Billy Bragg Returning Back to Basics

Billy Bragg – The Roaring Forty Tour 2024
Commodore Ballroom, Vancouver, BC
September 20, 2024

Billy Bragg, Vancouver, September 20, 2024 — Billy Bragg – The Roaring Forty Tour 2024, Commodore Ballroom, Vancouver, BC, September 20, 2024

What would Woody Guthrie do? That question was raised tonight.

Woodrow Wilson “Woody” Guthrie was a colossal figure and arguably the most influential American folk musician. He wrote more than 3,000 songs in his lifetime. He had a major impact on American popular music and the rise of the folk movement, influencing such artists as Joan Baez, Pete Seeger, Bruce Springsteen, Phil Ochs, and Tom Paxton. Guthrie was also a mentor to Bob Dylan and Ramblin’ Jack Elliott. He also had an impact on Billy Bragg, Britain’s foremost protest singer and activist.

Billy Bragg has worked alongside British parliamentarians, unskilled unemployed workers, members of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, young music hopefuls, unsung buskers in the street, incarcerated convicts, newly liberated refugees, punk rockers and striking dockers.

The Bard of Barking performed for more than two hours at the Commodore Ballroom on Friday night.

Bragg opened with “The Wolf Covers Its Tracks”, a song from 2003’s benefit album titled ‘Peace Songs – A Benefit Album to Help Children Affected By War’. Upon completion he yelled out “Cease fire now, release all hostages.”

“The World Turned Upside Down”, a cover of Leon Rosselson followed. It is a protest song and commemoration of the Diggers movement that began in England in 1649. The Diggers were proto-Socialists who believed that all land should be free for everyone to use.

“How are ya? It’s been a while, it’s been a while,” announced Billy. The last time Bragg performed in Vancouver was in September 2017.

“Yeah, I came along and it’s like, my favourite bookshop that used to be next door is gone and in its place, there’s a place that says Golden Age Collectibles” Bragg continued, “and I thought about going in there, but I thought, no, they’ll only put me on sale, I’ll be fucked. But in the end, I was gratified that Granville Street still smells of piss.”

Jacob Stoney (keyboards and backing vocals) was introduced. This was his first time in Vancouver.

The beautiful “She’s Got a New Spell”, the opening track from 1988’s Workers Playtime was next.

“There’s climate strike Friday today here” explained Bragg. “I went along to show me face down here and someone said, Billy Bragg, what are you doing here? I said, I’m Billy Bragg, I’m supposed to be here. This is what I do. What are you doing here? They were protesting the climate strike” he continued.

“There’s an issue that all of us who live on the edge of great oceans understand is imperative. One of the few things I took from the pandemic was the willingness of people to do things that they didn’t normally do, like wear a mask or do things they didn’t want to do, like get vaccinated in order that if they do get the virus they probably won’t need an ICU bed and take it away from someone whose life or death depends on having an intensive care bed. That willingness to do things you don’t normally do, to do things that you don’t want to do. If we can’t manifest that as humanity then we have absolutely no chance of defeating the climate crisis that we all face and our children face. That’s what the song’s about, it’s called “King Tide and the Sunny Day Flood”.

In between songs, people cheered and listened to what he had to say.

“I went into a clothing shop today, wandering around town between demonstrations looking for a tasty shacket. I’m in the market for a shacket. If you know what a shacket is, it’s a shirt cut like a jacket, or a jacket cut like a shirt, the like of which I’m wearing currently. This is a shacket I’m wearing. I’m always looking for them.

I was in the shop talking to this guy, and I was looking at it. He came at me, and I put it on, and I’m like no, it’s too pale, it’s too dark. I’m a singer, you know, I’m a performer, I need to wear something bright on stage, against the black background, and he looked at me, and he said, are you Johnny Marr?

This is this afternoon, and I couldn’t resist, I said, no I’m Paul Weller, and he said, can I get a photo, and I said, yeah.

So I walked out of that shop. The only thing that could have made it better, was if he just said, nobody brags in town, yeah, because after that incident, Christ, is he still fucking going?”

