Musical/Political Interlude

Enough with the tribulations of getting in shape, and of climbing mountains, and fighting cancer, at least for awhile. I need a break.

In some ways this is nostalgic, because Billy Bragg is so 1988, but hey.

This song, "Waiting for the Great Leap Forwards," has been updated all along by Mr. Bragg when he plays it live--updated to fit the current social or political climate or simply to add a joke or twist the lyrics around playfully. He's a good guy, and 20 years later, this song, like any good folk song, still has some relevance. Performed here at SXSW in Austin, TX, March 2008. Original lyrics below.



Billy Bragg plays at the Moore Theater in Seattle on June 6 and Club Soda in Montreal on June 18.

Waiting for the Great Leap Forwards (1988)

It may have been Camelot for Jack and Jacqueline
But on the Che Guevara highway filling up with gasoline
Fidel Castro's brother spies a rich lady who's crying
Over luxury's disappointment
So he walks over and he's trying
To sympathise with her but he thinks that he should warn her
That the Third World is just around the corner

In the Soviet Union a scientist is blinded
By the resumption of nuclear testing and he is reminded
That Dr Robert Oppenheimer's optimism fell
At the first hurdle

In the Cheese Pavilion and the only noise I hear
Is the sound of someone stacking chairs
And mopping up spilt beer
And someone asking questions and basking in the light
Of the fifteen fame filled minutes of the fanzine writer

Mixing Pop and Politics he asks me what the use is
I offer him embarrassment and my usual excuses
While looking down the corridor
Out to where the van is waiting
I'm looking for the Great Leap Forwards

Jumble sales are organised and pamphlets have been posted
Even after closing time there's still parties to be hosted
You can be active with the activists
Or sleep in with the sleepers
While you're waiting for the Great Leap Forwards

One leap forward, two leaps back
Will politics get me the sack?

Here comes the future and you can't run from it
If you've got a blacklist I want to be on it

It's a mighty long way down rock 'n roll
From Top of the Pops to drawing the dole

If no one seems to understand
Start your own revolution and cut out the middleman

In a perfect world we'd all sing in tune
But this is reality so give me some room

So join the struggle while you may
The Revolution is just a T-shirt away
Waiting for the Great Leap Forwards