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.
BILLY BRAGGIt 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.
More Billy Bragg Quotes
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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.
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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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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.
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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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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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You can experience a download, but you can’t download an experience.
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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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Money maketh man a tory, don’t fire that assumption at me, I like toast as much as anyone but not for breakfast, dinner and tea
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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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Just because you’re gay, I won’t turn you away. If you stick around, I’m sure we can find some common ground.
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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.
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The evil lot who did that thing on September 11 did it because they wanted to create a war between America and Islam. And by invading Iraq, we gave them what they hoped for.
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I was in a little punk band and we put out a few punk records that weren’t very political, at all.
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Baptists burn more slowly.
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I’m celebrating my love for you with a pint of beer and a new tattoo
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At some point in your life you have to engage with the fact that you are part of a society.
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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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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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I came into this whole business by going to see Rock Against Racism gigs with the Clash.
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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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Start your own revolution, cut out the middleman In a perfect world we’d all sing in tune But this is reality so give me some room So join the struggle while you may The Revolution is just a t-shirt away
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You can be active with the activists or sleep in with the sleepers while you’re waiting for the Great Leap Forwards.
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Peace, bread, work, and freedom is the best we can achieve.
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I’m still batting away on my politics for the Labour Party. I’m much further to the left of them than I used to be, but that’s because they’ve moved, not me.
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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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Without accountability, there can be no freedom. I know it seems like a paradox.
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