Vancouver was Bragg’s first show of this tour which found him playing on the same night as both Johnny Marr and Paul Weller, a fabulous coincidence that allowed him to catch up with his old pal Johnny for a long lunch in Yaletown, comparing notes on the joy they still find in playing music and laughing uproariously about the old days.

It was fitting that The Smith’s and The Jam’s shortened and combined “Jeane and That’s Entertainment” followed.

Another great Billy Bragg story followed.

“When I’m not thinking about the smell of piss on Granville Street, when I think of Vancouver, I’m thinking of the Vancouver Folk Festival. One of my seminal experiences at the Vancouver Folk Festival, the first one I did, I volunteered. They asked me if I wanted to take part in a workshop. I didn’t know what this meant.

“A workshop is where you have three or four different artists, and they all sit around, and they play songs around a theme. And I thought, oh that sounds interesting. And they said, do you don’t want to be in a Woody Guthrie workshop. I turn up with mi guitar in a case, and the other three participants of the Woody Guthrie workshop are Pete Seeger, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, and Arlo freaking Guthrie, and me, the one man Clash, and I’m like, I am so busted.

“But fortunately, on the top of this, I’m sitting next to Ramblin’ Jack. On top of his guitar, he’s written loads of Woody Guthrie titles, and I’m looking over his shoulder. I’m looking at his homework, like, I’ve got to know that one, and I can do that one, I’m good, and I got it.

“When Pete, at the far end, stood up, started singing This Land Is Your Land, and he sang the first verse, and he threw it to Arlo. And Arlo sang the second verse, and he threw it to Jack. And Jack sang the third verse, and like a train hitting me, he threw it to me. And I had to stand up, and say, actually, that land ain’t my land.

“We don’t sing this shit in England, we’ve got that with other songs. It was so embarrassing, but Nora Guthrie was there, and she rescued me by inviting me to make an album with Wilco of Woody Guthrie’s songs, and now, I’m the person who other artists shit their pants when I sit in a Woody Guthrie workshop. It’s the grey hair, it gets them every time.”

“Freedom Doesn’t Come for Free”

“Freedom Doesn’t Come for Free” came next, and was followed by “Sexuality”, a song about learning to respect difference. The decision to change the lyrics to the 1991 single was because Bragg wanted to make it trans-inclusive and for the modern age. The lyrics were changed from: “Just because you’re gay, I won’t turn you away / If you stick around, I’m sure that we can find some common ground” to “Just because you’re they, I won’t turn you away / If you stick around, I’m sure that we can find the right pronoun”.

Sexuality

“Now, the more observant among you will note that I’ve slightly tweaked the lyrics” Bragg commented. “None of Morrissey shit, he uses those however he gets. I’ve tweaked it to be a song of allyship to our trans and non-binary siblings.

He continued, “Some of whom I saw today and this morning outside the Vancouver Arts Gallery Art Museum there. Trans rights and queer joy rallied there to count a demonstration against the far-right anti-trans way that happened down at the City Hall. Yeah, I’ll tell you why. I mean this is why someone said to me at the demo, Billy Bragg, what are you doing here?

“It’s a good example about why I needed to tweak the lyrics of Sexuality. Someone pointed out to me at a gig in Boston before the pandemic went down, Bill, it’s a great song, but going for a beer with a gay man is not very radical anymore is it mate, be honest. Which is true, and we should be thankful for that, and we’ve come a long way.

“We were in a generation of two-time artists against apartheid at Lock Against Racism. And for that exact reason, that’s why I was there at the demo today, because I was active in supporting the solidarity work with the gay and lesbian community, and the things they’re saying about our trans community are exactly the same shit, different day bollocks that they said back then.

“Gender ideology does exist. It’s called patriarchy. That’s what gender ideology is.

“We’ve been living with it for thousands and thousands of years. Let’s not be distracted by a movement that demands you’re only woman if you look a particular way, and have a particular shape, and conform to a particular stereotype. I don’t recognise a feminism that does that kind of shit, so forgive me if we’re doing a bit 1980s about this.

