In this post I will talk about a Billy Bragg concert I attended, discuss the opening act which was fronted by Michael Franti, and discuss the circle of music, in terms of giving something back to the younger generation and paying homage to the ones that came before us.
Table of Contents:
- The Marching Song of the Covert Battalions
- The Internationale
- Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy opened
- Keep on Billy Bragging, Billy Bragg!
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I was at a Billy Bragg gig at The Concert Hall in Toronto in Nov. 1991. It was 27 years to the day that John F. Kennedy was assassinated. Billy interacts with his fans and each concert is unique. He never mails it in, and often changes lyrics to incorporate what is going on in the world.
Billy Bragg is an English singer-songwriter who has been making music and supporting workers’ rights for decades. He is an activist and strong supporter of labour unions. He is often a fixture on picket lines. Billy Bragg is a fine human being.
You might know Kirsty MacColl11 who had a top 10 hit in the UK covering Bragg’s song A New England. Kirsty is also the female voice on the Pogues’ iconic song Fairytale of NY.
Oliver Stone’s movie JFK was just out, and Billy had a great rant about how The Beatles killed Kennedy. Some people say America lost their innocence when JFK was killed, and of course The Beatles changed rock and roll forever, while also becoming the biggest cultural influence in Western culture of all time.
In Billy’s rant, The Beatles killed JFK to make America NEED joy and happiness, and only The Beatles could bring that. Killing Kennedy paved the road for Beatlemania and global domination. It was all a conspiracy by the mop tops, just like the dozens of conspiracy theories that Stone brought to light in his movie.
“I’m pretty sure it was George, too. It’s always the quiet one.“ – Billy Bragg
The Marching Song of the Covert Battalions
Billy Bragg also changed the line “Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to sell, and if you want narcotics, we can get you those as well” in The Marching Song of the Covert Battalions to
“…and if you want Wayne Gretzky, we can get him as well!” – Billy Bragg
This drew a tremendous response from the Canadians, who were still grieving from Wayne Gretzky being sold from a hockey club in Edmonton known as the Oilers to one in Los Angeles known as the Kings.
Gretzky, also known as “the Great One”, is of course one of the Gods of hockey, and in Canada, hockey truly is a religion.
The Marching Song of the Covert Battalions is from Billy Bragg’s fine album The Internationale. The album is mostly cover versions and rewrites of left-wing protest songs. It needs to be noted, though, that Bragg also writes “tactile” songs that people feel and can identify with, such as “The Milkman of Human Kindness”. He had a US hit with his song “Sexuality” which he co-wrote with Johnny Marr of The Smiths. It is described at a funny, anti-homophobia and generally sex-positive song.
Jello Biafra, most famous for being the frontman of Dead Kennedys, successfully did the same thing with the Phil Ochs’ song “Love Me, I’m a Liberal.” It is from an album Jello did with Mojo Nixon called Prairie Home Invasion, also a favourite of mine. In an interview, Jello said: “The scary thing is that it was so easy to rewrite the song using modern examples!”
The Internationale
The Internationale also holds a special place in my heart because I got to lend it to a colleague I was working with who was still in college. He told me he was taking a class about Russian history, so I gave him my copy and told him: “You gotta listen to this!” Pay it forward, as the Hollywood actors say.
Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy opened
Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy opened the show. I didn’t know who they were at the time, except I did, but didn’t know it. DHOH was formed by Michael Franti and Rono Tse, both of The Beatnigs. Franti later went on to a very successful career with Spearhead.
DHOH had all their instruments and some band members held up at the Canada/US border, so they played a minimalist set. They transformed a concert venue in Toronto into a street corner in NYC, or more accurately, San Francisco.
I recall singing along with DHOH as they played their song Television. As I did, people around me had strange looks on their faces and asked how on earth I knew that song.
Keep on Billy Bragging, Billy Bragg!
*The above is my submission to an upcoming book entitled Billy Bragg – A People’s History. I think it is a brilliant concept, and here is a one sentence description of the project:
“To be published in October 2025 by Spenwood Books of Manchester, UK, Billy Bragg – A People’s History will be a paperback book containing over 400 fan memories of seeing Billy in concert, on a demonstration or on a TV show.”
https://spenwoodbooks.com/billy-bragg-a-peoples-history/
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- Kirsty MacColl is the daughter of Ewan MacColl, a legendary UK folk singer. He was affililiated with the Communist Party of Great Britain. He wrote Dirty Old Town which The Pogues covered and still brings a tear to my eyes every time i hear it. ↩︎
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