I was walking along the street the other day and I met a chap that I had not seen in a while longer than an NHS waiting list. As one does when courtesy is central to one’s very being, I asked him how it was going. He replied he was “living the dream”. If he, like everyone, is living the dream then there should surely be no need for any sort of protest songs. Anyway, what would a protest song of today sound like? Perhaps something like the twelve songs that comprise “The Sun Never Sets” by Elgin and The Marbles?
This is indeed likely. Billy Bragg has a bus pass these days so any troubadour of today would need to employ some stealth in their mission to get their message of meaning across. Elgin and The Marbles – led by the very vocal Callum Baird – do just that on “The Sun Never Sets”. Getting old, Boris Johnston, Elvis and even Mrs T. find their home in the many and myriad streets housing this band’s words but all that is here, quite cleverly, gets wrapped in the kind of upbeat musical accompaniment that will prove more than endearing to the four percent lager drinking attendees of the all-important festival circuit.
Perhaps it is true that the daily pleasantries are the cross of conventionality and conformity that we choose to bear and, if that is indeed true, we should all be grateful for bands like Elgin and The Marbles who choose to speak out even if they do so softly. With that said, there is depth to be found in the lyrics and it never does anybody any harm to put some heart into a song or twelve and, while the times might not actually be changing, at least someone with a song in their heart still has their finger on the pulse.