So, in some ways, the political songs tend to be a bit more like reportage, whereas the love songs tend to be like novels, you can pick them up off the shelf and go into them any time.
BILLY BRAGGThere are quite a few honest songwriters out there writing about relationships and their own personality traits. But for some reason, once they step out of the bedroom, their honesty doesn’t seem to come with them.
More Billy Bragg Quotes
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I enjoyed so much working with the guys from Wilco, and riffing off of them, and having someone come up to me with ideas, because normally in the studio it’s me who has to come up with all the ideas.
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What corporations fear most are consumers who ask questions. Naomi Klein offers us the arguments with which to take on the superbrands.
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You can experience a download, but you can’t download an experience.
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If you’ve got a blacklist, I want to be on it.
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War what is it good for? It’s good for business.
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Never trust anyone who has no doubts. And I’m not talking about scepticism either: scepticism can be a healthy thing.
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You have to recognise your responsibility to your community for your actions. Liberty doesn’t mean that you are not held accountable.
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Were it not for the Clash, punk would have been just a sneer, a safety pin and a pair of bondage trousers.
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That’s what I’m about — getting engaged. Too many people don’t wade in the mud with the politicians.
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What happened on September 11 wasn’t the first act of war, it was the most unspeakable act of murder and terrorism. But it was construed by a very small group of people – there is no army out there in the dark waiting to take over America.
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Baptists burn more slowly.
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A nation with their freezers full are dancing in their seats, while outside another nation is sleeping in the streets.
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Mixing pop and politics he asks me what the use is / I offer him embarrassment and my usual excuses.
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If I can entertain people and get them to open up a little bit, then they’re much more conducive to any ideas I might have, whether they’re about relationships or politics. The most interesting songs, I think, are the ones where the two overlap.
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Whether we like it or not, we live in a post-ideological world. That’s how a Donald Trump can get through. He has no ideology at all: in that sense, he’s a bit like Mussolini.
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All the things about ‘the ugly American’ that we worry about and which the Americans see in themselves, it’s all of that. This is a politics of egotistical display.
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I never met a politician who didn’t want to be a guitar player in a rock band. I’ve got the opportunity to say what I believe in.
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You have to believe that if the majority of people had their way, they would make a society that would be fair for everyone. If you don’t believe that, and if you think that the glass is always half empty, then you’re never going to have that sensibility.
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I came into this whole business by going to see Rock Against Racism gigs with the Clash.
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Being spokesman for a generation is the worst job I ever had.
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There are quite a few honest songwriters out there writing about relationships and their own personality traits. But for some reason, once they step out of the bedroom, their honesty doesn’t seem to come with them.
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If you thought the army was here protecting people like yourself, I’ve some news for you, we’re here to defend wealth.
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Britain is a great country. We can more or less say what we like, and we can walk down the street without anyone trying to kill us. I know it’s tough for some people, but generally we live in a caring society. We live in a great country, but we’re no longer a great power.
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The most important thing for anyone, I think, is to be engaged, whether you’re an artist or a journalist is to be engaged in the process at some level.
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I think if you’re going to make political art, you have to engage at some level. You can’t just write about politics, you have to try and be politics as well.
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Freedom is merely privilege extended, unless enjoyed by one and all.
BILLY BRAGG