Thank Finnerty it’s Friday.
As we mark another glorious summer weekend, it’s time for your weekly music competition.
This week the theme comes courtesy of fearless BS commenter SOQ who suggests your favourite political song.
Here’s mine.
Reply below to be in with a chance of bagging yourself a €50 Golden Discs voucher redeemable in any Golden Discs store.
The winner will be chosen by my campaign manager.
Please include a video link if possible, thanks.
Lines MUST close On Saturday at MIDDAY.
Nick says: Good luck!
Earlier: Smile Though Your Heart Is Breaking
Sponsored Link
Billy Bragg – Between the wars
https://youtu.be/xjUA3RU4B8E
The Housemartins – Flag Day
https://youtu.be/8Xxt8gRVLnw
Redskins – Kick over the statues
https://youtu.be/yEZTZ3_cqHY
The Redskins – nice suggestion Bertie
Flag Day – try shaking your box in front of the queen……..
Between the wars…
Like a holy trinity of truculents, a triumverate of troublemakers.
Hats off to you!
Robert Wyatt – Shipbuilding
https://youtu.be/Res3-YX4X8g
The Style Council – Walls come tumbling down
https://youtu.be/k5HfOipwvts
and 40 years old this week
The Specials – Ghost town
https://youtu.be/RZ2oXzrnti4
Bruce Springsteen – Born in the USA
https://youtu.be/EPhWR4d3FJQ
The absolutely smashing Pink, giving out socks to Bush. https://youtu.be/1f8S5u01E0Y
Gotta be Billy Bragg for me as well – “Waiting for the Great Leap Forward.”
Billy Bragg seems to be an all-round sound man, was gutted when i wasn’t able to use my ticket to see him in Whelan’s a few years back. Don’t worry, it was put to good use and sent elsewhere. Great for the auld banter, super lyricist and every show is different … ! I’ve pasted two versions of the song below. One is the original album version and another is a performance he did in a bike shop for KEXP where he reworked the lyrics to reflect current political concerns.
“The revolution is just a t-shirt away” – sing it bruv !
Album version:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_vK6OWwmbQ
KEXP performance version:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zn06juaCNSA
+1
And for the night that’s in it…
“How can you lie there and think of England, when you don’t even know who’s in the team”
From Greetings to the New Brunette, Billy’s paean to ex Labour, SDP and Lib Dem politico Shirley Williams. Johnny Marr on guitar too.
https://youtu.be/HiGpZEBrt9E
A rousing ditty of the dangers of Nationalism, L’identité, Noir Désir et Les Têtes Raides
https://youtu.be/FwKZy6sIYKw
Les clans des rues les clandestins
Les cris des chiens hurlent à la ronde
J’suis pas inscrit sur la mappemonde
Y a pas d’pays pour les vauriens
Les poètes et les baladins
Y a pas d’pays
Si tu le veux
Prends le mien
Que Paris est beau quand chantent les oiseaux
Que Paris est laid quand il se croit français
Avec ses sans-papirs
Qui vont bientôt r’partir
Vers leur pays les chiens
On a tout pris chez eux y a plus rien
De rétention en cale de fond
J’en ai même oublié mon ombre
Je promène moi dans vos décombres
On m’a donné un bout de rien
J’en ai fait cent mille chemins
J’en ai fait cent
J’en ai fait un
Un chemin de l’identité
L’iditenté l’idétitan
L’y tant d’idées à la ronde
Et dans ce flot d’univériens
J’aurai plus d’nom j’aurai plus rien
Dis-moi c’est quand tu reviens
Que Paris est beau quand chantent les oiseaux
Que Paris est laid quand il se croit français
Avec tous ces champs d’tir
Et tous ces fous du tir
Y visent pas que les lapins
C’est plus du gros sel
C’est des tomawaks
Ou des missiles sol-air
Ou des skuds
Et moi avec mon pistolet à bouchon
Je pars au front
Paris sera beau quand chantera les oiseaux
Paris sera beau si les oiseaux
Mais non Paris sera beau car les oiseaux
https://youtu.be/Q2OivplOBq8
Joe Hill by Luke Kelly. A song about a working class hero sung by a working class hero.
