For someone who’s
very musically minded, I’m ashamed to admit I know very little about the work
of Billy Bragg. I know the basics – that he’s a left-leaning political activist
with a musical output that blends folk, punk and 'protest' – but that’s about as
far as my knowledge stretches.
Bizarrely, I’m
probably more familiar with Bill Bailey’s Bragg pastiche, ‘Unisex Chip Shop’,
than of anything by the original artist. Even Bragg’s own son quoted the song as a favourite of his ‘dad’s’ work, so it seems that I’m in good company. Bailey
and Bragg once joined forces to duet the song at Glastonbury's Leftfield; track down the video on
YouTube if you're interested; it's quite entertaining.
One of Billy
Bragg’s songs that I do know, however, is his recent single, ‘Handyman Blues’;
it just came on the radio, and I bloody love it.
I first heard it
on The One Show on BBC1 (that bastion of popular culture). Bragg was appearing
to promote his current album – and in the midst of the programme’s usual topic
jumping and excruciating interview technique, he pulled out his guitar and sang
a couple of verses.
I was on my way
out to host Mostly Comedy, so didn’t catch the rest of the programme – but the handyman
song was still stuck in my mind. Then, a couple of days later, a friend on Facebook who is a Billy Bragg fan posted a YouTube clip of him singing it for a radio session;
I clicked on the link and finally got to hear it in its entirety.
Have a listen:
The video is very entertaining - but it's also worth hearing the song in isolation from the pictures, to allow the words
space to have their fullest impact.
'Handyman Blues' chimes perfectly with my outlook: I too am a man caught adrift in a modern age; all
too aware of my own ineptitudes and not as capable as my dad when it comes to what was once, foolishly, seen as “man’s work”. Don’t get me wrong: I can change a
fuse without burning the house down – but I’m definitely far more artistic than I am
practical.
It’s also an honest
and unadorned love song; succinct and, in its own way, quite romantic.
One of these days
I’ll delve into Bragg’s back catalogue and get to grips with it – but in the
meantime, this recent offering of his will do me very nicely.
Oh, and by the way, judging from the official video, Stewart Lee is by far the most convincing mimer of the comic fraternity; something else to admire him for...