Equus: Barry Brown - Politition (2 January 1993)

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Politition* is a surprising track.  It brings something not generally seen in songs about politicians, namely a sense of even-handedness. For while Barry Brown is perfectly happy to acknowledge that there are representatives playing God and living in swanky houses, while the people whose lives are affected by their decisions live  in poverty, he also mentions the larger political class who hold the title of politician but are utterly unable to do anything to stop people from being murdered or looting from taking place.  If crime springs from an inability to create an environment in which people can genuinely thrive and survive, then it speaks of an ongoing failure among politicians to enact widespread, positive actions for their community.  And as Brown mentions, the tragedy of Caribbean politics is that any political figure who does bring the promise of change and who threatens interests that they are not supposed to either winds up bought or dead.

Brown’s song touches on both those who have their nose in the trough - who are envied and despised -  those who hold no power to go with their title - who cannot make a difference and are destined to be forgotten once they are voted out - those who are perceived as a threat and who must be snuffed out by any means necessary.  And so the people end up with a political chamber full of the corrupt,  the inert and the cowed. While it doesn’t break any new ground to sing about politicians being useless, this does at least acknowledge that there are some who find their powerlessness a sense of great frustration rather than simply an opportunity for a cushy payday. It reminds me of a passage in the acknowledgements section of Jeremy Paxman’s 2002 book, The Political Animal in which he cites an unnamed UK MP who was so depressed about what he was doing and failing to do, that he couldn’t bring himself to talk to Paxman about his job.

This nearly didn’t make the cut. The track was produced by Bunny Lee who plasters everything in dub, almost to the extent of erasing Brown from his own recording, but he clung on and a thoughtful sleeper track was the result.

*Subsequent pressings gave the title with the Anglo spelling, but the original 7-inch on Lee’s Jackpot label carried the patois spelling, and as that was the disc which Peel played on this show, that’s the spelling we’ll go with here.

Video courtesy of Reggae2Reggae.