Wednesday, August 23, 2023

August 23

Good morning. It should be another hot day so I won't do anything outside today. So I will spend the day with my needlework and reading. I will have to stop long enough to cook supper and maybe get a bit more reorganizing of the kitchen cabinets done. Maybe on that last.

Hecate Demeter posted a link to a song by Billy Bragg that is an answer to Oliver Anthony's RICH MEN NORTH OF RICHMOND. I found some comments on American Songwriter which are very on point. Where Anthony's song was a primal scream which but not a call to action Billy Bragg's song, RICH MEN EARNING NORTH OF A MILLION, is a call to action. 

The lyrics for “Rich Men North of Richmond” read, I’ve been sellin’ my soul, workin’ all day/ Overtime hours for bullshit pay/ So I can sit out here and waste my life away/ Drag back home and drown my troubles away

Bragg’s new single offers a new take on the idea, with the song’s lyrics reading If you’re selling your soul, working all day/ Overtime hours for bullshit pay/ Nothing’s gonna change if all you do/ Is wish you could wake up and it not be true/ Join a union, fight for better pay / Join a union, brother, organize today.

 Bragg also takes on the culture wars as the distraction they are. Check out the lyrics for Bragg's song here and Anthony's here. The contrast is illuminating.

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