I came into this whole business by going to see Rock Against Racism gigs with the Clash. Billy Bragg Read Quote
Even with politics, stuff comes around again. Woody Guthrie would recognize America today. Billy Bragg Read Quote
But, in the end, even a song that’s as politically bland as Blowin in the Wind, you probably wouldn’t get up and sing that now, whereas some of Bob Dylan’s love songs that were contemporary with that, like say Girl from the North Country, you can still get up an play now. Billy Bragg Read Quote
All the great political music was made at the height of political confrontations. Billy Bragg Read Quote
All musicians start out with ideals but hanging on to them in the face of media scrutiny takes real integrity. Tougher still is to live up to the ideals of your dedicated fans. Billy Bragg Read Quote
In that sense, I became politicized because the people in the coal mining villages who were involved in the struggle knew why they were there. But they couldn’t understand why some pop star from London would want to be there. Billy Bragg Read Quote
Most of the people that I went to school with – I went to secondary school – we were educated to go and work in the line at Ford’s, and if we were lucky, technical skilled labor. I sort of rejected that, and thought I wanted to do something else. Billy Bragg Read Quote