Mixing pop and politics he asks me what the use is / I offer him embarrassment and my usual excuses.
BILLY BRAGGI 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.
More Billy Bragg Quotes
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Don’t saddle me with your ideals, and spare me all your guilt. For a poet with all the answers, has never yet been built.
BILLY BRAGG -
War what is it good for? It’s good for business.
BILLY BRAGG -
At some point in your life you have to engage with the fact that you are part of a society.
BILLY BRAGG -
Being spokesman for a generation is the worst job I ever had.
BILLY BRAGG -
It would shine a torch into the dirty little corner where the BNP defecate on our democracy, and that would be much more powerful than duffing them up in the street – which Im also in favour of.
BILLY BRAGG -
I’m just saying that we need to find a better way to manifest the broader society’s aspirations, politically.
BILLY BRAGG -
We’ve heard so much about the American dream: well, Trump is the American nightmare made flesh.
BILLY BRAGG -
Freedom is merely privilege extended, unless enjoyed by one and all.
BILLY BRAGG -
I came into this whole business by going to see Rock Against Racism gigs with the Clash.
BILLY BRAGG -
All musicians start out with ideals but hanging on to them in the face of media scrutiny takes real integrity. Tougher still is to live up to the ideals of your dedicated fans.
BILLY BRAGG -
I’d like to think that in a generation or two we’ll have politicians whose life experience reflects that of the people who are voting for them.
BILLY BRAGG -
It’s like being stung by a bee and going out and smashing up a beehive, and thinking you’ve solved the problem. There are more beehives out there; more bees will come. But they’re bees. They’re not grizzly bears.
BILLY BRAGG -
The key to it has to be some sort of proportional representation, which allows there to be more parties.
BILLY BRAGG -
If we accuse Trump of being a liar, he won’t just say ‘I never said that’ or just ignore it and go on to the next thing.
BILLY BRAGG -
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.
BILLY BRAGG -
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.
BILLY BRAGG -
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.
BILLY BRAGG -
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.
BILLY BRAGG -
Without accountability, there can be no freedom. I know it seems like a paradox.
BILLY BRAGG -
I think that ultimately Trump will lose the election and in the process destroy the Republican party – but then I’m an optimist, ha ha ha! So he might not lose. He might be in charge of the largest nuclear arsenal in the world!
BILLY BRAGG -
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.
BILLY BRAGG -
Were it not for the Clash, punk would have been just a sneer, a safety pin and a pair of bondage trousers.
BILLY BRAGG -
You can be active with the activists or sleep in with the sleepers while you’re waiting for the Great Leap Forwards.
BILLY BRAGG -
Baptists burn more slowly.
BILLY BRAGG -
Part of the problem with some elements of the European debate is that they hanker for the days when we were a great power. Those days are gone, and they went a long time ago.
BILLY BRAGG -
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 BRAGG