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.
TAKE DOWN THE UNION JACK
Billy Bragg Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
It clashes with the sunset
And put it in the attic with the emperors old clothes
When did it fall apart?
Sometime in the eighties
When the great and the good gave way
To the greedy and the mean
It's really not that great
It's not a proper country
It doesn't even have a patron saint
It's just an economic union
That's past its sell-by date
Take down the Union Jack
It clashes with the sunset
And ask our Scottish neighbors
If independence looks any good
'Cause they just might understand
How to take an abstract notion of personal identity
And turn it into nationhood
Is this the 19th Century
That I'm watching on TV
The dear old queen of England
Handing out those MBEs
Member of the British Empire
That doesn't sound too good to me
Gilbert and George are taking the piss aren't they
Gilbert and George are taking the piss
What could be more British than is a picture of me bum
Gilbert and George are taking the piss
Take down the Union Jack
It clashes with the sunset
And pile up all those history books but don't throw them away
They just might have some clues about what it really means
To be an Anglo hyphen Saxon in England dot Co dot you-K
To be an Anglo hyphen Saxon in England dot Co dot you-K
In the song Take Down the Union Jack by Billy Bragg and The Blokes, the artist takes a critical stance towards the notion of the British identity and the symbol of the Union Jack. The lyrics suggest that the Union Jack is a relic of the past that no longer represents the diverse identities and cultures of modern Britain. The line "It clashes with the sunset" implies that the Union Jack no longer blends in with the natural landscape and is a jarring eyesore. The song further questions when the decline of the British identity began and points to the 1980s as the decade when the country started being run by "the greedy and the mean".
The song also critiques the concept of "Britishness" itself, suggesting that it is an outdated economic union that lacks a true national identity. Billy Bragg suggests that Britain is not "cool" and "doesn't even have a patron saint", claiming that it is simply a country that is past its "sell-by date". Bragg suggests that Scotland could perhaps show that turning an "abstract notion of personal identity" into nationhood is possible.
The lyrics go on to question the relevance of the British monarchy and the MBEs that are handed out to citizens as a way of perpetuating the Empire's legacy. Bragg also references the ironic artwork of Gilbert and George, who are shown to be taking the piss out of British stereotypes with their depiction of a rear-end.
Overall, the song Take Down the Union Jack is a critique of the British identity and its symbols, suggesting that the country needs to reassess its notions of nationalism to better reflect its multicultural reality.
Line by Line Meaning
Take down the Union Jack
Remove the flag of United Kingdom
It clashes with the sunset
The flag is not aesthetically pleasing at certain times of the day
And put it in the attic with the emperors old clothes
Store the flag away, like the outdated clothes of old rulers
When did it fall apart?
At what point did United Kingdom lose its grandeur?
Sometime in the eighties
It happened in the 1980s
When the great and the good gave way
When the righteous and admirable people lost power
To the greedy and the mean
To selfish and unethical individuals
Britain isn't cool, you know
United Kingdom is not fashionable or impressive
It's really not that great
It is not as exceptional as believed
It's not a proper country
It is not a genuine nation
It doesn't even have a patron saint
It does not have a saint as its spiritual protector
It's just an economic union
It is merely a financial partnership
That's past its sell-by date
It is no longer useful or relevant
And ask our Scottish neighbors
Consult the people of Scotland
If independence looks any good
If being a separate nation is desirable
'Cause they just might understand
Since they have experience with this issue
How to take an abstract notion of personal identity
How to turn individual identity into national identity
And turn it into nationhood
And establish themselves as a nation
Is this the 19th Century
Is this a time of outdated beliefs and attitudes?
That I'm watching on TV
Am I observing antiquated views through the media?
The dear old queen of England
The beloved monarch of United Kingdom
Handing out those MBEs
Awarding Members of the British Empire honors
Member of the British Empire
Title of the honor awarded by the Queen
That doesn't sound too good to me
The title does not sound admirable
Gilbert and George are taking the piss aren't they
Gilbert and George are disrespecting United Kingdom, aren't they?
What could be more British than is a picture of me bum
What is more stereotypically British than a picture of my backside?
Take down the Union Jack
Remove the flag of United Kingdom
It clashes with the sunset
The flag is not aesthetically pleasing at certain times of the day
And pile up all those history books but don't throw them away
Collect all the history books but don't discard them
They just might have some clues about what it really means
The books might provide insight on the true meaning
To be an Anglo hyphen Saxon in England dot Co dot you-K
To be a person of British ancestry in the United Kingdom
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: STEPHEN WILLIAM BRAGG
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Kev Kavanagh
Poet without the laureate. Onya, Billy!
GreenMonstah77
Fantastic song!
Tales From Tin Pan Alley - The Documentary + More
Hats off. This is a pertinent song mirroring the UK NOW . Much respect as always
Matthew Armitage
Still a true British Hero x
Jack: the film fanatic
He would describe himself a English hero not British.
Rob Harper
Spot on
pancrack tv
English, Scottish and Welsh UNITY = Britain. Defined by a coastline not invisible lines on a map drawn by monarchs and politicians.
Florian Ian Nadge
Interesting, so a common coastline makes for a common nation? Wonder what the Welsh and Scots have to say about it.
Grae P
@Florian Ian Nadge as a Welshman I am happy with British unity.
Me
Hear hear.. leave Ireland out of it! We' insist!