Joan Baez also did a tremendous version.
+1
I’d say Mr. Kelly will be getting a lot of shout outs in this.
And the Wolfe Tones.
The Beat – Stand Down Margaret
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORIYtJWowOE
I rarely comment politically, but there are two songs I like, both from and about South Africa, from before and after the release of Nelson Mandela. There are many others, but I like these two in particular.
When I started in College, on open day, there was a Free Nelson Mandela society. I did not get in, probably because I asked when I would get my free Nelson Mandela, and would he fit on the mantelpiece or better on a shelf?
But this wonderful song by Labi Siffre. While he was not South African, and the song is not specific but inspired by the South African struggle against apartheid, it still speaks to all of those who fight against any injustice. These days the words are still as relevant as ever, and sadly in far to many cases even here in Ireland. (Something Inside) So Strong:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otuwNwsqHmQ
The second is by Brenda Fassie, sadly passed away far to early. She comments in this song on her joy at Nelson Mandela being free, and indeed being president. Simply My Black President:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOrS4T0966Q
Slightly, you’ve teed up the pass and I’m drilling it home.
The Special AKA – Free Nelson Mandela
https://youtu.be/AgcTvoWjZJU
Political sloganeering you can dance to.
Did you get your free one? :-)
Bought it as a gasún and later traded it with a load of Joy Division/New Order stuff in Freebird on Grafton St. Regret that now.
I’m going for a bit of Bob Marley with Get Up Stand Up, powerful lyrics!
https://youtu.be/IhQEBAl3Gpk
Enjoy!
Great choice! He was a song writing genius. I love his music and his voice,
I hope you do not mind my butting in here, but I must agree with Junkface. He was a genius.
Can I mention Buffalo Soldier, which linked a specific struggle to a long term ongoing one in a beautiful melody and incredible lyrics. All put so simply, but so provocatively:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5FCdx7Dn0o
Reminds me to watch this documentary again.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dn2BPfNwgDU&ab_channel=BobMarley
as I’ve been learning it on the guitar: Leonard Cohen’s “Story of Isaac”
in which the morose balladeer uses the story of Abraham bringing his son to be sacrificed at God’s command to nail the USA for sending it’s sons off to die in Vietnam.
“When it all comes down to dust
I will help you if I must
I will kill you if I can
And mercy on our uniform
Man of peace or man of war
The peacock spreads his fan”
https://youtu.be/L9NKRZUD9lw
Single Issue politics from the mighty Winston Hubert McIntosh – aka Peter Tosh – Buckinham’ Palace
https://youtu.be/ULXdGjFkKBc
Aspirational living with the levellers – One Way
https://youtu.be/r_2ClpDvQWQ
It’s Friday, It’s My Way – Let happiness abound.
Easy. Marvin Gaye, What’s Going On. The song, and indeed the album, sounds as relevant today as it did fifty years ago. And that voice. https://youtu.be/o5TmORitlKk
Great call – and what a glorious album it is.
Great choice. You could equally propose Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler) from one of the greatest albums of all time. Urban decay and inner city poverty has rarely had such unrelenting treatment
I could have entered this last week too.
Come on folks can’t we just all get along. Have a lovely weekend.
Sly and the Family Stone – Everyday People
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUUhDoCx8zc
I have two suggestions.
1. Refuse, Resist by Sepultura:- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ODNxy3YOPU&ab_channel=RoadrunnerRecordsRoadrunnerRecords
Emblematic of the Brutality endemic in South American Dictatorships and everywhere else.
2. Ohio by Neil Young: Timeless, rooted in a specific incident in Kent state, but universal in it’s application.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdVMGKOFIwY&ab_channel=neilyoungchannel
I love this song by Public Image Ltd. Johnny Lydon having a go at late 70’s politicians is always fun. The chorus is almost joyous for a P.I.L. song.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cifo77azntk&ab_channel=TheGreatRocknRollPRTPiLOfficial%7CPublicImageLtd
Manages to be hilarious, poignant and serious about an important issue at the same time. No small feat. Into the feckers!
