RobMCFC
Well-Known Member
Talking with the Taxman About Poetry – Billy Bragg
Before even listening to this, I made a comment about being put off in the past by Billy Bragg’s cockney accent. That’s not intended to be a regionalist thing, it’s simply that anybody who sings with a remotely cockney accent (or Essex or wherever in the South-East) sounds displeasing to my ears.
I blame The Jam and Chas ‘n’ Dave, even though I like some Chas ‘n’ Dave songs for their comedy value, but I still don’t like The Jam.
Generally, I like it when artists perform in their true voice: Midnight Oil’s Peter Garrett is an angry Australian and that’s exactly how he sounds, The Proclaimer’s celebrate their Scottish roots and countless other artists defy the 90% that adopt a mid-Atlantic voice from nowhere in their music.
With that out of the way, let’s get on with the review. The sound of this album is fabulous: whether they are electric or acoustic, the guitars ring clear on all of these songs, and the mix is uncluttered giving Billy Bragg the space he needs to deliver his lyrics. Whilst some of the songs are enhanced by subtle touches from other instruments, and songs like “Train, Train” and “Help Save The Youth of America” chug along at a satisfying gait, it’s Bragg’s lyrics that shine through and make this album a success.
“Levi Stubbs’ Tears” is a heart-breaking song about a woman abused by her husband, and Bragg really piles on the misery at the same time providing relief for his protagonist in the healing power of music. Whilst four or five blokes (or women) standing in a line, belting out their voices with not a guitar in sight, is not my idea of music, I certainly appreciate the sentiment of the song. I can’t claim the credit for this one because I found an interesting take on one of the lines in this song on a lyrics site:-
“Holland and Holland and Lamont Dozier too”. Clearly that’s a reference to the renowned Holland-Dozier-Holland songwriting team, right? Well, it must be, but why did he write “Holland and Holland” first? Turns out they are a famous London-based gun manufacturer, so this fits in with the “And put a hole in her body where no hole should be” lyric. A very clever lyric there.
On “Help Save The Youth of America”, Bragg sings the following words, which are incredibly apt 37 years later:-
“And the incident at Chernobyl proves / The world we live in is very small. And the cities of Europe have burned before and they may yet burn again / And if they do I hope you understand that Washington will burn with them.”
Using the recent Chernobyl disaster as a frame for this last part of the song, Bragg illustrates how we are all interconnected, and how that includes the US, despite their physical distance from Europe. I remember US-USSR tensions at the time and the threat of nuclear was a ominous prospect – the fallout from the damaged reactor at Chernobyl doing little to ease this fear. (I believe the song was actually about how comfortable American may be but that they somehow need to find the desire for social change – but that last couple of verses really struck a chord with me).
It took until the third listen and reading the lyrics to realise it, but the album finishes with one of its strongest songs. I come from a strong and loving home, so I don’t identify with the child portrayed, but Bragg’s simple words, painting the picture of a normal family getting on with life whilst their child suffers some torment, conjures such a feeling of empathy that you can’t help but be moved by the song:-
“I'll trade my love today for a greater love tomorrow / The lonely child looks out and dreams of independence from this family life sentence”.
Haunting and beautiful.
Mind you, Bragg also drops the odd heavy-handed clanger as well. In “There is Power in a Union”, he sings:-
"But who'll defend the workers who cannot organize when the bosses send their lackeys out to cheat us?”
I was interested to see what appeared to be a co-write with Bob Dylan, but “Ideology” simply re-uses the melody of “Chimes of Freedom” (and why not, it’s a beautiful melody).
As a side note, I included a Weddings Parties Anything song on my recent Aussie playlist, and on the album that song came from, they did a duet with Billy (“An Island of Humour”).
By the end of my listens to Talking with the Taxman About Poetry, I’ve come away with a new respect for Billy Bragg. He keeps the music simple and uncluttered, and whilst his accent does grate by the end of the album, he certainly won me over with his lyrics, which is the main reason why this scores 8/10.
