Line #85 Music/EricBogle


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/eric_bogle_webtile.jpg]]
2
3	Eric Bogle is a folk singer-songwriter. He was born in Peebles, Scotland in 1944 and emigrated to Australia in 1969. He currently resides near Adelaide, South Australia.
4
5	Bogle's songs cover a wide range of subjects and themes, including comedic songs (e.g. "The Aussie Bar-B-Q"), satires (e.g. "I Hate Wogs"), protest songs and serious songs about the human condition such as "Now I'm Easy". His most famous songs are "And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda", written in 1971, which tells of the ANZAC experience fighting in the Battle of Gallipoli, and "No Man's Land", which is also World War I-themed. "No Man's Land" is commonly known as "The Green Fields of France", a title it was first given by The Fureys, and which has subsequently been used in many further cover versions.
6
7	Many of Bogle's songs have been covered by other artists; including John Schumann, June Tabor, The Men They Couldn't Hang, The Clancy Brothers, Music/TheDubliners, John [=McDermott=], Liam Clancy, Creator/MikeHarding, Music/ThePogues, Robert Lawrence, De Dannan, Dropkick Murphys, The Corries, Music/BillyBragg, The Bushwackers, Slim Dusty and John Williamson.
8	----
9	!!Tropes used in Eric Bogle's work include:
10
11	* TheAllegedCar: The kombi van in "Eric and the Informers"
12	* AntiChristmasSong: "Santa Bloody Claus"
13	* AnArmAndALeg: In "And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda", the narrator loses his legs in UsefulNotes/WorldWarI.
14	-->For I'll go no more waltzing Matilda,\
15	All around the green bush far and free\
16	To hump tents and pegs, a man needs both legs\
17	No more waltzing Matilda for me.
18	* BerserkButton: "Do You Sing Any Dylan?"
19	* CrapsackOnlyByComparison: "Beam Me Up, Scotty" declares "I'm stuck here in a place I do not care for" and "There must be intelligent life out there, I hope so, there's not much down here."
20	* DearNegativeReader: "Bloody Rotten Audience" is presented as an InUniverse one of these by an embittered folk singer who's failed to win over the titular crowd, listing the different ways in which he's brilliant and how stupid the audience must be not to appreciate him. Performed live, this is both a SugarWiki/{{Funny Moment\|s}} and SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic.
21	* DepartmentOfChildDisservices: "Daniel Smiling"
22	* EmbarrassingNickname: According to "Introduction Song", the members of the band's nicknames are 'Wee Short-Arse' (Eric), 'Garbage Guts' (Brent) and 'Old Dogs Balls' (Andy).
23	* FateWorseThanDeath: In "And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda", the narrator regards losing his leg as this.
24	-->Then a big Turkish shell knocked me arse over head,\
25	And when I woke up in my hospital bed,\
26	And saw what it had done, well I wished I was dead.\
27	Never knew there was worse things than dyin'.
28	* FoodSongsAreFunny: "Aussie Bar-B-Q" and "Great Aussie Take-Away"
29	* FreudianSlip: "Nobody's Moggie Now" contains the lyric "Decapitating tweety birds, and masticating mice". On one live recording, Eric sings "masturbating" instead of "masticating". It takes more than a minute before the band and the audience are ready for the song to continue.
30	* FriendlyAddressPrivileges: Bogle traditionally introduces himself in song at the start of a concert. One of the introduction songs goes:
31	-->My name is Eric, some folk call me Eck,
32	-->Call me Ricky and I'll break your neck,
33	-->If you're feeling formal, Mr Bogle will do,
34	-->But to my friends it's Eric, and I hope that means you.
35	* GratuitousFrench / GratuitousGerman: "Flying Finger Filler"
36	* HaveAGayOldTime: In "Silly Slang Song", the singer complains about how once innocent slang terms changed their meaning:
37	-->Do you remember the day that if you said that you were gay,
38	-->It meant with joy that you could sing and shout,
39	-->A fairy was enchanting and dressing up and camping,
40	-->Was something you did with the scouts.
41	-->That carefree age when an urgent case of aids,
42	-->Was powdered milk we sent to the Sahara,
43	-->A fruit was something nice to eat, a poof was something for your feet,
44	-->And a queen was an old tart in a tiara.
45	* HeavyMeta:
46	** "Do You Sing Any Dylan?", about the request a singer-songwriter ''doesn't'' want to hear.
47	** "Plastic Paddy" about mock-Irish folk songs, done in the style of a mock-Irish folk song.
48	* HorribleHistoryMetal: Eric's most famous song "...And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda" is about the Gallipoli campaign in UsefulNotes/WorldWarI. A number of his other songs are also about specific historic events: most often in one of the World Wars.
49	* HotSkittyOnWailordAction: Fatally averted in "Little Gomez", in which the randy Chihuahua's St. Bernard paramour got bored (and sat down) just a bit too soon. He did however bag two poodles and a Labrador, and made an attempt on a wombat.