Soccer96 with the marvelously named Alabaster de Plume – I was Gonna Fight Fascism
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijZbNyVvTmY
Handlebars by Flobots
https://youtu.be/HLUX0y4EptA
No, not a song about bike safety. But about what can happen when power goes unchecked and unchallenged.
I love the how this track builds from a child’s innocence to the menace, evil and malevolence that exists in our world today.
Powerful stuff.
(I do love me some Billy Bragg too)
The title says it all really….
Johnny Boy – You are the Generation that Bought More Shoes and You Get What You Deserve
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qp4GdI_bTD4
Public Enemy – Fight The Power
https://youtu.be/mmo3HFa2vjg
The Prophets of Rage. The greatest rap act of all time. The greatest MC of all time. This is politics with a capital P. Public Enemy caused such outrage at the time and their message still stands to this day.
If that doesn’t wet your whistle I have two more.
Fatima Mansions – Blues for Ceausescu
https://youtu.be/FnvsgWD_pAQ
All good political songs, I believe, must have some rage behind them and that rage must be expressed in the music. Cathal Coughlan is one of Ireland’s finest purveyors of rage. Nicolae is not his only target in this song, but he is very glad to see him gone
Consolidated – Tool and Die
https://youtu.be/1xyS4MERN8Y
This my sleeper selection. The main chorus says it all: “Take away those guns we need gun control”. This song smacks you in the face with its message. It’s a message that can’t be subtle and sadly a message that is still not being heard by so many in the US.
A Donna Summer song from 1982. State of Independence. Its vaguely political, but enormous fun for a Friday afternoon! Her voice is incredible when she gets into it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XcKN0XbCbU
LKJ – come we go down there
https://youtu.be/8Km6MwojD1M
This man could chant the phone book and It would still sound like something you could listen to.
Forward down there
So much reggae, so little time.
Andy Ward Nica Brook Find My Way Bah Samba Remix- not written as political but after what we have all been through, can certainly be interpreted as that- ‘Freedom deep inside of me’ goes the chorus.
Unfortunately the full 12.5 min version is not online but I did mange to find most of it in a mix. It has a stunning performance from Nica Brook- a beautiful silky sexy soul vocal. I love the way it builds and then settles down near the end- IMO one of the most under rated dance tracks ever.
I hope you enjoy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qIHxFcWXHA&t=2468s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVwGbYe9UYc
billy bragg – ideology
shouty, rightous vocals over big bollox trashy chords on a double cut junior – there is nothing better.
Hell Broke Luce by Tom Waits.
https://youtu.be/0Fju9o8BVJ8
or
Road to Peace also by Tom Waits
https://youtu.be/AAtaQGBbU1A
Both songs take aim at politicians and their wars.
CCR: fortunate son
though widely overused in vietnam movies and parodied in the family guy link below, fortunate still packs a huge punch about politics. apparently inspired by the impending nuptials of eisenhowers grandson and nixons daughter. eisenhower spending his military service in the med while the unconnected were being shipped wholesale to vietnam to die. the fury that fogerty puts into the song, along with the distinctive guitar, makes it one of the most memorable and effective political songs
fortunate son: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f33qUqdZapw
family guy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98k2DlQ9PMY
+1
This one is as pertinent a commentary on Irish politics now as it was back in 1980, it plays in my head a lot when I’m browsing this site…
Boomtown Rats Banana Republic
https://youtu.be/OfMwWLnpgGw
In terms of the wider world, this one is an all time favourite of mine but sadly, it is still pertinent too
Youssou Ndour ft Neneh Cherry 7 Seconds
https://youtu.be/wqCpjFMvz-k
But in terms of a great song with a political message you can’t beat Eddy Grant’s absolute banger Gimme Hope Jo’Anna
https://youtu.be/3P-imA4618Y
Apologies, I thought that Slightly Bemused had already posted this one so avoided it but as he hadn’t here is my real choice for the bangingest every political song
The Specials Free Nelson Mandela
https://youtu.be/AgcTvoWjZJU
Worth posting twice. A great song!
