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1. When Billy Bragg was born in 1957, Essex was yet to become part of Greater London. Which Essex district was Billy born in? (Some would say the name is an apt description.)
2. Billy Bragg is best known as a political singer. One of his many anthems is "Waiting for the Great Leap Forward", from his 1988 album "Workers' Playtime". According to the lyric, "The revolution is just a..."?
3. Billy Bragg is not just a lefty stirrer, he's an old-style romantic full of wistful idealism. One of his many beautiful love songs gives us the line "Between Marx and marzipan in the dictionary there was..." who or what?
4. According to Andrew Collins, author of "Still Suitable for Miners: The Official Biography of Billy Bragg", Bragg's songs come up well in Japanese. What does the song title "The Milkman of Human Kindness" translate as?
5. On his mini-album "The Internationale" (1990), Billy Bragg presents some classic Socialist songs, as well some originals. One of the latter is a dreamy tribute to which American folk/protest singer of the 1960s?
6. In 1995, Woody Guthrie's daughter approached Billy Bragg to write tunes to some of her father's vast collection of "lost songs" - lyrics Guthrie had written but never formally set to music. The results were Bragg's 1998 album "Mermaid Avenue", a live album in 1999, and "Mermaid Avenue II" in 2000. One of the Guthrie/Bragg songs is a fantasy about which Hollywood legend?
7. A song called "Levi Stubbs' Tears" appears on Billy Bragg's 1986 album "Talking With the Taxman About Poetry". Who is (or was) Levi Stubbs?
8. "When Will I See You Again?" is one of Billy Bragg's more amusing covers. Who had a hit with this bouncy little piece of flummery in 1974?
9. The 19-year-old Billy Bragg started a punk band in 1977. The band released a semi-successful string of 7" singles (remember them?), but split up in 1981. What was the name of this band?
10. One of Billy Bragg's best known songs is "A New England", from his 1983 album "Life's A Riot". The first lines to the song might sound oddly familiar to some:
I was twenty one years when I wrote this song
I'm twenty two now, but I won't be for long.
A song with the same two opening lines appears on Simon & Garfunkel's "Sounds of Silence" album (1966). Which Paul Simon song begins with these lines?
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