Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery
I've been playing a lot of Billy Bragg recently and have been reminded on Mr. Bragg's "borrowing" of lines from other songs and tweaking of them.
There is the wholesale steal of "I was twenty one years when I wrote this song" from "Leaves that are green" by Simon & Garfunkel and used in his own "A New England", the slight change in the lyrics "dedicated swallower of fascism" from "Accident Waiting to happen" which is changed from "dedicated follower of fashion" by The Kinks and "freedom's just another word for nothing left to sell" from Bragg's "Marching song of the covert batallians" cribbed from "freedoms just another word for nothing left to lose" from Kris Kristofferson's Me & Bobby McGee.
Any more for any more?
- More from Steve Hill.
- Login or register to post comments








"What do they know of England...." The Few"
Rudyard Kipling, "The English Flag"
Winds of the World, give answer! They are whimpering to and fro -
And what should they know of England who only England know? --
Rather liked
"War, what is it good for?
Its good for business"
Can't remember the song though.