Did you manage to get your free Nelson?
Youssou Ndour ft Neneh Cherry 7 Seconds
https://youtu.be/wqCpjFMvz-k
I forgot all about that song- lovely.
Banana Republic is a wonderful takedown of our benighted Republic. Geldof exposed what we all found out about after Ben Dunne’s freak out in Florida and Bishop Casey’s hypocrisy.
Biko Peter Gabriel
Or Biko Drum by Christie Moore
https://youtu.be/M0MezHGazS4
unfuck the world by the Prophets of Rage. Stellar line-up . This one gets the crowd going.
https://youtu.be/bpLrxEAVrYE
Ministry’s Theives about political corruption. Saw them a
play this live. Al is wonderfully bonkers. https://youtu.be/4c3BCWx5Rpg
Linton Kwesi Johnson – Street 66
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnAV1Ec4Z9M
John Cooper Clarke – Beasley Street
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnAV1Ec4Z9M
41 years later and there are still places like Beasley Street all over the world.
We could have had a Sráid (Phiaras) Béaslaí (or Béaslaigh) – we certainly have our own Beasley Streets.
Good call. His recent memoir I Wanna Be Yours was a great read. Playing Ireland again next May.
Ranking Ann – Kill the Police Bill
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ScdX5YknxQ
From 1984, a slice of history. Oh wait – it isn’t history though, is it? You’d imagine that people would eventually get fed up with that kind of thing.
https://youtu.be/bWXazVhlyxQ
I think this one has to win!
Rage Against The Machine, Killing in the Name.
Please pop me in the hat and fingers crossed
I love Bruce Springsteen, We Take Care of our Own
https://youtu.be/-x8zBzxCwsM
He is a true American Democrat legend
Elvis Costello – Tramp The Dirt Down
The late great Woody Guthrie says it all about todays Ireland and its neo-liberal politics.
“Jesus Christ”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KZg_t9UyJY
Jesus Christ was a man who travelled through the land
Hard working man and brave
He said to the rich, “Give your goods to the poor.”
So they laid Jesus Christ in his grave.
Jesus was a man, a carpenter by hand
His followers true and brave
One dirty little coward called Judas Iscariot
Has laid Jesus Christ in his grave
He went to the sick, he went to the poor,
And he went to the hungry and the lame;
Said that the poor would one day win this world,
And so they laid Jesus Christ in his grave.
He went to the preacher, he went to the sheriff,
Told them all the same;
Sell all of your jewelry and give it to the Poor,
But they laid Jesus Christ in his grave.
When Jesus came to town, the working folks around,
Believed what he did say;
The bankers and the preachers they nailed him on a cross,
And they laid Jesus Christ in his grave.
Poor working people, they follered him around,
Sung and shouted gay;
Cops and the soldiers, they nailed him in the air,
And they nailed Jesus Christ in his grave.
Well the people held their breath when they heard about his death,
And everybody wondered why;
It was the landlord and the soldiers that he hired.
That nailed Jesus Christ in the sky.
When the love of the poor shall one day turn to hate.
When the patience of the workers gives away
“Would be better for you rich if you never had been born”
So they laid Jesus Christ in his grave.
This song was written in New York City
Of rich men, preachers and slaves
Yes, if Jesus was to preach like he preached in Galilee,
They would lay Jesus Christ in his grave.
Barry Maguire was very much the George Lazenby of protest singers.. The B.F. Sloan song that made him famous had been turned down by the Byrds & The Troggs. It’s a sweeping Dylanesque rant that covers the Vietnam War, the draft, the threat of nuclear war, the Civil Rights Movement, turmoil in the Middle East, and the American space program perfectly suited to Maguire rasping rough vocals. Lyrically it shouts ironic rage
“Think of all the hate there is in Red China!
Then take a look around to Selma, Alabama!