Before even listening to this, I made a comment about being put off in the past by Billy Bragg’s cockney accent. That’s not intended to be a regionalist thing, it’s simply that anybody who sings with a remotely cockney accent (or Essex or wherever in the South-East) sounds displeasing to my ears.
I blame The Jam and Chas ‘n’ Dave, even though I like some Chas ‘n’ Dave songs for their comedy value, but I still don’t like The Jam.
Generally, I like it when artists perform in their true voice: Midnight Oil’s Peter Garrett is an angry Australian and that’s exactly how he sounds, The Proclaimer’s celebrate their Scottish roots and countless other artists defy the 90% that adopt a mid-Atlantic voice from nowhere in their music.
With that out of the way, let’s get on with the review. The sound of this album is fabulous: whether they are electric or acoustic, the guitars ring clear on all of these songs, and the mix is uncluttered giving Billy Bragg the space he needs to deliver his lyrics. Whilst some of the songs are enhanced by subtle touches from other instruments, and songs like “Train, Train” and “Help Save The Youth of America” chug along at a satisfying gait, it’s Bragg’s lyrics that shine through and make this album a success.
“Levi Stubbs’ Tears” is a heart-breaking song about a woman abused by her husband, and Bragg really piles on the misery at the same time providing relief for his protagonist in the healing power of music. Whilst four or five blokes (or women) standing in a line, belting out their voices with not a guitar in sight, is not my idea of music, I certainly appreciate the sentiment of the song. I can’t claim the credit for this one because I found an interesting take on one of the lines in this song on a lyrics site:-
“Holland and Holland and Lamont Dozier too”. Clearly that’s a reference to the renowned Holland-Dozier-Holland songwriting team, right? Well, it must be, but why did he write “Holland and Holland” first? Turns out they are a famous London-based gun manufacturer, so this fits in with the “And put a hole in her body where no hole should be” lyric. A very clever lyric there.
On “Help Save The Youth of America”, Bragg sings the following words, which are incredibly apt 37 years later:-
“And the incident at Chernobyl proves / The world we live in is very small. And the cities of Europe have burned before and they may yet burn again / And if they do I hope you understand that Washington will burn with them.”
Using the recent Chernobyl disaster as a frame for this last part of the song, Bragg illustrates how we are all interconnected, and how that includes the US, despite their physical distance from Europe. I remember US-USSR tensions at the time and the threat of nuclear was a ominous prospect – the fallout from the damaged reactor at Chernobyl doing little to ease this fear. (I believe the song was actually about how comfortable American may be but that they somehow need to find the desire for social change – but that last couple of verses really struck a chord with me).
It took until the third listen and reading the lyrics to realise it, but the album finishes with one of its strongest songs. I come from a strong and loving home, so I don’t identify with the child portrayed, but Bragg’s simple words, painting the picture of a normal family getting on with life whilst their child suffers some torment, conjures such a feeling of empathy that you can’t help but be moved by the song:-
“I'll trade my love today for a greater love tomorrow / The lonely child looks out and dreams of independence from this family life sentence”.
Haunting and beautiful.
Mind you, Bragg also drops the odd heavy-handed clanger as well. In “There is Power in a Union”, he sings:-
"But who'll defend the workers who cannot organize when the bosses send their lackeys out to cheat us?”
I was interested to see what appeared to be a co-write with Bob Dylan, but “Ideology” simply re-uses the melody of “Chimes of Freedom” (and why not, it’s a beautiful melody).
As a side note, I included a Weddings Parties Anything song on my recent Aussie playlist, and on the album that song came from, they did a duet with Billy (“An Island of Humour”).
By the end of my listens to Talking with the Taxman About Poetry, I’ve come away with a new respect for Billy Bragg. He keeps the music simple and uncluttered, and whilst his accent does grate by the end of the album, he certainly won me over with his lyrics, which is the main reason why this scores 8/10.
