Billy Bragg - Take down the Union Jack - music reference
Lyrics
Take down the Union Jack
It clashes with the sunset
And put it in the attic with the emperors old clothes
When did it fall apart?
Sometime in the eighties
When the great and the good gave way
To the greedy and the mean
It clashes with the sunset
And put it in the attic with the emperors old clothes
When did it fall apart?
Sometime in the eighties
When the great and the good gave way
To the greedy and the mean
Britain isn't cool, you know
It's really not that great
It's not a proper country
It doesn't even have a patron saint
It's just an economic union
That's past its sell-by date
It's really not that great
It's not a proper country
It doesn't even have a patron saint
It's just an economic union
That's past its sell-by date
Take down the Union Jack
It clashes with the sunset
And ask our Scottish neighbours
If independence looks any good
'Cause they just might understand
How to take an abstract notion of personal identity
And turn it into nationhood
It clashes with the sunset
And ask our Scottish neighbours
If independence looks any good
'Cause they just might understand
How to take an abstract notion of personal identity
And turn it into nationhood
Is this the 19th Century
That I'm watching on TV
The dear old queen of England
Handing out those MBEs
Member of the British Empire
That doesn't sound too good to me
Gilbert and George are taking the piss aren't they
Gilbert and George are taking the piss
What could be more British than is a picture of me bum
Gilbert and George are taking the piss
That I'm watching on TV
The dear old queen of England
Handing out those MBEs
Member of the British Empire
That doesn't sound too good to me
Gilbert and George are taking the piss aren't they
Gilbert and George are taking the piss
What could be more British than is a picture of me bum
Gilbert and George are taking the piss
Take down the Union Jack
It clashes with the sunset
And pile up all those history books but don't throw them away
They just might have some clues about what it really means
To be an Anglo hyphen Saxon in England dot Co dot you-K
To be an Anglo hyphen Saxon in England dot Co dot you-K
It clashes with the sunset
And pile up all those history books but don't throw them away
They just might have some clues about what it really means
To be an Anglo hyphen Saxon in England dot Co dot you-K
To be an Anglo hyphen Saxon in England dot Co dot you-K
Songwriters: Stephen William Bragg
Take Down the Union Jack lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
The song was released in 2002, and is a comment on the uk being divided. At the forefront of the song the union jack being the main focus and the fact that it is having a negative impact on the the country as a hole.
Bragg is a very evocative with his words and paints a picture of the uk, and the damage that the government has done, and shows that damage that is going on. He raise political questions - 'And ask our Scottish neighbours - If independence looks any good'.
I personally think that this song is very relevant to the work I am doing at the moment with Brexit, and maybe also relevant to a-lot of people that are voting leave, as this song shows a-lot of emotion and disappointment with the country and where it is going in the near future .