Ah, you may leave here, for four days in space,
But when your return, it’s the same old place,
The poundin’ of the drums, the pride and disgrace,
You can bury your dead, but don’t leave a trace,
Hate your next door neighbor, but don’t forget to say grace,”
Barry Maguire “The Eve of Destruction”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdWGp3HQVjU
Gil Scott-Heron – The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwSRqaZGsPw
As relevant today as it was then!
Big time.
Ranking Ann – Kill the Police Bill
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ScdX5YknxQ
From 1984, a slice of history. Oh wait – it isn’t history though, is it? Not yet anyway. You’d imagine that people would eventually get well annoyed at having to put up with that kind of thing.
Elvis Costello – Tramp The Dirt Down
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-BZIWSI5UQ
A nice bit of punk rock and they may as well be singing about our Northern Brethren today
Stiff Little Fingers Alternative Ulster
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-x2FYSOSdM
We ain’t got nothin’ but they don’t really care
They don’t even know you know
They just want money, we can take it or leave it
What we need
Is an Alternative Ulster
Grab it and change it, it’s yours
Get an Alternative Ulster
Ignore the bores and their laws
Get an Alternative Ulster
Be an anti-security force
Alter your native Ulster
Alter your native land
Snap!
This is my husband’s suggestion, he reckons it has one of the best opening riffs and I think he’s right
Alternative Ulster Stiff Little Fingers
https://youtu.be/PlGmYetiCjA
If you don’t get out and fight the the fascists, you’re a dirty stop out!
Bella Ciao, Bella Ciao, Bella Ciao Ciao Ciao!
https://youtu.be/4CI3lhyNKfo
Love this!
“Same old jukebox, same old tune
It’s hard to break this old routine
Everything’s black and white and grey
Living from day to day to day…”
The Blades sing of 80’s Dublin in Downmarket
https://youtu.be/sZVKGwrTIv4
The Staple Singers tackle Dylan’s most political song
Masters of War – https://youtu.be/gXSqFm27IEQ
The Byrds – Draft Morning
https://youtu.be/ltnbnKv7ans
Gang of Four – Armalite Rifle
https://youtu.be/9Q3igHHQj4M
Wrong link for John Cooper Clarke’s Beasley Street above, here’s the real thing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37QUUwp9xIs
https://youtu.be/3CzNOD7ukMA
Good aul tune commenting on the silly little reasons that Brexit was voted for.
I suppose this one could be dedicated to Eoghan Harris, as a reminder of the times when he was all into banning, muting and censoring people. That was Eoghan’s fight for freedom – his freedom to muzzle news and opinion. So whenever he bleats about free speech just remember that he doesn’t really mean it and that he was instrumental in ‘cancelling’ certain viewpoints for years.
Christy Moore – Section 31
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sW4iSXsbn50
As protest songs go: https://youtu.be/6dU8mGjrjJk
https://youtu.be/X1o6atwZUcI
I may have mentioned that I worked overseas for a bit. While marooned in some of those places, radio was your only link to the outside world. While I tried to listen to local stations as much as possible, the better to learn the language and the music, I woke every day to the same thing. The ‘pips’.
BBC World Service, and I believe other BBC channels, mark certain hours with the pips leading up to the exact top of the hour. RTE do it too, but the Beeb gives you a long one on the last. What makes the World Service special, at least at this time, was it was followed by an intoning voice saying “This is London!” Apparently it used be ‘This is London Calling, but I do not recall that one. This statement, which I think was meant to reassure, was followed by a piece of music that I pretty much guarantee any English speaking overseas worker could recite by heart, although in my case not likely by tune: Lilliburlero.
Anyway, my brother, he who introduced me to The Streets, was a lover of The Clash. Always liked his slightly ranting punk tunes for the underdog :-)
So here would be me in bed, alarm clock radio carefully set to get the pips, and the ‘This is London’, and after Lilli, my head would play ‘London Calling’ by The Clash:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfK-WX2pa8c
In light of recent events, may I off The Stiff Little Fingers, and Alternative Ulster? Self Explanatory:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=632QWw2Pz6g
*offer! Sorry, I do not want to get rid of them :-)
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lVehcuJXe6I
Bombs over Baghdad, by outkast. I’d say more but there’s only a minute left in the comp
then say more in your comments :-) I love to know people’s stories
Incendiary proto-punk anyone?
