The British singer Billy Bragg and the American band Wilco collaborated to … Read Full Bio ↴The British singer Billy Bragg and the American band Wilco collaborated to put to music and perform previously unheard lyrics written by American folk singer Woody Guthrie. The project was organized by Guthrie's daughter, Nora Guthrie. The ensuing album "Mermaid Avenue" was released on the Elektra Records label on June 23, 1998. A second volume of recordings, "Mermaid Avenue Vol. II", followed in 2000. The projects are named after a song "Mermaid's Avenue" written by Guthrie. This was also the street in Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York on which Guthrie lived.

According to Bob Dylan's autobiographical Chronicles, Woody Guthrie gave his unpublished songs to Dylan but Bob was unable to get them from Guthrie's family (he tells a story about a reluctant babysitter).

Nora Guthrie's liner notes in Mermaid Avenue indicate that it was her intention that the songs be given to a new generation of musicians who would be able to make the songs relevant to a younger generation. She therefore contacted singer-songwriter Billy Bragg in spring 1995 about recording some unreleased songs by her father, folk singer Woody Guthrie. Most of the songs were written late in Guthrie's life when he was unable to record due to the motor impairments of Huntington's disease. By the 1990s, Woody Guthrie had become a "relic" to the MTV generation, and Nora sought to establish a different legacy for the musician. To Nora, Bragg was "the only singer I knew taking on the same issues as Woody." Bragg was concerned, however, that his fans would not realize that the songs were written by Guthrie when he performed them on tour, so he decided to record the album with another band.

Bragg contacted Tweedy and Bennett about co-recording the album while Wilco was on the European segment of their Being There tour. Bragg was particularly fond of Being There because their influences extended farther back than the 1950s. Although Tweedy was indifferent to the offer, Bennett was enthused about recording songs of one of his idols—Bennett's previous band Titanic Love Affair was named after a Billy Bragg lyric. A recording contract between Bragg and Wilco was signed after a show at Shepherd's Bush Empire. Bragg mostly recorded the politically-charged lyrics, while Tweedy preferred to record lyrics that showcased Guthrie as a "freak weirdo." The recording of Mermaid Avenue began on December 12, 1997, and was the topic of BBC's Man in the Sand documentary film.

Tempers flared between Bragg and Wilco after the album was completed. Bennett believed that Bragg was overproducing his songs, a sharp contrast to Wilco's sparser contributions. Bennett called Bragg about the possibility of remixing Bragg's songs, to which Bragg responded with "you make your record, and I'll make mine, fucker." Eventually Bragg sent copies of his recordings to Chicago for Bennett to remix, but Bragg refused to use the new mixes on the album. The two parties were unable to establish a promotional tour and quarreled over royalties and guest musician fees.

Despite these conflicts, the album was released on June 23, 1998, and sold over 277,000 copies. The album received rave reviews from Robert Christgau and Rolling Stone, and was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album. It also placed fourth on the Pazz & Jop critics poll for 1998 (right behind Bob Dylan's Live 1966).

Feed of Man
Billy Bragg & Wilco Lyrics

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If you
Beat up, butcher, and
You bleed a man:
If you bang up and badger and
Blood let a man;
And then I come along
On the feet of man
And half way laff and cry 'bout

The meat of man,
And I do what I can to
Bale string and tie some ballad truths
Up cured out
For the feed of man
And
Folks try to tell me
That it's on god's orders
That you bleed your man;
It's on god's good word that you
Bleed your man;
On god's plan print
That you dead a man;
Or you spit and curse and whip
Your man;
I say I'll help you fix and
Squeeze yourself up a new kind of a god
Of some kind;
One that tells you
Fertilyze and multyplye;
One that
Tells you:
Outsow and outblow,
Outplant and outgrow;
Outdo, and outrun, and out climb, and out spread
Every other tree and bush
And brushy fruits and flower petals;
Out fruit them all
For the feed of man;
Out stalk and out hunt and out think
For god's own sweet sake, out think! out think!
Out think the fruits
Outgrow these animal kind and shapes of man!
It you miss and go down
Your dust will turn up on that long hot job
Once more again

To help in the feeding and the seed of man
And not in the bleeding and the end of man.

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of Billy Bragg & Wilco’s song Feed of Man explore themes of power, violence, and responsibility. The song condemns those who use religion as a justification for their atrocities, asking for a new, sustainable, and thoughtful way of living. The first stanza paints a gruesome picture of violence against a man, and the singer of the song comes along to criticize such an act. The singer is empathetic, both laughing and crying about the meat of man. The second stanza attacks the idea that it’s god's orders to hurt and kill others - the singer suggests that we need to create a new god, one that focuses on growth and sustainability rather than violence. The final lines of the song suggest that our actions will be remembered, and we must work towards the future feeding and seeding of humanity.

Line by Line Meaning

If you beat up, butcher, and you bleed a man:
If you physically harm and kill a person for the sake of food:

If you bang up and badger and blood let a man;
If you mistreat and harm a person to extract blood for consumption:

And then I come along on the feet of man
Then I arrive on foot, as a human being:

And half way laff and cry 'bout the meat of man,
And I have conflicting emotions, laughing and crying about the idea of consuming human flesh:

And I do what I can to bale string and tie some ballad truths up cured out for the feed of man
I try to express my thoughts through music and lyrics that will last, providing insight for future generations about humanity's tendency towards violence and cannibalism:

And folks try to tell me that it's on god's orders
But some people tell me that these actions are justified by religious beliefs:

That you bleed your man;
That it's acceptable to drain a person of their blood:

It's on god's good word that you bleed your man;
They claim that this belief is based on divine instruction:

On god's plan print that you dead a man;
That it's part of God's plan for people to die in order to feed others:

Or you spit and curse and whip your man;
Or that they can treat other humans with contempt and violence:

I say I'll help you fix and squeeze yourself up a new kind of a god of some kind;
I argue that we should redefine our idea of God to prioritize compassion and cooperative survival:

One that tells you: fertilyze and multyplye;
One that encourages people to reproduce and create abundance:

One that tells you: outsow and outblow, outplant and outgrow;
One that emphasizes competition against nature, always striving to produce more and better crops:

Outdo, and outrun, and out climb, and out spread every other tree and bush and brushy fruits and flower petals;
To become the most fruitful and successful species, outdoing all others:

Out fruit them all for the feed of man;
To produce the most food to sustain our population:

Out stalk and out hunt and out think for God's own sweet sake, out think! out think!
To be better at hunting and gathering, and to think more creatively and deeply about our relationship with nature:

Out think the fruits outgrow these animal kind and shapes of man!
To surpass both other animal species and the animalistic and violent tendencies within humanity:

It you miss and go down your dust will turn up on that long hot job once more again to help in the feeding and the seed of man
If we fail to achieve this balance and harmony, our legacy will still contribute to the cycles of life and death that sustain humanity:

And not in the bleeding and the end of man.
Rather than perpetuating cycles of violence and destruction, we should strive towards sustainability and cooperation with nature.

Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: JEFF TWEEDY, WOODY GUTHRIE

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind

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