Beau is a seriously underrated songwriter. The music space
is so crowded but this album is something different, listen to the lyrics and
interpret. The album is the complete opposite of modern day dumb down
repetition.
Bonfires of
the Soul: Beau Documents Limits On And Limits Of Free Speech
Christopher
John Trevor Midgley, who goes by Beau in his folk career, is the first musician
I’ve ever met to be pleased by being compared a man shovelling horse faeces. In
the opinion of the critic, Beau albums did not address politics by having a
horse in the race. Instead, he stood behind the horse with a shovel, willing to
deal with what came out. Midgley’s songs address the big ideas behind current
events with a distinctly British wit, dripping in sarcasm, hyperbole, and
wordplay. The points of view he expresses in some songs from the perspective of
a deluded narrator are the opposite of the argument he’s trying to make. The
flaws in those characters’ reasonings are the sharpest critiques Midgley makes.
He’s also bold in conversation, choosing racial slurs as the first topic in our
recent discussion about free speech.
“I tend to be
something of a free speech absolutist,” said Midgley. “I don’t really like
things being put down, either in terms of expression or words or ideas, simply
because they go out of fashion or fashions have changed.”
Midgley, who is
80, has seen words come and go. As a child, he heard those racial slurs as part
of common discourse in the UK, with more sexualised swear words relegated to
the pub only. Many instances of such slurs were considered non-derogatory by
the users, such as describing a colour or even naming a dog, though I doubt it
was well received by people who were sometimes targeted by such language. These
days, racialised language is off limits while impolite words referring to
genitalia show up on television.
“I think any
words, any thoughts, any ideas, should be able to be used in the proper
context. Not necessarily willy-nilly, off the cuff, as every third word, but
where appropriate,” said Midgley, who listed incitements to violence as the one
exception to his absolutism. “I do appreciate all the historical connotations
that go into this, I’m not trying to be controversial, but somebody, somewhere,
would say I should be cancelled,” he said of the fact we were even having this
discussion.
The new Beau
album, “Bonfires of the Soul,” covers free speech and the responsibilities that
come with it in. He celebrates those willing to speak up for the right reasons,
bemoans those looking to censor public conversation, and even illustrates that
unpopular ideas can die a natural death. Instead, he sings about a “Puritan”
movement trying to silence those with “heretical” thoughts, tying past
censorship to present. The title track and the cover of the album reference a
book burning, a dramatic act of censorship with visuals to match.
“Some people
were burning books in Australia. That is an absolute precursor to horror. One
should not burn books because next thing that happens is you start burning
people,” said Midgley. “It is argued in woke circles that words can be violent
in and of themselves. This comes down to an intolerance that says that ‘if you
don’t agree with me, then you have the right to censor or censure what I say.
And if I don’t, then you will rally a whole bunch of people to come piling down
on me to stop me from saying it.’”
“It’s known how
the Bible in several parts/has triggered palpitations in sensitive hearts,” he
sings, describing a text that does indeed include some disturbing scenes but
retains immense value as literature and history, not to mention as a source of
spirituality. The effort to remove classics from the classroom exists in many
ideologies in the United States, with the left and right converging on texts
like “To Kill A Mockingbird” for simultaneously decrying racism while
preserving older racist language. While “Environment Knight of the Puritan
Woke” takes aim at a specific movement, other tracks like “Incident At
Checkpoint One” give little mention to the ideas being silenced. The focus is
on the overreaction to them.
Midgley’s views
on a number of subjects, including DEI and gender identity, are to the right of
mine. But his dislike of the cancel culture associated with the woke era is
less about politics than the cancellation. With two cases of professors pursued
by opposing sides of the debate, Midgley argued cancellation was a disturbing
action. As part of his newsletter that went out after this discussion was
recorded, Midgley referenced the death of Professor Jason Arday, a Cambridge
scholar who probably should have been quietly dismissed for plagiarism.
Instead, Arday, who was black, took his own life after being mocked in the
press for and treated as a symbol of black scholarship only existing due to
inclusion policies. In our interview, Midgley criticised the BBC for
discontinuing their relationship with Professor Robert Winston for stating on
question time that people “can’t change sex.” Winston’s view is hardly
uncommon, and at the cellular level goes beyond being an opinion about social
constructs and becomes hard science.
“Anybody has
the right to disagree with him,” said Beau said of Winston. “They could sit
across the table and disagree. But he shouldn’t have been banned from ever
appearing again simply because of that expression. This is what you get with
polarisation.”
During our
conversation, Midgley apologised for repeatedly returning to the topic of
social media. He shouldn’t have. When it comes to free expression and
censorship, few places are as fraught with issues as social media. Around the
world, governments have banned these networks for spreading ideas they dislike.
