Political Songs for after election day: Part 2

IF YOU have read the last post, you know the score, add your own political songs below the fold. If you haven't read the last post, what you waiting for?

Here's Part Two of my favourite political songs for after election day.

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised – Gil Scott Heron: Intellectual black consciousness, proto rap which lambasts the growing commercialisation of American life in the age of television advertising. Sadly, not on his play list in Liverpool last week, but still a very potent example of political polemic nearly 40 years since it was first written.

Shipbuilding – Elvis Costello: The bitter sweet ironic reality of politics in a song. Costello juxtaposes the prosperity that the Falklands War brought to the working class shipbuilding communities in the early 80s with the reality that these people were building ships to kill in the South Atlantic. Best version is this much shown Robert Wyatt cover from the Whistle Test.

Beds are Burning – Midnight Oil: There can’t have been many more political bands to have worked over the last 30 years and there can be very few who have had a global hit about Australian Aboriginal land rights. Lead singer Peter Garrett is now Australian Minister for Environment Protection, Heritage and the Arts.

Killing in the Name - Rage Against the Machine: A popular anarchist/ left wing band writes an anthemic protest song that accuses the military and police of being in the Ku Klux Klan. And now all we know about it is that it kept Joe McElwotsit off the Christmas Number 1. Go figure.

Vive la Quinte Brigada – Christy Moore: He wasn’t afraid to put his head above the parapet during the Troubles and say what he felt even if it was controversial, but this beautiful song is a loving tribute to the Irish Socialists who fought on the Republican side during the Spanish Civil War. It’s an education listening Christy.

If you are in the orbit of Spotify, I have started a playlist here Political Songs for Election Day

Podcast No 2: Steve Gribbin on how to do comedy incredibly well

IN many ways the only reason I ever wanted to write comedy, or write about it, is because of Steve Gribbin.
When I first head or saw 'alternative comedy' on TV or on the radio it was people like Ben Elton or Will Durst who I was really into. They were political and funny and satiric and vitriolic and chimed with the kind of political atmosphere I lived in.
I bought Ben Elton albums from Golden Discs in Belfast and taped George Carlin and Richard Pryor records from the library in Craigavon and taped as much of Friday Night and Saturday Night Live as I could.
Soon after, during Rag Week 1991 ( I think), I bunked into a brilliant show at Queens University Students' Union in Belfast with Mark Thomas, Brenda Gilhooley and Skint Video on the bill. I was solid gone to quote Balloo the bear.

Skint Video were Steve Gribbin and Brian Mulligan and they played musical parodies and political songs and I thought they were brilliant. They were on the Mary Whitehouse Experience on Radio 1 and popped up a bit on whatever wee bits of network radio and TV we got in Northern Ireland. I taped all of it, unfortunately in a frenzy of nest building 10 years ago, before the age of MP3 conversion,  most of the cassettes went into Sefton Meadows tip in Maghull.
Then about eight years ago I was the de facto comedy writer for the Liverpool ECHO and saw Steve again at the Best of Liverpool gala show which traditionally finishes the Liverpool Comedy Festival. And he blew me away again doing political comedy to an audience which would have settled for girls in pyjamas gags.
In a bid to raise the profile of the brilliant Liverpool comedy club, Rawhide, I interviewed Steve prior to one of his regular headline sets. We hit it off and have been mates since.
Despite the narrowing of the stand-up canon in the clubs where comics can get away with tawdry observationalism, Steve still batters away with his angry, musical satire - blowing the roofs off clubs all across Britain and Ireland.
We've co-written a couple of his shows since and in writing with him you get a sense of what really works in a club. In this podcast we have talked about the nature of doing comedy, Steve's influences and why Elvis Costello and Alexei Sayle are his great idols.
It's 54 minutes long - but I am not going to make it easy for you - but it's all killer no filler and a couple of times it may be libellous.
Sorry about the levels on the songs, it distorts a bit, but this is a great insight into how a top comedian goes about his business.
Please leave a comment at the end tell us what you liked and disliked.