O Freedom, What Liberties Are Taken in Thy Name?

The young Billy Bragg enchanting an audience.

Protest Songs for the Current Crisis, Part 2

I feel like I grew up and old, politically and musically, with Billy Bragg. He's a bit younger than I am, but we both grew up listening to the same music, and influenced by the same singers and songwriters. Bragg took his inspiration and became a songwriter himself.

I discovered his music on a trip to England in 1984, when riding in the backseat of a Vauxhall to Lancashire, I heard John Peel play Billy's latest release This Guitar Says Sorry. I was hooked. That crunchy, punky, Bo Diddleyesque solo guitar and that unmistakeable growl of an imperfect voice. It's what I always loved about music since being enamored by Bob Dylan as a teen. Soul and honesty.

Since then, I've listened avidly, and seen him perform dozens of times, as he's released an unparalleled and unapologetic set of albums that mix politics, poetry, love and social obligation. If you've seen him live, you know he talks as good as he plays and sings.

O Freedom

O Freedom may not be my favorite Bragg song of conscience (we'll get to that in a later post), but it's surely one of the most relevant, and sadly prescient songs he's written.

Released on his album, self-deprecatingly entitled Mr. Love and Justice, in 2008, the song talks with some deserved horror about the things we're facing today.

The policemen broke my door down

Dragged me from my bed

I asked them what was happening

They just ignored the words I said

They waved their guns in my face

Kept screaming out my name

Something terrible had happened

And somehow I was to blame

O freedom, what liberties are taken in thy name

In thy name

O freedom, what liberties are taken

What liberties are taken

What liberties are taken in thy name

My accusers formed a jury

The judge and the defense

The charges were made known to me

But not the evidence

There was no guilty verdict

Yet, still I was detained

Flown to another country where

Their methods are less constrained

O freedom, what liberties are taken in thy name

In thy name

O freedom, what liberties are taken

What liberties are taken

What liberties are taken in thy name

In our determination

To defend democracy

We must not destroy the safeguards

That underpin our liberty

For who will pay the price if

Injustice such as this

Turns our protectors to oppressors

And angry men to terrorists?

O freedom, what liberties are taken in thy name

In thy name

O freedom, what liberties are taken

What liberties are taken

What liberties are taken in thy name

And if you think Bragg is nothing more than an entertainer with a topical bent, consider the fact that he's an author on musical, political and social topics, and is often called upon by the British press for commentary about the challenging issues of the day.