Liberal democracies have begun putting age restrictions on their use, citing
addictive features and hidden dangers. Algorithms have not only separated
society into very different spheres based on their politics, but also made all
ends of the spectrum more extreme. And the heads of these companies are,
to put it mildly, irresponsible and widely distrusted.
“People get
into their echo chambers and everything becomes so darn polarised,” said
Midgley. “One group will think that they are right, and that the other group is
evil. And when you’ve got evil, of course you’ve got the right to shut it
down.”
Regulation
seems pointless to Midgley, who argued that tech companies will consistently
find ways to skirt the law. They are of course in the process of trying to
skirt many as I type.
“This genie
cannot be put back into the bottle,” said Midgley. “What we should be doing is
educating children how to use social media responsibly. Banning bothers me.”
Other tracks on
the album explore interesting facets of free speech, though rather indirectly.
“Ain’t That The Truth” jokes that a ridiculous karaoke performance may please
some, but it will land with a thud at a funeral. In other words, there’s a time
and place for everything. “The March Of Time” captures an old fashioned band
playing to a mostly empty crowd, perhaps suggesting ideas that are falling out
of fashion may not be as dangerous as censors would like to think.
“Enlightenment Song,” Midgley’s one direct shot at politicians, complains that
we live in an age that focuses on appearance and performance rather than
substance. And “Lady Chatterly’s Brother” finds a serious writer gain a new
audience after switching to a career in erotica, though his description of the
work as easy and attracting attention makes it sound less than intellectually
fulfilling.
The one track I
couldn’t quite get behind was “My Truth.” It’s a track that Midgley says was
inspired by Meghan Markle presenting her story as her truth in an interview
with Oprah. The narrator, also a singer, complains about not having obtained
the fame of the Beatles and theorises it is simply discrimination against his
regional accent. If that sounds ridiculous, it’s because it was meant to.
“That might be
my truth as I see it, but it is not the truth. It’s simply a perspective,” said
Midgley. “The great difficulty in giving too much credibility to my truth is
that it gets in the way of what the truth might be.”
Royal tabloid
drama aside, I feel most conflict is too complicated to invest full authority
in any one account. People should be encouraged to share their truth, just so
long as they’re able to hear and consider those of others. I recognise lacking
the full picture in even conflicts I’m involved in, let alone those of people I
only know through the press. As stated earlier, it’s best to hear the
arguments. It’s also helpful to acknowledge that most times stories come out a
bit differently, it’s misunderstanding and faulty assumptions rather than
malice.
On Bonfires,
Midgley deals more often with social cancellation, and more often makes points
through humour or sarcasm. The tone changes when governments get involved: “The
guardians know where to take it from there,” he sings ominously on the title
track. Even on more serious songs, villains and tragedy capture the most
attention. “Motherland” ditches both those patterns and admires a free speech
hero in Marina Ovsyannikova, a Russian state news producer who held up a poster
warning the public that lies were being spread regarding the ‘special military
operation’ in Ukraine. It frames her act of law breaking as a patriotic
service, describing Putin’s regime as “the cold dead hand around the heart of
the motherland.”
“I tend to talk
about principles. In this particular case, I did talk about the specific
because she was so unique in being willing to put her health or life on the
line,” said Midgley “I really thought that she would be eliminated one way or
another. Incredibly brave, incredibly principled. The guts it takes. I’m glad
that she’s still alive. I very much doubt that she’s in a particularly senior
position of any kind, but so many others did not [survive]”
Realities like
that give Midgley reason to believe in the core principles of liberal
democracies.
“This is why
it’s so important that people are not crushed,” said Midgley of the disastrous
results of dictatorships around the world. “I think it’s absolutely vital that
the media maintains genuine independence.”
In a polarised
world, Midgley is difficult to categorise. He calls himself apolitical and
takes pride in informing canvassers that no one can count on his vote.
“I want real
people to tell me what they intend to do and I’ll make up my mind,” he said,
revealing he’s voted for many different parties in the past. Perhaps the best
look at his opinionated yet libertarian nature was our discussion on the topic
of DEI measures in the work place. He said he’d take the best people on basis
of merit, be they black or white, male or female, gay or straight, native born
or immigrant.
“I loathe DEI.
I think it is demeaning to the people who are discriminated in favour of;
there’s always going to be the inference that you are there because of what you
are, not because of what you do,” said Midgley, who nevertheless indicated he
would not follow in the footsteps of recent United States policy: “If a company
wished to pursue that line, I would say allow them to do it. It is their right
to choose how they go. I would say that they would fail because they’d never
have the best people based on ability. The principles that emanate from freedom
are the ones we should best follow.”
Above is the
full episode as aired on WUSB’s Country Pocket, including both my interview
with Beau and the songs we discussed, starting with “Bonfires of the Soul,”
which treats a book burning as a warning sign of deeper intolerance. The
interview begins with the second video in the playlist. You can hear the show
live alternate Wednesdays at 8am on WUSB 90.1 FM or check the blog to watch it
as a YouTube playlist.
