If there's an elder statesman of protest music, Billy Bragg just might be him. The fiftysomething singer and songwriter would deny any such mantle, but when we think of who might be the modern-day Woody Guthrie, few come to mind other than him. Plenty has changed since the release of Life's A Riot With Spy vs. Spy, back in 1983. Bragg has gone from being the "one-man Clash" to recording with a full band (The Blokes). His recent release, Mr. Love and Justice, is even available in a double-disc format – one disc with the Blokes, the other old-school style with just Bragg and a guitar. In recent years, he became an author, writing a treatise on the meaning of Englishness called The Progressive Patriot. He has continued to be a hands-on activist, dedicated father, and all around amiable bloke whose passion and wit shows no sign of wear. And he plays The Studio at Hamilton Place with guest Ron Hawkins on Wed Nov 18. In advance of that gig, Bragg spoke with Here about politics, protest and the utter terror of being a parent.
JT: I thought I'd get this out of the way first, but I have to admit I'm a fan. I've been listening to you since Life's a Riot.
BB: You're that old? (Laughs). That was a long time ago, man.
JT: Sure. I was in high school at the time.
BB: I always a slip a few things in there from Life's A Riot. The songs are very popular, and my most famous song, "A New England," is from that period. They're very easy to slip in. I have been known, on very special occasions, when the audience really goes bonkers, to play the entire album as an encore. It's only about 17 minutes long, and I can usually play it in about 15. So if the audience has been especially good I'll come back, take a very deep breath, and blast through the whole thing.
JT: They must love that.
BB: The first time I did it, when I was playing with Ian McLagan who was in the Small Faces, my team had just got into the FA Cup final and the audience had been really great as well, and I did it. In the dressing room afterwards, whilst I was under a towel trying to get my breath back, Mac said to my manager, wow that was just incredible. I feel as if I've seen Bill back in the day, when he very first started out, that was just incredible. And my manager said no, no, no, he couldn't sing those songs then, he's much better than that now. I was under the towel, like, "Yeah, that's so great!"
JT: You know, when I saw you in Toronto at that Harbourfront venue…
BB: Oh, yeah!
JT: …yeah, neat venue. Every time you started playing a song where I'd say "Oh, yeah, another classic song," it would turn out to be a new one. They just fit in right.
BB: Well, that's a nice feeling to have, isn't it? Yeah, you do think, when you're putting these things together, how does it fit in with what's gone before? How do you make it connect with people? The best songs are always the ones that you think you've heard before but you haven't. Apparently when Paul McCartney got the melody of "Yesterday," he was convinced for a week that he had heard it somewhere else, because it was so complete and it was so, if you like, almost familiar to him, that he was just sure. He played it for people and said, "Do you know this tune at all?" And it was always like, "No." Yeah, it's a good way to be.
JT: Why did you choose to record a double-disc version of Mr. Love & Justice with an acoustic disc? Was it sort of a nod to older fans?
BB: That was just really something for people who were listening to it in their study, and they needed someone to stand their cup of tea on. It was a handy tool... no, it was really because you need to do a little bit more for the Internet now. They're recordings of me being filmed. At the end of it we had it recorded and we said well what are we going to do with the recording? So some bright spark, possibly me, said oh, let's just put the two of them out because I know people do like to hear the songs solo. I never think it's either/or with me.
JT: Well, old fans must enjoy hearing new material presented on disc, for the first time in a long time, they way you might have in the early ’80s.
BB: My only regret is that you play songs in, and there are a couple of songs in there that I only had just written and I could have lived in them a little bit more, maybe. But that's the process. When you go into the studio, or when I go into the studio anyway, it always makes me write more songs, it's almost as if I'm sort of tuning in to the urge to write.
