Billy Bragg and new lyric to sexuality.

[PriamFarrl]

He is trending on Twitter and the tweets are interesting.

Has he changed the title of the song then? Cos sexuality’s got fuck all to do with gender.

I am beyond gutted. I’ve always loved him, my first gig was him in 1984ish and I’ve seen him so many times and always come away feeling motivated and inspired. I had tickets last weekend for his show in Galway and, as I’ve been watching the way this has been developing, I was going in with a heavy heart but my husband loves him too, so in we went. It was awful, I spent most of the time with my arms folded and a face like a smacked arse. The preachiness, the patronising, the complete dismissal of women and their rights just broke my heart. I walked out and told my husband I’m done with him. I’ve loved him longer than I’ve loved anyone but I cannot get over this.
And he’s started to look like Steptoe so there’s that..

If I was trans I would be pretty bloody insulted at this patronising, tokenistic crap to be honest.

"09:59OvaHere

Could he not be bothered to write a new song? It's a bit cheap to make groups of people interchangeable tokens in a decades old song. At least Elton had time constraints as an excuse."

This has proper tickled me 😂

@Thefartingsofaofdenmarkstreet

If I was trans I would be pretty bloody insulted at this patronising, tokenistic crap to be honest.

I agree. If that is the only lyric he’s changed then it’s very tokenistic. I’m all for updating it to fit with the times but this is just something and nothing.

Personally I don’t care that he’s changed it. All the copies everyone has got still exist.

This is sooo cringey on so many levels.

I saw this thread this morning, my husband has tickets for one of his upcoming shows. My husband is gender critical as we have 2 young daughters and that’s essentially what woke him up. He’s selling his ticket.

Blimey!

Sexuality was always a bit of an awkwardly woke band wagon jumping song. And I say that as a fan.
So much of his best work is about being a heterosexual man. All the bitter sweet love songs. Very obviously from a hetero perspective.
Them sexuality with it's implication that he might sleep with a man in the right circumstances.
Obviously unconvincing and cringy, even at the time.

Billy trying to stay relevant. Whilst trying to recycle his old song. So predictable.

And he’s started to look like Steptoe so there’s that..

😂

Oh Billy you woman hating patronising tool, you will put a foot out of line eventually and they will come for you.

I’ve always thought that he was a total arse, turns out that I was right all along.

Just because you're they, I won't turn you away.
If you stick around, I'm sure that we can find the right pronoun.

Dearie me, I've worked with 14 year olds who wrote better "poetry" than that. And other 14-year-olds who regurgitated their PHSE lessons in a similarly clunky manner.

I thought he was. I saw him perform in about 1986 and then I was 99% certain (benefit if the double only because of Kirsty MacColl). Now the missing 1% had slotted into place.

100% twunt. I like to imagine that Kirsty would agree.

Has anyone posted this yet? Epic response here from Cátia Freitas.

Starts here: twitter.com/Mocha_Soul/status/1458929955895660548?s=20

Threadreader here: threadreaderapp.com/thread/1458929955895660548.html

*
You have no idea just how we do, Billy. I'll never believe a fucking word you say about racism when Small Axe - Education has been there for as long as it has to show you and the fucking nation the meaning and difference between separatism and segregation.

Segregation has always been an exercise of power by a dominant population over another one. That's never been black people NOR women.

Separatism is a defense mechanism by populations which are discriminated against AND exploited. That is black people and women. We do it so as to fight racism and misogyny away from interruption AND sabotage.

We do it because in order to be exploited the dominant population (that is white ruling classes and males) cannot get at us as we go about minimising damage to us, providing relief and recovery and organise against both racism and misogyny.

We do it because for all the weasel words you lot use, liberation is a far away dream to us TODAY regardless of well intentioned patronising and harmful shit of the sort you have uttered there and which posits us as oppressors when we did not create the systems which oppress us.

And do take note, Billy man, because when I speak of oppression I'm talking of that which enables the fucking class system of which you have been fortunate to escape even if you were born into it.