A bit of Beau news
I hope you’ll find interesting… A couple of
weeks back, I had a long conversation with US interviewer Trevor Christian.
This was based around the latest “Bonfires Of The Soul”album, and
majored particularly around my views on free speech. The full
interview, with song examples, was subsequently broadcast on Trevor’s
fortnightly radio show, Country Pocket, on station WUSB out of Long Island, NY. I’m pleased
to say the video version of our chat (minus the song bits) has now been
published in full on YouTube. It’s quite long,
people – fifty-two minutes in total! – and is in two parts. Part One is
thirty minutes, with Part Two running out at twenty-two. It’s a quite
sprightly listen, so do feel free to dip in when and if you have time. We talk
about cancel culture, the influence of social media and – particularly
prescient in that this was recorded before the unfortunate happenings around
Jason Arday – DEI. Any and all
feedback appreciated, and of course many thanks to Trevor Christian for making
it happen! Enjoy!
Many thanks to Stuart
Green for playing the title track from the “Bonfires Of The Soul” album on The
Folk Club this evening. A great varied show, I have to say!
The Folk Club
is a syndicated programme, so if you missed it this evening, the whole show’s
repeated on Folk Friday Radio this Sunday at 2pm, on the U.S. Folk Music Notebook on Thursday at 10pm ET/9pm CT/7pmPT (on Friday at 3am & 11am UK)
and on West Norfolk Radio at 7pm on Saturday.
Finally, it
will shortly be up online at Mixcloud. Do not miss – this really was worth 90
minutes of your time!
Word
on the grapevine is Stuart Green will be playing a track from the new “Bonfires Of The Soul” this evening on The Folk Show, his widely-syndicated, long-established
programme.
Grateful thanks
to Mike Davies for taking a second bite at the cherry that is the new Beau “Bonfires Of The Soul” album!
Last week he played “The Glass We Knew” on his Alternative
Roots show for Brum Radio; this week, it’s the rather more comedic “Lady
Chatterley’s Brother”.
Please do check it out – it’s a great showcase of a
programme, and it’s already up there on Mixcloud (“Lady C’s Brother” starts
around the seventeen-minute mark)…
Many thanks
again to Chris McGranaghan for playing Beau on his “Influences” programme last
night on Lionheart Radio – two tracks, actually; “Creation” from the original
eponymous Dandelion album, and “Environment Knight Of The Puritan Woke” from
the new “Bonfires Of The Soul”!
And Chris, I agree; “Environment Knight…” is something
of an ear-worm! 😊
Many thanks to
Chris McGranaghan for playing “Environment Knight Of The Puritan Woke” on his “Songs
about the Great Outdoors” show for Lionheart Radio yesterday afternoon.
And word is,
there might be an additional little something from the new “Bonfires Of The Soul” album on his “Influences” show, live on Lionheart Radio from 8pm this
evening!
Despite being
cruelly misgendered not as a “folk” album but as “rock”, “Bonfires Of The Soul” is continuing its inexorable rise up the Amazon rock
chart! Battling gamely
against the permanent presence of The Beatles, Queen, Genesis, Dire Straits et
al, it’s not doing badly at all! From all the
comments and reviews I’ve been getting, this new album seems to be going down
particularly well. Many thanks again to those who’ve taken – or are thinking of
taking! – the plunge! Go for it!
Sincere thanks
to Mike Davies for playing “The Glass We Knew” from the new “Bonfires Of The Soul” album on his Alternative Roots show for Brum Radio this morning. The programme’s already up on Mixcloud, so do
check it out! (Mike’s intro to “The Glass We Knew” begins around the 36.10 mark.)
“Bonfires Of The Soul” has sadly been miscategorised
as “Rock” rather than “Folk” at Amazon, and is therefore up against the likes The
Beatles, Wings, Queen, Genesis and Dire Straits!
Anyway, it’s currently riding
at #33 – not bad, when you consider the opposition!
For those very few
who aren’t regular listeners to Mr Paisley’s “Under A Paisley Sky” show on
rppfm radio from Australia – there can’t be many of you, but bear with me! – Mr
P played three Beau tracks yesterday – the 7th May – including two from the new “Bonfires…”
set. He’s kindly emailed me a catch-up link.
The Beau section
starts at 46:18 (“1917 Revolution” then the title track, “Bonfires Of
The Soul” back-to-back, with “Environment Knight Of The Puritan Woke”
three or four tracks further along). There’s some really generous commentary at
the end as well, for which I’m most grateful to Mr P.
It’s particularly
interesting to hear the latest offering immediately contrasted against my first
Dandelion track from 1969. I think it really stands up well. Quite pleasing,
actually! Let me know what you think.
