In 1977, Bragg formed the punk rock/pub rock band Riff Raff, and toured London's pubs and clubs. The band released a series of singles, which did not receive wide exposure. He also worked in Guy Norris Records in Barking. Bragg became disillusioned with his music career, and in May 1981 joined the British Army as a recruit destined for the Queen's Royal Irish Hussars of the Royal Armoured Corps. After three months, he bought his way out of the army for £175 and returned home, having attended basic training but having never served in a regiment as a soldier.
Bragg began performing frequent concerts and busking around London, playing solo with an electric guitar. His roadie at the time was Andy Kershaw, who became a BBC DJ (Bragg and Kershaw later, in 1989, appeared in an episode of the BBC TV programme, Great Journeys, in which they travelled the Silver Road from Potosí, Bolivia, to the Pacific coast at Arica, Chile). Bragg performing at South by Southwest in 2008.
Bragg's demo tape initially got no response from the record industry, but by pretending to be a television repair man, he got into the office of Charisma Records' A&R man Peter Jenner. Jenner liked the tape, but the company was near bankruptcy and had no budget to sign new artists. Bragg got an offer to record more demos for a music publisher, so Jenner agreed to release them as a record. Life's a Riot with Spy Vs. Spy was released in July 1983 by Charisma's new imprint, Utility. Hearing DJ John Peel mention on-air that he was hungry, Bragg rushed to the BBC with a mushroom biryani, so Peel played a song from Life's a Riot with Spy Vs. Spy although at the wrong speed (since the 12" LP was, unconventionally, cut to play at 45rpm). Peel insisted he would have played the song even without the biryani and later played it at the correct speed.
Within months, Charisma had been taken over by Virgin Records and Jenner, who had been laid off, became Bragg's manager. Stiff Records' press officer Andy Macdonald – who was setting up his own record label, Go! Discs – received a copy of Life's a Riot with Spy Vs. Spy. He made Virgin an offer and the album was re-released on Go! Discs in November 1983.[citation needed] In 1984, he released Brewing Up with Billy Bragg, a mixture of political songs (e.g., "It Says Here") and songs of unrequited love (e.g., "The Saturday Boy"). The following year he released Between the Wars, an EP of political songs that included a cover version of Leon Rosselson's "The World Turned Upside Down" – the EP made the top 20 of the UK Singles Chart and earned Bragg an appearance on Top of the Pops. Bragg later collaborated with Rosselson on the song, "Ballad of the Spycatcher". In 1985, his song "A New England", with an additional verse, became a Top 10 hit in the UK for Kirsty MacColl. After MacColl's early death, Bragg always sang the extra verse in her honour. In 1984–1985 he toured North America.
In 1986, Bragg released Talking with the Taxman about Poetry, which became his first Top 10 album. Its title is taken from a poem by Vladimir Mayakovsky and a translated version of the poem was printed on the record's inner sleeve. Back to Basics is a 1987 collection of his first three releases: Life's A Riot With Spy Vs. Spy, Brewing Up with Billy Bragg, and the Between The Wars EP. Bragg released his fourth album, Workers Playtime, in September 1988. With this album, Bragg added a backing band and accompaniment.
In May 1990, Bragg released the political mini-LP, The Internationale. The songs were, in part, a return to his solo guitar style, but some songs featured more complicated arrangements and included a brass band. The album paid tribute to one of Bragg's influences with the song, "I Dreamed I Saw Phil Ochs Last Night", which is an adapted version of Earl Robinson's song, "I Dreamed I Saw Joe Hill Last Night", itself an adaptation of a poem by Alfred Hayes.
The album Don't Try This at Home was released in September 1991, and included the song, "Sexuality", which reached the UK Singles Chart. Bragg had been persuaded by Go! Discs' Andy and Juliet Macdonald to sign a four-album deal with a million pound advance, and a promise to promote the album with singles and videos.[citation needed] This gamble was not rewarded with extra sales, and the situation put the company in financial difficulty. In exchange for ending the contract early and repaying a large amount of the advance, Bragg regained all rights to his back catalogue.[citation needed] Bragg continued to promote the album with his backing band, The Red Stars, which included his Riff Raff colleague and long-time roadie, Wiggy.
