I like to share music with mates, especially when you get to bring out something old and say.... wow aint that still relevant.
I love the stuff Tom Morello is doing now with the Occupy facing gigs and appearances. I have riffed on Toms stuff since his Rage days,and he is still delivering roundhouses to the politically and morally corrupt now.
Anyway, over in LimeyLand we have had our own Tom since the dark days of Maggie Thatcher The Milk Snatcher.... Billy Bragg. Billy has been singing his political stuff pushing socialist and progressive messages since way back, although I dont think he has had any major exposure that side of the pond.
This song seems, of all of his, both the most currently relevant and easily translatable to the US "progressive" audience.
Its a song of hope and confidence.....that progressive values that look after the little man will win out eventually, as long as the progressives never loose heart.
Ladies and jellyspoons, I give you Billy Bragg with Between The Wars
http://www.youtube.com/...
I was a miner
I was a docker
I was a railway man
Between the wars
I raised a family
In times of austerity
With sweat at the foundry
Between the wars
I paid the union
And as times got harder
I looked to the government to help the working man
And they brought prosperity
Down at the armory
"We're arming for peace me boys"
Between the wars
I kept the faith
And I kept voting
Not for the iron fist but for the helping hand
For theirs is a land
With a wall around it
And mine is a faith in my fellow man
Theirs is a land of hope and glory
Mine is the green field and the factory floor
Theirs are the skies all dark with bombers
And mine is the peace we knew
Between the wars
Call up the craftsmen
Bring me the draughtsmen
Build me a path from cradle to grave
And I'll give my consent
To any government
That does not deny a man a living wage
Go find the young men
Never to fight again
Bring up the banners from the days gone by
Sweet moderation
Heart of this nation
Desert us not, we are
Between the wars
Hope you liked it, and feel free to recc your own battle hymns down below