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 tee shirt away
Waiting for the great leap forwards
6 comments:
Ah, the great Billy Bragg's song "Waiting for the Great Leap Forward" from his album "Worker's Playtime". The album also contains the song "Rotting on Demand" which contains the brilliant lines:
I said there is no justice
As they led me out of the door
The Judge said, "This isn't a court of justice, son
This is a court of law."
Still my favourite Billy Bragg song is "There is power in a Union" from the album with the best name "Talking with the Taxman about Poetry".
So fun. Love Billy Bragg. Love his bittersweet love songs too. Bragg reminds me of my childhood, sunny weekends, Mum cleaning the house. All of us singing the choruses.
the milkman of human kindness, kills me every time...
and speaking of tee shirts... bonnie, do you have any interesting factoids for us about this particular garment?
Factoid: The tee shirt as we know it today is not named after the "T" shape as is commonly beleived, but an American one-time Levi Strauss employee named Dr. John Tee, who in 1922 popularised the idea of the wearing of undershirts as a clothing item unto itself. However the slogan tee shirt was never really prevalent until the mid-1960's when a company was founded specialising in slogan-based shirts by two Californian college students, Randy Shit and Philip Happens.
nice
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