Billy Bragg
Billy Bragg
Stephen William "Billy" Braggis an English singer, songwriter and left-wing activist. His music blends elements of folk music, punk rock and protest songs, with lyrics that mostly span political or romantic themes. His music is heavily centered on bringing about change and getting the younger generation involved in activist causes...
NationalityBritish
ProfessionFolk Singer
Date of Birth20 December 1957
accepted content political
We read our own political content into The Clash, and they accepted it.
political honest theory
My theory is this; I'm not a political songwriter. I'm an honest songwriter.
political height made
All the great political music was made at the height of political confrontations.
song political way
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.
political littles band
I was in a little punk band and we put out a few punk records that weren't very political, at all.
believe bring change elsewhere job news offer people singing trying
A part of my job is to bring the news from elsewhere to here and to take back some news from here. . . . You can't change the world singing songs, believe me, but you can offer people an alternative perspective, even on their own situations. So that's what I'm trying to do.
true
They were the true inheritors of the mantle of The Clash.
capable carrying number song songwriter
A song is like a newspaper. It's capable of carrying a number of different messages. Some of them are advertisers, some of them are editorial, some of them are reportage, some of them are sport. So, as a songwriter you can use any of those.
cop face public talked walked
The thing about Strummer was he walked it like he talked it, ... He didn't cop out. He didn't show one face to the public and have a different face in himself.
music protest
Protest music was prematurely declared to be unfashionable,
british-musician defeat defining looking next opportunity strike
By the end of the miner's strike I was defining myself as a socialist, clued in and looking for the next opportunity to defeat the Tories.
bobby calling welcome
Welcome to what we're calling 'I'll Be Your Bobby Tonight'.
amongst british-musician choose nature popular subject
It's not a very popular subject amongst my audience, who are by nature more internationalist, but I don't choose what to write about, I don't choose my subjects, they kind of choose me.
british-musician
My upbringing was very straightforward suburban working class upbringing.