Against the backdrop of the civil rights movement and the Vietnam war, Detroit’s MC5 melded incendiary proto-punk, psychedelically inclined free jazz, radical left-wing politics and revolution-sparking raw power. Patti Smith’s late husband Fred provides the guitar licks.
“It’s time to kick out the jams, motherf******…”
https://youtu.be/yvJGQ_piwI0
Whitey’s on the Moon
Gill Scot Heron
https://youtu.be/iuqU5XSo-1U
The one and Only Marlena Shaw
Woman of the Ghetto
https://youtu.be/7_BeN75XgfQ
On a different musical highway …….
Citizen Fish – these chaps can pen a polemic all day long.
Charity
https://youtu.be/1tpiPhFpaZY
It’s noisy, it’s distorted and makes you want to shake your head repeatedly… and that’s just the song. Don’t get me started on politics.!
It’s Friday night and welcome to the headbangers ball!
Living Colour – Cult of Personality
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7xxgRUyzgs0
Living Colour were a breath of fresh air in the late 1980s bringing a political consciousness among all the groupie baiting hair metal of the time. I played the album this came from – Vivid – to death at the time
https://youtu.be/ASAuu6SUmxs
When the personal becomes political, nobody expresses it like Bob Marley; ‘johnny was a good man’
‘Your son has been shot in the street and died
Just because of the system’
https://youtu.be/INWPh5OTwss
Lots of stiff little fingers being nominated; have some ‘ tin soldiers’
excellent choice!
https://youtu.be/Lcm3MmD7uyc
Given the whole Scotland v England thing today, please enjoy Luke Kelly singing ‘parcel of rogues’.
It is just before Scotland v England in the Euro’s Group game.
Kane goes into the English changing room to find all his team mates looking a bit glum.
“What’s up?” he asks.
“Well, we’re having trouble getting motivated for this game. We know it’s important but it’s only Scotland. They’re shite and we can’t be bothered”.
Kane looks at them and says “Well, I reckon I can beat these by myself, you lads go down the pub.”
So Kane goes out to play Scotland by himself and the rest of the English team go off for a few pints. After a few jars they wonder how the game is going, so they get the landlord to put the teletext on. A big cheer goes up as the screen reads “England 1 – Scotland 0 (Kane 10minutes)”. He is beating Scotland all by himself!
Anyway, a few more pints later and the game is forgotten until someone remembers “It must be full time now, let’s see how he got on”. They put the teletext on.
“Result from the Stadium “England 1 (Kane 10 minutes) – Scotland 1″(Angus McShagnasty 89 minutes)”.
They can’t believe it, he has single handedly got a draw against Scotland!!
They rush back to the Stadium to congratulate him. They find him in the dressing room, still in his gear, sat with his head in his hands. He refuses to look at them.
“I’ve let you down, I’ve let you down.”
“Don’t be daft, you got a draw against Scotland , all by yourself. And they only scored at the very very end”
“No, No, I have, I’ve let you down…
I got sent off after 12 minutes”
American Woman by The Guess Who.
I was really mind blowing to find out the song was written by Canadians in the last 60s to comment on American foreign policy.
“ American woman, stay away from me
American woman, mama let me be
Don’t come a hangin’ around my door
I don’t want to see your face no more
I got more important things to do
Than spend my time growin’ old with you.”
Some challenging footage here of what a struggle for equality actually looks like. It’s a tragedy that all around the world there are those who would deny others their rights, resulting in decades of violence and continuing injustice. Some shots in this clip are over half a century old:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcE1gkcw5Q8
Mavis Staples- Eyes on the prize
The Pogues – A Pair of Brown Eyes
https://youtu.be/zNtQ5AnRlz8
Weaving the horror of a pub bombing into the humdrum of the Irish emigrant experience is the genius of this song. One of the most wonderful lyrics I have ever heard: “but when we got back labelled parts one to three, there was no pair of brown eyes waiting for me”. The Irish tradition of being asked to sing a song is one I dreaded until I learned this song off by heart.