Bragg released the album William Bloke in 1996 after taking time off to help raise his son. Around that time, Nora Guthrie (daughter of American folk artist Woody Guthrie) asked Bragg to set some of her father's unrecorded lyrics to music. The result was a collaboration with the band Wilco and Natalie Merchant (with whom Bragg had worked previously). They released the album Mermaid Avenue in 1998, and Mermaid Avenue Vol. II in 2000. A rift with Wilco over mixing and sequencing the album led to Bragg recruiting his own band, The Blokes, to promote the album. The Blokes included keyboardist Ian McLagan, who had been a member of Bragg's boyhood heroes The Faces. The documentary film Man in the Sand depicts the roles of Nora Guthrie, Bragg, and Wilco in the creation of the Mermaid Avenue albums.
In 2004, Bragg joined Florida ska-punk band Less Than Jake to perform a version of 'The Brightest Bulb Has Burned Out' for the Rock Against Bush compilation.
At the 2005 Beautiful Days Festival in Devon, Bragg teamed up with the Levellers to perform a short set of songs by or associated with The Clash in celebration of Joe Strummer's birthday. Bragg performed guitar and lead vocals on "Police and Thieves", and performed guitar and backing vocals on "English Civil War", and "Police on my Back".
In 2007, Bragg moved closer to his English folk music roots by joining the WOMAD-inspired collective The Imagined Village, who recorded an album of updated versions of traditional English songs and dances and toured through that autumn. Bragg released his album Mr. Love & Justice in March 2008. This was the second Bragg album to be named after a book by Colin MacInnes. In 2008, during the NME Awards ceremony, Bragg sang a duet with British solo act Kate Nash. They mixed up their two greatest hits, Nash playing "Foundations", and Bragg redoing his "A New England". Bragg also collaborated with the poet and playwright, Patrick Jones, who supported Bragg's Tour.
In 2008, Bragg played a small role in Stuart Bamforth's film "A13: Road Movie". Bragg is featured alongside union reps, vicars, burger van chefs and Members of Parliament in a film that explored "the overlooked, the hidden and the disregarded."
He was involved in the play Pressure Drop at the Wellcome Collection in London in April and May 2010. The production, written by Mick Gorden, and billed as "part play, part gig, part installation", featured new songs by Bragg. He performed during the play with his band, and acted as compere.
Bragg curated the Leftfield stage at Glastonbury Festival 2010.
He took part in the Bush Theatre's 2011 project Sixty Six where he has written a piece based upon a chapter of the King James Bible.
Bragg performed a set of the Guthrie songs that he had set to music for Mermaid Avenue during the Hay Literary Festival in June 2012. Mermaid Avenue Vol. III and Mermaid Avenue: The Complete Sessions were also released in early 2012.
On 18 March 2013, Bragg released his latest studio album, five years since Mr. Love & Justice, titled Tooth And Nail. It featured 11 original songs, including one written for the Bush Theatre, and a Woody Guthrie cover. Stylistically, it continues to explore genres of Americana (music) and Alternative country, both of which he has said he has been playing and writing regularly since Mermaid Avenue (1998).
In November 2017, he released all six tracks from the mini-album Bridges Not Walls as downloads and CD through the Billy Bragg website and other sellers, followed by the single Full English Brexit through Cooking Vinyl.
Chile Your Water Run Red Through Sewto
Billy Bragg Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Through Soweto
If you heard about Chile
Then you heard about Soweto
Where the blood of oppression
Runs deep as the mines
Chile your water runs red
The hand that choked
The spirit of Allende
Pulls the trigger of a gun
On the children of Soweto
Chile your waters run red
Through Soweto
The hand that cut short
The song of Viictor Jara
Put young Steven Biko
In a dusty hill grave
Chile your water runs red
Through Soweto
The hand of oppression
Is the hand of hunger
The waters of Chile
Lap the shores of cape fear
Chile your water runs red
Through Soweto
The same hand
The same water
The lyrics to Billy Bragg's "Chile Your Waters Run Red Through Soweto" is a powerful expression of the brutal violence that plagued countries like Chile and South Africa. The song draws a deep parallel between the two countries through their shared struggle against oppression and the bloodshed that has resulted from it. The title of the song suggests that the bloody waters of Chile are flowing through Soweto, a township in South Africa where the black community has long suffered at the hands of the apartheid regime.
