like These", his cover of "Fear Is A Man's Best Friend" and his twisted UK deconstruction of "Route 66" -- "A13, Trunk Road To The Sea".

Bragg's love songs usually work best, although when he mixes his politics with humour (as on "It Says Here"), he can be endearing, and some of the stridency of songs such as "Which Side Are You on?" can be more easily forgiven.

Some great lyric couplets in his earlier stuff. Example (from "A Lover Sings"):

"There is no real substitute for a ball struck squarely and firmly,
You're the kind of girl who likes to open up a bottle of pop too early in the journey,
Our love went flat,
Just like that."

JWH stuck in my head today: "Save a Little Room for Me." Not sad to have it there.

Billy Bragg comments from yesterday (not sure if this was mentioned on another Bragg thread):

“I was fortunate enough to be doing a gig in Belfast on the night Thatcher resigned and the cheers of celebration are still ringing in my ears. Now, seven times zones away, the streets of Calgary, Alberta seemed strangely calm at the news of her passing.That was until I wandered into a western outfitters, looking for pearl-snap shirts. The two women who worked there were both from Essex and as soon as they heard my accent we fell into to discussing the ignominy that she and her followers heaped upon our beloved county. I bought a couple of shirts and put the two women on the guest list for the show tonight.”

A little while later, he added:

“This is not a time for celebration. The death of Margaret Thatcher is nothing more than a salient reminder of how Britain got into the mess that we are in today. Of why ordinary working people are no longer able to earn enough from one job to support a family; of why there is a shortage of decent affordable housing; of why domestic growth is driven by credit, not by real incomes; of why tax-payers are forced to top up wages; of why a spiteful government seeks to penalise the poor for having an extra bedroom; of why Rupert Murdoch became so powerful; of why cynicism and greed became the hallmarks of our society.

Raising a glass to the death of an infirm old lady changes none of this. The only real antidote to cynicism is activism. Don’t celebrate – organise!”

The 52-year-old said: "This year I think I'll be voting Liberal Democrat because they've got the best manifesto.

"I like what they're saying about proportional representation, I like what they're saying about Europe... if I was a floating voter I'd be floating towards them."

Bragg, who has a long history of fighting for left-wing causes, added: "I think Labour have taken the white working class vote for granted.

"I think the idea of a three party race is more interesting than a two party race."

Fuck you, cock.