We did an episode right at the start of things called Politics and Protest which is a cousin to this excursion. Here though we’re taking a closer look at the layers that exist in society which separate ius from each other. Where do they come from?
In England there’s a very specific answer. The class system. Older readers might well remember (or their parents will have reminded them, frequently) of John Cleese, Ronnie Barker and Ronnie Corbett in the class sketch from the ‘60s. Cleese is upper class and looks down on Barker and Corbett. Barker is middle class and looks up to Cleese but down on Corbett. All Corbett, representative of the lower classes, has to say is “I know my place”.
Everyone in England is acutely attuned from birth to their place in the social pecking order. It started with the Norman Conquest in 1066. A new elite arrived, expelled the Anglo-Saxon ruling class and gave all the top jobs to their cronies. And the land too. The easiest way to understand the consequences is to consider the effect it has on the language we still use.
When an animal is alive, it’s looked after by the peasant farmer. They’re the Anglo-Saxons and use Anglo-Saxon words for their animals: pig, cow, sheep. But it’s cold out in the fields and the cushy jobs are for those who aren’t mucking out farm animals. So when the animal is dead, it’s called by the names the Franco-Normans used for their animals because they’re the ones in the warm kitchens: pork, beef, mutton.
England has never been successfully invaded since 1066 so the class system has become entrenched. Three quarters of the land (I am plucking a number slightly out of the air here) is still owned by descendants of William the Conqueror’s cronies.
It was quite refreshing to arrive in Australia to discover that, sure, there are nuances and class distinctions, inequality and a petit bourgeoisie, but that your accent wouldn’t consign you to “know your place”. Whatever the shortcomings of the systems in place in Australia and, dare I say it, the USA, there is still the belief that a man or woman can come from nothing and be prime minister or president. In England, that’s less likely now than at any stage in the past. While a pauper in practice never becomes US president, in Australia there’ve been two prime ministers who’ve grown up poor this century. One of them had to sleep in a car when he was young (not when he was prime minister though).
So here are some songs about class and inequality. (There are some obvious ones I’ve omitted – there’s one by Pulp you’ll be very familiar with – because of over familiarity, however excellent the song.) We can’t change it, but we can sing about it.
Tracklist:
Here’s the thing, Sports Team
Eton Rifles, The Jam
Di black petty booshwah, Linton Kwesi Johnson
End result, Jeffrey Lewis
We are all bourgeois now, McCarthy
Kill the poor, The Dead Kennedies
Kidnapping an heiress, Black Box Recorder
Racing like a pro, The National
Singer songwriter, Okkervil River
The lady came from Baltimore, Scott Walker
Mysterex, Scavengers
Modern yuppies, Home Counties
Not great men, The Gang of Four
Armagideon time, Willie Williams
Mis-shapes, Pulp