by PETER-JOHN KENNEDY

Billy Bragg has been doing his troubadour agit-pop thing for nigh on 20 years now, from playing in the London tube with speakers strapped on his back to his Grammy-nominated collaborations with Wilco on Mermaid Avenue Vols. I & II. His unfailing devotion to social justice has always been tempered with a healthy dose of English wit, as evidenced on his latest album England, Half English. Bragg chatted with the Mirror from his home in Dorset, England before heading out to walk his Labradoodle (“half lab, half poodle”).

Mirror: Was there one event in particular that galvanized your commitment to social causes, or more the general climate at the time?

Billy Bragg: A bit of both. The first political thing I ever did was to go see the Clash play a Rock Against Racism show. There wouldn’t have been a Rock Against Racism if there hadn’t been a real big problem with the resurgent far right at the time, which there was. But it was at that gig that I first saw men kissing. I’d never been aware of seeing a homosexual man before, and I came away from there thinking, “What are those guys doing there, ’cause this is about racism,” and it made me make a connection between the persecution of all minorities rather than just the persecution of what, at the time, was a predominantly Caribbean minority in the U.K. The whole idea of minorities came into my political consciousness there. So that, to me, suggests that music does have a role in altering your outlook. It doesn’t change the world, it doesn’t answer your problems, but it does offer you a different perspective, and that’s the sort of experience that’s driven me to write the sort of music I make.

M: Do you come up with lyrics first when writing a song?

BB: Sometimes. Sometimes it all comes readymade. I’ll have the idea, the tune, the lyrics all at once. Right now I have three songs to finish before I come to North America, dealing with, in swift order, September 11, the Gulf War and the Middle East. I’m still tinkering with them. Even on tour, I’ll be tweaking them.

M: Steve Earle is taking some flak right now for addressing some of those topics on his new record. Are you familiar with it?

BB: Yeah, I just got it last week and I think it’s great. Unfortunately, there’s an atmosphere in the USA that anyone who speaks out is supporting the terrorists. My hope, when I visit America after Montreal, is that I can explain to the American people that I feel great empathy for what happened on September 11, but that doesn’t mean I have to support George W. Bush and what he wants to do. They’re two completely different things and I know it’s going to be difficult to articulate that. But that’s what I’ll be trying to do as I travel around their country. I think for songwriters it takes a bit more time to percolate ideas. Journalists write the first draft of history. Songwriters need more time to reflect.

Patriot games

M: Some of you new songs, like “Take Down the Union Jack,” are quite critical of the U.K., but it’s still quite obvious you love England.

BB: Yeah, I do. Let me tell you, I’m a patriot. And I think Steve Earle is a patriot too.

M: Like, it’s all right to love your country and have it be your favourite country, but not go around saying you’re the best in the world?

BB: I think you’re touching on something really interesting, which is reasonable patriotism, in which you and I talk about our countries and have an intelligent conversation about their pros and cons. But where it becomes a problem is when people start to say irrational things, like, my country, right or wrong. I’ll tell you also, I love America. It’s a great country with great people and I refuse to jump in with this knee-jerk anti-Americanism. We have to remember as well, the majority of them voted against Bush.

M: I noticed you were on The Weakest Link in the U.K.

BB: I won the fucking Weakest Link, mate! I defeated Suzi Quatro in the final head-to-head. Leather Tuscadero herself. The Weakest Link is my mum’s favourite TV program. If I’d have said no and she’d found out, she would have been so pissed off because there’s so few things I do that she can enjoy with her mates. I won 11,000 pounds for the medical fund for victims of torture. You’ve got to do things people don’t expect, so long as you’re not doing anything nasty. I’d hate people to think I’m this dreadfully serious geezer, some sort of horrible puritan. :

With Martina Sorbara at Club Soda
tonight, Thursday, Oct. 17, 8pm, $25

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