Amerika

More James Brown today - a result of finally starting Dorian Lynskey's book about the history of protest songs, '33 Revolutions Per Minute', I think (I'd been putting it off for a bit as it's such a cumbersome, breeze-blocky monster of a thing...) You have to be careful listening on the bus to avoid throwing involuntary 'shapes' and shouting "say it LOUD!" Apparently, JB was always too interested in the bottom line to fully embrace a trendy Black Power stance in the late sixties/early seventies (they broadcast the show he did in Boston the day after Martin Luther King was killed in Memphis live on TV to try and calm local emotion and head off a potential riot, but Brown was worried that people wouldn't show up and pay if they could watch at home for free so he made sure he got his cash from the promoter upfront in the car on the way to the gig!) but you can't really argue with a line like "we'd rather die on our feet than live on our knees" - pretty powerful stuff (and, of course, damn funky!)