Monday, October 22, 2012

Come Unto Me, Billy Bragg

YOU HAVE been watching Q&A and thinking that Billy Bragg, friend of the common man, is a goose who makes a good living out of it and that is probably all anyone needs to know about the man. Well it turns out there is a hidden side: Billy Bragg, Object of Fevered Female Imagination.

Who would have guessed the man's smile can lift  nymphettes to the heights of romantic fantasy, although Dreamy Billy's anti-capital message does seem to get lost amidst the fluttering of hearts. "She was the first prize winner in the Billy Bragg Sony/Discover Card folk music tour contest," writes one besotted bobby-soxer. "Two backstage passes and all expense paid round trip tickets on Delta to Las Vegas for the opening night of the Billy Bragg Sony/Discover Card folk music tour."

What went on Las Vegas will stay in Vegas because the site won't countenance the steamy stuff.

Please don't send me any stories that are stronger than a "PG" rating. I've received two stories that are just too sexual for this site. I don't enjoy them, and I don't think that our readers want them, either! And Billy's a gentleman-- he would never do that!
Contributors are advised that stories about sawn-off Poms offering advice before their bags have left the carousel might still be accepted.

UPDATE: It turns out Bolshie Billy doesn't mind a bit of capital after all.

AND WHILE WE'RE on Q&A, who won't be sleeping outside Readings to get the first hot copy of Julia Baird's upcoming book on Queen Victoria? It is going to be a beaut, as the profound insights in her advance blurb leave no doubt:

Julia is currently working on a biography of Queen Victoria, a powerful female figure who reigned for 64 years.
She was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837, and Empress of India from 1 January 1877 until her death. Her reign lasted longer than that of any other British monarch. The reign of Victoria was marked by a great expansion of the British Empire. The Victorian Era was at the height of the Industrial Revolution, a period of significant social, economic, and technological change in the United Kingdom.
Lytton Strachey will seem an absolute amateur by comparison.

AND a final questions: At one point during Q&A, did Peter Garrett actually use the word "indigenaity"? It sure sounded like it.









 

15 comments:

  1. I wonder how Mr Bragg's hatred of exploitation leaves him the right to pinch the tune rhyme scheme and structure of Bob Dylan's "Chimes of Freedom" as that song he performed tonight obviously did?!

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    Replies
    1. Repetition of melodies and rhyme schemes and 'borrowing' elements from older songs is at the core of folk music. Bob Dylan has done it a ton of times too.

      Delete
  2. Elizabeth (Lizzie) B.October 23, 2012 at 6:51 AM

    Gosh, Queen Vic was 'a powerful female figure', Prof. Who knew? Julia B, you go girl. Go somewhere else, preferably.

    And 'Billy's a gentleman'. But of course. In the mind's eye, little girls do mould men nearer to the heart's desire, Prof. It starts young. Is that a normal girlhood, though, to have such boring, drippy fantasies? Mine were never like that. Perhaps they came from a darker and more windswept place.

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  3. I didn't see Billy Bragg on Q and A, and while I agree that he is politically and economically mis/uninformed, I do enjoy his line in plaintive songs of unrequited love, and will be contributing to the Bragg coffers to see him perform in Sydney.

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  4. For a definition of the word 'indegenaity' ( ©Peter Garrett ), see the Macquarie dictionary. No, not the current one silly, next month's edition.

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  5. Don't watch Q&A Prof.
    Too much trouble.
    By the time I put some masking tape across the bottom of the screen to blank out the banal twatter comments, then tape up the rest of the screen so I don't have to watch rabid lefties in furious agreement with each other hat Tony is the problem, and press the mute button so I don't have to listen to same .....

    The Irish Lion

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  6. If a recent edition of Viz comic is anything to go by, Billy is regarded as something of a figure of fun by younger Brits!

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  7. That blurb doesn't even flow properly. In two adjoining sentences she refers to aspects of "her reign"; they should be one sentence.

    "Her reign lasted longer than that of any other British monarch and was marked by a great expansion of the British Empire."

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    Replies
    1. Yes it had the ring to it of someone's Grade 6 homework assignment, in particular the helpful bit letting us know about the Industrial Revolution "a period of significant social, economic, and technological change in the United Kingdom."

      Doesn't bode well for the rest of it, but, of course, any criticism of the book could only be coming from haters and would hardly need addressing.
      mr.simmon

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  8. "...recently (Billy) has taken a stand against bankers' bonuses by refusing to pay taxes in protest."

    He refuses to pay taxes in protest. Don't you just love millionaire socialists. Always making sacrifices for their beliefs.

    Pedro of Adelaide

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  9. Somehow Billy Brag managed to apear on my playlist.
    Briefly.............
    I deleted him before I got soggy brain syndrome.

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  10. Peter Garrett's "indigeneity" seems OK- it refers to indigenice people. But his "artesian fisherman" of Africa (ABCTV Four Corners) is a bit harder to understand. Do those Africans catch fish underground, or do they handcraft their own fish?

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  11. I still like his music, and I used to love his nose - but I always hated his politics. Just the mention of Billy Bragg still makes me think of Wik in The Young Ones.

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    Replies
    1. I agree totally (except for the nose bit, whatever that's about) and, in the interest of fairness and nostalgia, here is some of his work. Your comparison is most valid.

      The People's Poem by Rik

      What do you think you're doing, pig?
      Do you really give a fig, pig?
      And what's your favourite sort of gig, pig?
      Barry Manilow
      Or the black and white minstrel show?

      mr.simmon

      Delete
  12. Hey, Perfessor, you and the sweeties at the ABC missed the twitter about 2/3 into Q&A. I can't recall the twitter, but it was sent by "suck_mike_hunt". Now, that's an oldie from dirty conversations! But the darlins' missed it. Shoulda got Whining Jon Faine onto it!

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