FR/VE 1. May 2026 EUGENE CHADBOURNESpecial May Day Concert - Konzert zum 1. Mai - Concert spécial 1er mai - Internationaler Tag der Arbeit / Fête du travail - International Workers' Day
"EUGENE CHADBOURNE AND THE ORIGINAL COUNTRY PROTEST
In the late '90s I had the wonderful opportunity to take part in an event at the Winnipeg Folk Festival in Canada entitled Never Back Down. Onstage with me were Ronnie Gilbert of the Weavers, who reported to Pete Seeger that I had some good anti-war songs. A few months later Seeger sent me a postcard asking to hear some of them. Nothing ever came of this, by the way. I met Seeger at a banjo workshop event outside of Nashville some years later and he did not remember who I was. When I reminded him, he got excited and gave me a manuscript he was working on about songwriting. A few days later I returned it with some comments and he couldn't remember giving it to me. "That's a relief, " he said. "I thought I had lost it." After this I stopped feeling bad about his not remembering the songs I sent him, he basically seemed to be losing his memory.
As great as it was to meet Ronnie Gilbert, it was another performer on the Winnipeg stage that really made an impression on me: the one and only Utah Phillips.
The International Workers of the World song book, often called "the Little Red Book", is one of the finest collections of labor songs ever published. Its reputation is much greater than its size, its petite format is the reason I keep losing my copies. Phillips is the only songwriter who has his work in this book--the eloquent ballad entitled All Used Up--whom I have been onstage with.
During an intro to one of his songs he made a provocative statement: "The title of this workshop is all wrong! Never Back Down? Not backing down can really be stupid. Plenty of times, folks should back down."
He went on to list historical events where people should have "backed the fuck down", including the Cuban Missile Crisis.
In our present era when it can seem like Not Backing Down may represent our last hope for freedom, Phillips' remarks underscore the complexity of labor politics and the confusion that can surround the frequent reliance on slogans in politics: Never Back Down! No Kings! Defund the Police! Blue Lives Matter! Black Lives Matter! Thank You Jesus! Etc!
I was inspired to become a troubadour from watching Phil Ochs in concert when I was a teenager. He was a masterful protest song writer who used both humor and sentimentality brilliantly. Perhaps he was the greatest craftsman of protest songs to emerge from the vibrant '60s, yet it would be a mistake to think that protest songs, especially songs about the plights of labor, are something distinctive to that era. To me--and this is only in reference to the English-speaking music scene that is my milieu--country and western and the oldtime music it grew out of--is rich with musical complaints about bosses in all kinds of situations. My program will include many of favorites, touching for sure upon Merle Haggard who minted such fabulous lyrics as "It's real hard getting by with five kids and a wife," not to mention the 1-2 punch of If We Make It Through December: "Lost my job down at the factory/And their timing isn't the greatest in the world."
Will there be protest songs about my job? In the film The Wild One the biker Marlon Brando famously answers the question "What are you protesting?" with "What have you got?" I'm not sure there is anything for me to bring up. I keep thinking about the country music icon, Ernest Tubb, when asked if it was hard for him to play Waltz Across Texas, Walking the Floor Over You and his other hits night after night for more than half a century. He said "Never! When I play these songs, it reminds me I don't have to work on a farm." Enough said."
Einlass 20:00
Konzert 21:00
Prix libre / chapeau à l'entrée
Places assises / debout - Steh- und Sitzplätze gemischt
Réservations places assises au bar / Sitzplatz-Reservationen möglich an der Bar
Event Venue
Bahnhofplatz 5, 2502 Biel/Bienne, Switzerland, Bahnhofplatz 5, 2502 Biel/Bienne Bern, Schweiz, Biel, Switzerland
Tickets
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