Well that’s it for us for another week dear reader. Billy Bragg’s forthcoming new album has been slightly delayed because of some issue with pressing the vinyl (gas, fizzy drinks and now vinyl – will this torture never end?) but while we wait he’s been drip-feeding material from it, including this week the track ‘Mid Century Modern’ which is a reflection on changing times but with a melody and arrangement to kill for.
“As a mid-century modern geezer, I’m aware that my notions of personal relationships were formed almost fifty years ago, likewise my politics,” Bragg said of the track. “To cling to that and imagine that you’ve nothing to learn from younger generations, you’re in danger of becoming a dinosaur. Kids have got new priorities and new ideas. Thatcher’s dead. The world has moved on. I’m trying to respond to the things I’m hearing now, rather than reminding folk of ‘the good old days.’”
“I’m used to people listening to what I have to say, and I find it hard to think that it might help if I just stepped away” he muses in the song – but please don’t Billy. We still teach our kids that Thatcher is the boogieman in these parts. ‘The Million Things That Never Happened’ lands on October 29th and you can catch him on tour from later this month. Head over to our gig guide for all the dates. We’ll be there in Manchester! Have a good one.