The song speaks of the hand that chokes the spirit of Allende and pulls the trigger of a gun on the children of Soweto, referring to the violent overthrow of Chile's socialist leader Salvador Allende in 1973 and the massacre of hundreds of protesting students in Soweto in 1976. The violence in Chile and South Africa is further linked through language referencing Viictor Jara, a Chilean musician who was tortured and killed by the military regime, and Steven Biko, a South African anti-apartheid activist who was beaten to death by police.
The song also highlights the fact that the hand of oppression is often the hand of hunger, suggesting that poverty and oppression are intertwined. Finally, the lyrics reference the Cape Fear River in North Carolina, where a large number of Chilean refugees fled to escape persecution.
Overall, "Chile Your Waters Run Red Through Soweto" is a powerful expression of solidarity between two nations who have both struggled under oppressive regimes. The lyrics draw a deep parallel between the violence and oppression that has plagued Chile and South Africa and suggest that the suffering of one nation is intimately connected to the suffering of the other.
Line by Line Meaning
Chile your water runs read
The water from Chile is filled with bloodshed and violence.
Through Soweto
This place, known for its oppression and struggle, also feels the impact of Chile's turmoil and pain.
If you heard about Chile
Chile's reputation precedes it, and people know of the violence and injustice that occurs there.
Then you heard about Soweto
Similarly, Soweto's reputation is known and associated with unrest and oppression.
Where the blood of oppression
The violence and suffering caused by oppression in Soweto is sever and ongoing.
Runs deep as the mines
The pain and hardship borne by those in Soweto is just as profound as the natural resources they mine for.
The hand that choked
The same oppressive forces that brought about Allende's demise are at work in Soweto.
The spirit of Allende
Allende, a former leader of Chile, fell victim to oppression in his own country.
Pulls the trigger of a gun
This same oppressor has no qualms inflicting violence on Soweto's innocent children.
On the children of Soweto
The innocence and vulnerability of Soweto's children is not enough to spare them.
The hand that cut short
The same oppressor - with its hired hands - silenced the voices of resistance and struggle in Chili, cutting short the song of Victor Jara.
The song of Viictor Jara
A famous figure known for his music and revolutionary messages was killed by the same oppressive forces that continue to pain and wound the people in Soweto.
Put young Steven Biko
Similarly, Biko was also killed by the vicious hand of oppression - this innocent person was simply advocating for human rights.
In a dusty hill grave
Biko never got the funeral and the burial he deserved, as the oppressor chose to dump his body in a shallow grave and be forgotten.
The hand of oppression
The same oppressive forces that killed Jara and Biko are responsible for the pain and injustice in Soweto today.
Is the hand of hunger
Oppression and hunger are linked, as the same forces at play in Chili and Soweto have a clear interest in perpetrating poverty, inequality, and exclusion.
The waters of Chile
The same red waters that flow through Chi be and bear witness to death and destruction also make her shores touch the territories that still suffer the aftermath of apartheid.
Lap the shores of cape fear
Behind the natural beauty of Cape Town, the rest of South Africa feels a profound sense of fear, as the memory of oppression continues to shadow the land.
The same hand
On respective sides of the world, one can see the same trace of oppression, as Chile and Soweto bear witness to the relentless pursuit of power, at the cost of lives, voice, and freedom.
The same water
The same red water that runs from Chile to Soweto reminds us of the interconnectedness of these struggles and of the need to stand united against injustice and brutality.
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Written by: REAGON, BERNICE JOHNSON
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Rodrigo Inostroza
La mejor voz del punk