In the 1930s, classical musicians and students at the height of their powers were writing this kind of material. Since then, there has been a real division, with classicists keeping to themselves not touching politics and protest songs limited to three-chord wonders.
If people shed a tear at any time during any performance that I do, it shouldn't be because they see me shedding a tear rather the things I am saying make them shed a tear.
Quite often, if people don't want to listen to the message they will say 'Oh, but it's so musically inferior', but when you have songs that are musically sophisticated, with enormous heart and expertise and a message, that's when its hard to resist. It's great to see people of exceptional musical talent, like Paul and the musicians he works with, contributing to songs like these.
A guy at the National Museums Conference in Sydney recently said that cultural institutions were the place where we could start to reclaim democracy When 85 per cent of the polls were against going to war in Iraq, democracy isn't working.
Picture Quotes to Inspire and Delight