At a time when most British pop stars are hoping American youths will dip into their savings to buy more records, a performer such as Billy Bragg is a rarity. The British singer-songwriter wants to ”Help Save the Youth of America” and encourage them to vote.
That is the title of Bragg`s new six-song extended-play record, subtitled ”Live and Dubious,” which combines new material with live performances recorded in London, Moscow and Washington.
In an introduction to the title track, Bragg explains through an interpreter to a Soviet audience that ”the song could easily be called, `Help Save the Youth of the Soviet Union.` ” The statement is greeted with applause.
Then Bragg rips out a few sparse chords on his electric guitar, often his only accompaniment, and sings, ”Help save the youth of America, save them from themselves.”
The guitar-toting troubadour isn`t preaching the born-again Gospel, but he is trying to drum up American rock fans` interest in politics so they can try to save themselves-and maybe him too.
”Help Save the Youth of America,” Bragg`s most overtly political collection to date, is available only in America, and Bragg is using the record to spark voter registration.
Bragg even includes messages on the liner notes and a separate enclosed notice encouraging his fans to get involved in the political process.
”Beloved listener,” Bragg wrote in the liner notes. ”Well may you ask, `Why is this limey whining about our country when it`s nothing to do with him?` ”
We asked Bragg the same question-but not quite in those words.
”I can`t divorce my politics from my life,” Bragg explained. ”In my country, politics doesn`t end in Westminster (the section of London where the government is based). It carries out to Capitol Hill (in Washington). Things that happen there affect me directly, but I have no vote, I have no say in it.”
Although Bragg pleads with his fans to ”please be more careful this time,” he is not out to sing the praises of any particular candidate.
”Political activity is something that I always like to encourage, but it`s not about endorsing a candidate,” Bragg said. ”I don`t want to tell people how to vote, even in my country.”
Bragg is one of the most politically active figures in pop today. In the import bin you can find him performing on three recently released compilation albums, ”Sgt. Pepper Knew My Father,” ”Not Just Mandela” and ”Wake Up Fanzine 6 Track Miners Benefit EP.” The proceeds from the single of Bragg`s rendition of the Beatles` ”She`s Leaving Home,” culled from the ”Pepper”
album, will go to a child-abuse help line in England, while the ”Mandela”
album benefits the antiapartheid movement.
The Englishman performed live in the Soviet Union the same year that a much higher-profile musical Billy-Billy Joel-received coverage for his temper tantrums during live performances there.
”Pop music is the international language of pop culture these days,”
Bragg explained. ”A good song in America is a good song in Russia or in Europe.”
And the Soviet crowds weren`t too much different from the crowds Bragg plays to in America and Britain.
”Help Save the Youth of America” also includes touching renditions of Scottish folk singer Dick Gaughan`s ”Think Again,” a song that attempts to debunk the myth of the Soviets being warmongers; an a cappella version of Bernice Johnson Reagon`s ”Chile Your Rivers Run Red Through Soweto”; and live versions of Bragg staples ”To Have and to Have Not” and ”There Is Power in a Union.”
Yet a rewritten version of Bragg`s own ”Days Like These,” dubbed the
”D.C. Remix,” may be the most controversial of the politically charged tracks. Bragg takes on the school of politics that has resulted in the Iran-contra scandal with such lyrics as: ”It`s midnight in El Salvador/They`re spending dollars in your name/It`s no bloody consolation that Reagan cannot run again/They will trade with the ayatollah if they can`t convince Congress/ The only type of patriot is an anticommunist.”
”I`m not here to attack America,” Bragg explained. ”I`m here to give you the perspective of one foreigner. If sometimes that perspective is a little ugly or upsets you, that is why we have to talk about it. It upsets me too.”