“So, for those of you who feel I’m talking exactly to you now, I want to dedicate this song to you with respect. It’s called “Mid-Century Modern”. It was followed by “Levi Stubbs’ Tears”.

When Billy Bragg came over in July, he did some shows up in the northeast of the US before the Newport Folk Festival. He talked about being stuck in New York for a couple of days, acclimatizing. “I didn’t know what to do. I thought, perhaps there’ll be something on the telly that can sort of help me get my head around of what’s happening. Unfortunately, on three channels, there was the Republican National Convention. And that certainly put the fear of God into me, I have to tell you.”

Bragg did an interview with a journalist in Madison, Wisconsin. The journalist asked him why after a decade or so, was he doing doing such a big tour. Billy’s response was “look mate, after November, I’m not sure there’s going to be an American tour, so I’m going to hit as many places as I can. And the next American tour will probably start in St. John’s, Newfoundland and take a straight line to Victoria, British Columbia.” which received loud cheers from the packed Commodore Ballroom.

Bragg continued his story about the Republican National Convention, “because I saw some shit that night that, I don’t know, the Americans clearly don’t have the European sensibility like I do, watching the shit that was going down. There were people there, not just a few people, most of the people, holding up placards, and not placards they’d scrawled in kind of anger, but placards that had been printed en masse by the Republican National Convention. And those placards they held up and waved for the cameras said Mass Deportation Now.

Where I come from, that means only one thing” he finished and playing “All You Fascists”.

All You Fascists

Bragg then talked about being part of the inheritance of Woody and said “And those of us who follow him, every now and then we come to a moment in our career where we look in the mirror and we have to ask ourselves, what would Woody do?

Yeah, I’ll tell you, mate, he’d steal your girlfriend. And your car. But what else would he do?”

Bragg then talked about Oliver Anthony and his “Rich Men North Of Richmond” song. “I see this song on the YouTube. A guy named Oliver Antony, a big bearded guy, out in the woods, resonator guitar. Much loved by American artists, but not myself. And he’s singing this song, Rich Men North of Richmond. I’m like, oh, this is interesting. And it begins, if you’re selling your soul, working all day, overtime hours for bullshit pay, and I’m like, oh, he’s one of Woody’s lads. Nice.

But as the song develops, he starts to attack people on welfare, he starts to fact shame working class people, he starts to punch down. Woody never wrote a song that punched down on ordinary people. He was completely against that.” he continued.

“So, I sat down and I wrote Rich Men Earning North of a Million. What Woody would do is write a response song. He would write a reply song, I don’t know if you know, this is true, This Land Is Your Land is a response to Irving Berlin’s God Bless America. This was Billy Bragg’s response song. He wrote it in a flash, recorded it on his desktop, and uploaded it to YouTube.

Rich Men Earning North of a Million

The excellent “Greetings to the New Brunette” from 1986’s Talking with the Taxman About Poetry followed. The song on the album featured Johnny Marr on electric guitar, and vocals by Kirsty MacColl.

Bragg talked about the problem we have around the world. And that problem is, how do you deal with people who believe that they are above the law when it comes to politics? “They feel that they can afford to ignore the laws of the land and the laws of good behaviour.

“Now, in some countries they come with blonde hair and ideas about leaving the European Union. In other countries they come in Mack trucks, but in the United States of America, they come in the shape of you-know-who. And I think we’re all trepidatious somewhat about what might happen in November. There’s a lot of issues going to be on the ballot. Obviously, the cost of living, the war in Gaza might cost the Democrats the election.

“But ultimately, fundamentally, the election in November is going to be a referendum for the Americans on the issue of whether or not anybody in America is above the law. Because for a politician to believe they’re above the law is the most dangerous. That sense of impunity is the most dangerous thing you can have in a political… you know, authoritarianism, we see it around the world now.

“Throughout history, the common history that we have, it’s been about how do you hold absolute power to account. We had to have a civil war in order to bring the monarchy to heel. We chopped off one king’s head. Because we believed nobody was above the law. We put him on trial, the first time a monarch had ever been put on trial. Treason before had been something you did against the king.

