The PSD button alone is worth the money I've contributed to RP.

Fucking agony.

 I have already addressed your many troll accusations at me on a few other songs (enjoy), so I will leave that alone here and spare the rest of the members our feud, fun though it may be.

 
 

I have already addressed your many troll accusations at me on a few other songs (enjoy), so I will leave that alone here and spare the rest of the members our feud, fun though it may be.

As to your point.  My god.  Are you serious?  I feel like I am in some alternate universe when I read your comments.  I am not even going to ask you what your solution would be. 

BTW, I would like to take this opportunity to point out the remarkable contributions of two of our finest English imports here in the US.  Both of whom are unfortunately no longer with us (both died last year).  Both are Marxist Socialists who have had a profound influence on my life:  Tony Judt and Christopher Hitchens.  If you could tone it down a bit Fred, and say something constructive on these boards, I am sure we could find something to talk about.  Still, I will never forgive the UK for stealing Henry James from us.  Perfidious Albion indeed!!!!

Nice troll, but this old socialist won't bite. Enough to say that class is an objective reality of capitalist society, not a fantastical subjective construct. That different classes have different cultures is clearly evident, as is certainly the case in the UK of now when we're ruled by a bunch of public schoolboys belonging to the hereditary ruling political and economic class. Mumford and Sons are very much part of that same class, hence the grating and 'dissonance' when they sing songs deriving directly from folk music written by peasants and workers. Horny-handed sons of toil they're not.

Nice troll, but this old socialist won't bite. Enough to say that class is an objective reality of capitalist society, not a fantastical subjective construct. That different classes have different cultures is clearly evident, as is certainly the case in the UK of now when we're ruled by a bunch of public schoolboys belonging to the hereditary ruling political and economic class. Mumford and Sons are very much part of that same class, hence the grating and 'dissonance' when they sing songs deriving directly from folk music written by peasants and workers. Horny-handed sons of toil they're not.

I bought this album based upon hearing this song here.  Love it. 

If you have seen Michael Apted's 7-Up Series, it may surprise you to see just how the notion of class is over-hyped there in the UK as well.  The ones in the series who are supposed to be lower-class, or whatever they call it there, make a mockery of the notion, it's quite hilarious.  Socialists need class conflict as a  raison-d'etre, otherwise, what will they bitch about? 

If you have seen Michael Apted's 7-Up Series, it may surprise you to see just how the notion of class is over-hyped there in the UK as well.  The ones in the series who are supposed to be lower-class, or whatever they call it there, make a mockery of the notion, it's quite hilarious.  Socialists need class conflict as a  raison-d'etre, otherwise, what will they bitch about?  But still, your point is correct I think in that people are snobbier there, though we have plenty of snobs here too in the US. We all know about rich and poor, etc.. I think there are much better ways to address social injustice than trying to raise class consciousness.   An issue oriented approach works better.  Political apathy is the big problem here. 

Keep in mind the rather large differences between the British and North American conceptions of class divisions. In England there's been pretty much constant war of varying heat and intensity between the classes since William the Conqueror did his thing. Crossing class lines is just not done; the boundaries are many hundreds of years old. In America, by contrast, there has been, starting in the early twentieth century a pattern of cultural advancements arising from the African American community and spreading throughout the culture. Blues music didn't derive from the working class (in this, Fred is mistaken) but from the slave class, a class that no longer exists, and that makes a difference.

For you or me in North America, it's pretty much inevitable that cultural "products" will transcend classes, and in the last few decades the cultural transfer seems to be going in both directions (note the obsession with luxury items in hip-hop music as an example). In England, this kind of cultural line-jumping is probably  tantamount to class-war treason.

I don't know if I'm considered "posh".....but I am in a rock/blues band and people seem to have no problem listening to me sing the blues.I've had good times I've had bad times(like everybody else)that gives me the right to sing about the blues......
plus....I don't give a shit what anybody else thinks....I do it because I love it and I think I'm pretty good at it.
Boober.....the "dilettante"

Ooh, now there's a discussion topic that could keep you going for hours or days, even. Ok, strictly speaking, any music can be sung/played by anyone from any class, but in practice musical styles are closely associated with class. Opera is primarily though not exclusively these days, an upper-class activity, at least over here, which is reflected in the eye-watering prices to go to these posh musicals. Folk music, past and modern (such as that put out by Billy Bragg or The Levellers), is very much associated with the working and peasant classes.

The point is that musical styles often represent class experiences. Opera, at least pre-20th Century, reflects the aristocratic and bourgeois milieus in which it originated and is often about court intrigues and courtly love. Folk music comes directly out of the life experiences of lower-class toilers, and reflects it. That's why a bunch of toffs appropriating folk styles really grates on my sensibilities, because they're hardly horny-handed sons of the soil or wage-slaves living hand to mouth in oppressive conditions. It grates in the same way as posh white folk singing the blues, which came out of American working-class experience. Ok, they're free to sing and play whatever they want, and good luck to them, but they'll be effectively dilettantes, singing about experiences that are alien to their own lives.

For all that, Mumford & Sons are very much flavour of the year over this side of the Pond, and I met a young guy the other day at a bus stop who said he'd been to one of their gigs in Nottingham and said that it was brilliant, the dog's bollox, and even said he knew Mumford's mother who, according to him, isn't half as posh as her son. So what do I know?

For all that, Mumford & Sons are very much flavour of the year over this side of the Pond, and I met a young guy the other day at a bus stop who said he'd been to one of their gigs in Nottingham and said that it was brilliant, the dog's bollox, and even said he knew Mumford's mother who, according to him, isn't half as posh as her son. So what do I know?

 Ok, strictly speaking, any music can be sung/played by anyone from any class, but in practice musical styles are closely associated with class.  

My dog abhors a vacuum even more than nature. 

"And you are the mother, the mother of your baby child, the one to whom you gave life". (Er, shome tautology - Ed)

Of all the 'progfolk' bands, this bunch of public school toffs score highest on the irritation scale. There's something plain wrong about a bunch of nobs rehashing folk songs that came out of peasants and workers. I'll take The Decemberists in place of this lot any day.

This sounds like their other song.

I suppose that depends on whose death it is.

amazing for such a young band. marcus mumford is born around 1987....amazing. cannot wait to see what else they will create.

"Death takes your innocence but not your substance....."  Interesting line.  I like this song a lot.

This sounds like their other song.

Holy crap, could have sworn this was Fleet Foxes....