https://vimeo.com/19081595
For some reason Good Morning Britain by Aztec Camera and Mick Jones popped into my head recently…partly cos I associate it with Hello by the Beloved (chartmates?) but I never really paid much attention to the lyrics, not really being an Aztec Camera fan. Well relistening over 20 years later intrigued to find this earworm bane of breakfast shows everywhere seems to be actually a scathing attack on Maggie and ’10 Long Years’ of Tory rule, the state of the Union (Jock, Taffy, Paddy etc) and racism and homophobia ….a good time to reflect on that I think.
‘Music’s food ’til the art-biz folds
Let them all eat culture.’
That could be a rallying cry over the cuts. But then the chorus has the wake uplift of ‘The past is steeped in shame, But tomorrow’s fair game, For a life that’s fit for living, Good morning Britain.’ – this duality of Britain – the empire past vs the future and problems of being ‘proud’ as a nation with those contradictions has figured in many artist’s work from William Blake to PJ Harvey. Certainly the lines ‘A uniform’s a traitor. Love is international’ are suprisingly radical for a band I associate mostly with fluffy pop.
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