We are not so very fortunate. So... in Small Axe -Education you see black people starting schools for black children because institutional fucking racism left children like moi behind which is why though I am right now schooling you I never had the "white privilege" of one.

I stuck inverted commas in that last tweet because I am making a point in this conversation (moi and afropessimism don't get along). Women on the other hand have our spaces too for all sort of shit from moving freely in a society that doesn't care about #MVAWAG to providing...

... each other relief, recovery and as much of a good "restart" of our lives because without it we'd be fucked. And black women, knowing of the additional blight of racism in our lives need ours too.

So... fuck off with that analogy because all you are doing invoking "segregation" to women fighting for our rights, recognition and against violence against us is denying structural misogyny and racism and we are well and truly sick of this shit from white men like you.... sir!
*

But Trans isn't a sexuality

Imo this is a really good demonstration of the ego confidence etc of the woke male.

The original was clunky and irritating. As a load of what seemed to be predominantly gay men pointing out that by 1991 it was a bit late, with the serious difficult dangerous stuff done in the previous couple of decades.

And of course we had in the 80s FGTH, bronski beat, to mention 2 I remember who really challenged. Plus other stuff... He was definitely late to the party with his heavy handed crappy aren't I so great dirge...

And now. Ha!

The new lyric is shite. To sing I mean, aside from the meaning.

And the lyric is awful from the point of view of those he wants to look like supporting... The presumptuousness that he can help trans people work out why they are!!! What pronouns to use... Even though the person apparently has already said they are 'they'.

What was he thinking? So fucking patronising!

Yep classic confident bloke who expects a round of applause for his every utterance.

I bet he's fucked off by the reaction

He's getting lots of kudos and cuddles now.

Out of interest. I've not got a Twitter account. When you look and it says 'see more replies' that seems to be where comments that disagree generally live. Is that where blocked comments go? Meaning that everyone can read them but not the person they're disagreeing with?

I saw the first gig of his current (?) tour, and the atmosphere shifted when he sang Sexuality. I was with a friend I haven't seen for ages, and wasn't sure of her stance on trans issues. We looked at one another awkwardly, simultaneously muttered 'he can fuck right off with that', and burst out laughing at one another.

About half the crowd clapped, but the response wasn't rapturous, and nobody sang along with anything afterwards - not even for the encore. The average age was probably 50 though - it might be different with a younger demographic?

Just because you're they, I won't turn you away.

Isn't this presuming someone's preferred pronouns?

If you stick around, I'm sure that we can find the right pronoun.

We? Implying he has a say in someone else's choice of identity and preferred pronouns? Literal violence.

He's not even catering to the audience he's courting 🙄

Many will still lap it up though. Obviously.

CheeseMmmm on Twitter people can hide comments that they don't like, but it's still possible to view them. So if you tap the dots at the top of a tweet it will tell you if the person has hidden replies, then you can read them.
Some mischievous people like to retweet hidden replies

Oho! Interesting.

It's such a big change isn't it. To before SM etc. That now people with public office or who are lawyers, journalists etc. Or even people who are well known and post/ talk about politics etc.

Feel it's perfectly normal to try to vanish responses to their views on any topic, if they receive criticism.

I suppose when you're someone who attracts a lot of threats etc (eg female politicians esp if not white/ are Jewish Muslim etc / express views that make lots of men feel angry) then it's totally understandable.

So. Tricky.

Do men who get a bollocking esp if on something to with LGBT+ stuff, feel it's ok to hide as the way a woman might well hide a threat of rape?

Maybe this is the origin of the it's hate stuff?

That yet another thing has been taken and used for different situations? And this is why the literal violence/ hate thing has arisen? To justify negative comments (not threatening, insulting etc). Being totally ignored/ removed etc?

That would make a lot of sense. If they have decided that saying anything challenging is akin to comments that contain threats etc then that's yet another shitty thing to add to the list...

Exactly Cheese

@FireFlyBoogaloo
How could anyone not be, with a tagline like "Mutton dressed as Wham"
Love this!
(no derail intended)