“Now it was something you did against the people, against the state. It’s been a struggle, all the way back to Magna Carta, it’s been a struggle about accountability. Because it’s not true what Elon Musk says.

“Free speech is not the bedrock of democracy. Accountability is the bedrock of democracy. Free speech is the guard dog of democracy. It ensures that we can hold the fuckers to account. But ultimately, being able to hold them to account, not just being able to say they’re wrong, not just being able to point the finger, not just being able to agree, but actually being able to hold them to account is the definition of whether or not you live in a free country.

“So, our American cousins have that to look at. And, you know, as I say, I’ve been doing this job a long time. It’s been my great privilege, and remains a privilege, that after all these years, there are still people here in Vancouver who are interested in what I’ve got to say. It’s a great privilege. And our cousins in America, again, I’ve been going there for a long time, and I believe that the American people ultimately always do the right thing, after they’ve tried everything else. And we may be coming close to that time, hopefully, probably soon.” Bragg finished.

The beautiful “The Buck Doesn’t Stop Here No More” followed.

If history teaches us one thing
Never trust a man who would be king
Who seeks all power for himself
To burnish his prestige and wealth

The Buck Doesn’t Stop Here No More

The Milkman of Human Kindness

A New England

The Little Red Songbook (1909), also known as I.W.W. Songs or Songs of the Industrial Workers of the World, is a compilation of tunes, hymns, and songs used by the Industrial Workers of the World (I.W.W.) to help build morale, promote solidarity, and lift the spirits of the working-class during the Labour Movement.

Billy Bragg’s There Is Power In A Union song first appeared in the book in 1995, the 36th edition.

Bragg fired up the membership in attendance with his classic labour anthem, telling everyone, “when I sing this song, wherever I go around the world, I’m sure it’s true. I look at the people down the front aisle, and I see the faces of them, and I see their faces, and some of them can’t have been born when I wrote this song back in 1984, you know. And yet, they’re singing at the top of their voice, with their fist in the air.

“Because, in my country, they’re nurses, they’re teachers, they work on the railways, they work at Amazon, they work for Starbucks. They’re all people who’ve been on the front line.” he finished.

There’s Power in a Union

“As much as we like to believe in it, music cannot change the world, brothers and sisters,” Bragg would say, “I’m telling you. If there’s anybody here tonight who’s spent the last 40 years trying to do that and wants to speak up, I’m telling you, music has no agency. It doesn’t work like that.

“But it does have a power. Music does have a power. It’s a very important power.

“And that power is manifesting tonight. Because when I walk off here, having seen you cheering in the right places, singing along, fists in the air, my activism will be recharged, and my cynicism will be kicked to the curb.

“That sense of solidarity that is in all music, not just political music, but all music. That sense that you’re part of something bigger. Christ, you can’t get that shit online.

Billy Bragg’s job, first and foremost as he told the audience, was to entertain, but also to send people home with their activism recharged and their cynicism temporarily dropped to the floor. “That’s what we’re doing here tonight, brothers and sisters,” he said. “Because, you know, I don’t know you, you may live or work or go to school, college or university in an environment where your views are neither recognised nor respected.”

There is the power of music. Not the power to change the world, but the power to make you believe that the world can be changed.

Way Over Yonder in the Minor Key (Woody Guthrie cover)
I Will Be Your Shield

Setlist

The Wolf Covers Its Tracks
The World Turned Upside Down (Leon Rosselson cover)
She’s Got a New Spell
King Tide and the Sunny Day Flood
Jeane (The Smiths cover) / That’s Entertainment (The Jam cover)
Freedom Doesn’t Come for Free
Sexuality
Mid-Century Modern
Levi Stubbs’ Tears
All You Fascists (Woody Guthrie cover)
Rich Men Earning North of a Million
Greetings to the New Brunette
The Buck Doesn’t Stop Here No More
The Milkman of Human Kindness
To Have and to Have Not
A New England (Kirsty MacColl cover)
There Is Power in a Union
Waiting for the Great Leap Forwards