That is a brilliant shout.
Interesting, I’ve been singing this for years and never thought it was about a pub bombing before specifically
I just figured it was an oul lad that went off to fight in Suvla Bay or something like that for the British Army
Hands up. I could be completely wrong about what the lyrics are referring to. I took it from the pub setting that it was a reflection on the Birmingham and Guildford pub bombings, the aftermath of which would have had a significant negative impact on the Irish population in England in the 70s and 80s.
Ah yea, it could be. Your take on is far more interesting. Isn’t that the great thing about art?
Shane McGowan says it’s about someone returning from one of the world wars and his girl has left him for someone else.
The The – Sweet Bird of Truth
https://youtu.be/quQArlckTS4
I have proposed many songs from The The over the past few months of this competition and here is another. The tale of an American pilot facing into a crash landing contemplating all that he has done. This song presaged the first Gulf War by six years.
That should read four years. Maths was never my forte.
‘Standing in the way of control’ by Gossip
https://youtu.be/k7DiNTzzJzg
It’s just.
Viva La Quinta Brigada – Christy Moore
https://youtu.be/xQbXO828Vio
This one gets my vote
Remember the Alan Kelly Rap? The Labour Leader would rather you didn’t.
https://youtu.be/FzruG-iqyec
What is it about Tipperary?
Behold the Mattie McGrath 2011 election song.
https://youtu.be/t0lhZjUfblA
As much as we’d all like to… Who could forget this?
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bvETvVEavH8
They say charity begins at home, and that’s where this lot should have stayed… leaving the singing to the professionals.
The sound quality is poor, so be thankful for small mercies.
Good God, that is unspeakably awful.
Now that I think about it, this week’s prize should go to anyone that can prove that they sat through all 7 minutes 14 seconds of that musical political assassination… including the tubridy post-mortem.
Also, it’s worth mentioning that the Eye and Ear Hospital, Adelaide Rd is open all day til 7pm… ;-)
Simple yet powerful: John Lennon and Give Peace a Chance
https://youtu.be/gEX7Xxfr-qc
Ok not really a political song, but I think if fits here. The amazing Jimmy Cliff and The Harder They Come. The clip here from the film. He was apparently rather on the bouncing off the ceiling level of high, but a fantastic take.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkBQc0gQkQI
Buffy Saint Marie. Soldier Blue, very powerful
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlrOaJFf6tg
Renaud : Miss Maggie https://youtu.be/MJcUMKGCdrY. And the english version https://youtu.be/0NhzTdyZOxY
For this song that is banned in the UK the singer was made persona non grata in England by the person depicted in the song.
Amazing that that same person eventually turned a lively tune into a political statement :-)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6cnryxwH6A
@slightly
If you’re into history, then this is the Maggie twitter feed for you!
https://mobile.twitter.com/ThatcherFunFact
John Lennon – Working Class Hero
https://youtu.be/iMewtlmkV6c
-First time I heard the F… word on a record.
-First time I heard politics in music.
-And it’s better than Imagine
(This was pre-Billy Bragg, Steel Pulse, NWA., Sex Pistols, RATM etc.)
You’re probably wondering, ”Who the hell is Steel Pulse?”
They come from Handsworth in Birmingham UK..
They sound like this:
https://youtu.be/A3LFvaAD2-Y
Actually I was wondering why anyone would post anything by John Lennon. Let me say I am not a fan :-)
I missed the party :) Enjoying the buzz this morning. Some super pics!
I humbly submit Dick Gaughan Both Sides the Tweed
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pkCiSQjkDo
Biko Peter Gabriel
Public Enemy ‘Fight The Power’!
https://youtu.be/mmo3HFa2vjg
Careful what you pick, Nick.
Keep it bland.
You don’t want to upset anyone.
https://youtu.be/hWTFG3J1CP8