The above is a song I wrote some years ago now. It is about 58 Chinese immigrants who died trying to get into Britain smuggled inside a truck, back in the year 2000. A news article on this, from a year after, can be found here.
Noah’s Party
September 18, 2009 · 2 Comments
Categories: Songs
Tagged: song, songwriting, Noah's Party, China, immigrant, asylum seeker, illegal immigrant, Britain, UK, immigration policy, 2000
2 responses so far ↓
Aaron Fleming // September 27, 2009 at 12:08 pm |
Ben Bragg sings a lament to the fallen. I like it. Do tell me when the comeback tour is to commence, old chap. Music’s a great way to explore topical subjects, it can add an evocative additional layer of meaning in the progression of chords and shift of intervals. I suppose music in some of its more primordial forms functioned as a way of dramatising events (in a large way, in a defining way). The spread of news aids tribal cohesion, the sort of togetherness necessary to ward off predators and defend against geological threats. I’m thinking mainly of song to celebrate a successful hunt or whatever. Not that that’s disappeared from western music, as witnessed in a folk tradition that’s still present today, or the kind of rap that Public Enemy propagates. Not sure if I began with a point in mind. If so, it’s certainly vanished. Aw well.
Ben // October 1, 2009 at 11:54 pm |
Not sure if there’ll be a comeback gig for a bit, but glad you liked this song. I do intend to get around to writing more songs tho, at some point… Yes, I tend to think a good song has to be able to appeal to a broad audience, while retaining intelligent ideas. It should have one simple point and express it in a way that can be understood, that gets the point across. (Tho I’m quite keen on questions of form and structure all the same..)