50	* HypocriticalHumour: The main joke of "I Hate Wogs", highlighting what a dumb clueless redneck the singer is. He complains that migrants "can't speak proper English"[[note]]that should be "can't speak ''English properly"''[[/note]] and about their cuisine, asking why can't they just eat "Good Australian food", providing examples of "Good healthy stuff like [[NutritionalNightmare pie and sauce and chips and Chicko rolls]]". He refuses to eat at the Greek-owned chip shop because he "couldn't touch wog meat", instead preferring to [[ComicallyMissingThePoint go to the Chinese cafe across the road]]. He also complains about "lazy migrant bastards" he sees standing in the queue with him while he's waiting to pick up his dole cheque.
51	* IHateSong: "I Hate Wogs" is a satirical song about racism. He stopped performing it after it attracted a MisaimedFandom who thought it really was about hating migrants.
52	* ItTastesLikeFeet: "Goodbye Lucky Country":
53	-->The beer still tastes like glue
54	** "The Aussie Bar-B-Q"
55	-->Where the snags[[note]]sausages[[/note]] all taste like fried toothpaste
56	* KillerCop: "Mirrors" is about Brazilian policemen who act as freelance death squads in Rio's slums.
57	-->And the killers wear policeman's badges\
58	Kill to supplement their wages\
59	Earn their bloody bounty, with the gun and club and knife
60	* KillThePoor: "Mirrors" is about death squads of policemen being paid by businessmen to kill the street kids of Rio's slums.
61	* LeastRhymableWord: After singing "Silly Slang Song", Eric has been known to remark:
62	-->"I don't claim this the greatest song I've ever written, but it is the only one where I attempt to rhyme 'Schwarzenegger'."
63	* MockingMusic: In [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGlpxviu8PY "And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda"]], the narrator, an ANZAC who [[AnArmAndALeg lost his legs]] at Gallipoli, finds the use of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqtttbbYfSM "Waltzing Matilda"]] as patriotic music for ANZAC Day to add insult to injury.
64	* MysteryMeat: "The Great Aussie Takeaway"
65	* NarrativeProfanityFilter: "Do You Know Any Dylan?" has him react to the titular question
66	-->''And I usually reply\
67	In my own quiet way\
68	With a totally indecent suggestion''
69	** And again in "World Cup Fever":
70	-->''We cast doubts on their paternity\
71	And their mothers' chasity\
72	Their courage and ability\
73	And their sexual preference.''
74	* NoIntelligentLifeHere: Bogle uses the joke in his song "Beam Me Up Scotty":
75	-->''There must be intelligent life out there, I hope so, there’s not much down here''
76	* NostalgicNarrator:
77	** "Eric and the Informers" is Eric musically reminiscing about his first ever band (and how bad they were).
78	** "And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda" is told from the point of view of a World War One veteran looking back on their service.
79	* OutWithABang: "Little Gomez" is about a randy Chihuahua that is crushed to death while attempting to consummate a liaison with a Saint Bernard.
80	* PoesLaw: "I Hate Wogs" is an anti-racist satire that portrays the narrator as an idiot and a hypocrite. Nevertheless, Bogle decided to stop performing the song after attracting a MisaimedFandom who took it seriously.
81	* QuarrelingSong: "A Reason For It All" with John Munro is two people discussing the death of an old lady, with Eric's character wondering what it all means, and John's replying that bad things just happen.
82	-->'''Eric''': We are not born just so we can die,\
83	There must be an answer and we've gotta try,\
84	To make some sense of it, to try to find a reason for it all.\
85	'''John''': From the moment we're born, we've started to die,\
86	A man can go crazy if he keeps asking why,\
87	That's just how it is, don't look for a reason for it all.
88	* QuestioningTitle: "Do You Sing Any Dylan?" [[spoiler:No! No! A thousand times no!]]
89	* TheRealHeroes: "Our National Pride" was written after a group of volunteer firefighters were killed battling a bushfire in Victoria. It is all about how these people, and not athletes, deserve to be called heroes.
90	* RightWingMilitiaFanatic: "Keeper of the Flame" is a satire of the mindset of this kind of person and their abnormal attachment to their guns.
91	-->I'll keep my guns, oh yes I will\
92	I love the way they look and feel\
93	Love to hold them in my hands\
94	Make me feel like a real big man\
95	Nothing makes me more ecstatic\
96	Than a semiautomatic\
97	The more I have in my collection\
98	The more enormous my erection\
99	Love to own 'em, love to shoot 'em\
100	Love them so much, I wish I could root 'em!\
101	(''Germanic raving'')
102	* RockstarSong: "Eric and the Informers" is a song about how Eric completely failed to become a rock star, many years before becoming a folk star.
103	* RoguishPoacher: "Poachers Moon" is about the traditional Scottish pastime of poaching salmon from the laird's stream.
104	* SanitySlippageSong: Eric starts to wonder if he is going insane in "Them Old Song Writin' Blues":
105	-->I think my mind's beginnin' to go\
106	I just found myself wishin' I was [[TakeThat Barry Manilow]]
107	* ShoutOut: At the end of "Little Gomez" the singer goes to the pet shop to try and buy a replacement for Gomez, but the shop owner (who "loved corny puns") told him [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yes!_We_Have_No_Bananas "Yes, we have no chihuahuas!"]]
108	* SingerNameDrop: Eric introduces himself in song at the start of his concerts. One version goes:
109	-->My name is Eric, some folk call me Eck,
110	-->[[BerserkButton Call me Ricky and I'll break your neck]],
111	-->If you're feeling formal, Mr Bogle will do,
112	-->But to my friends it's Eric, and I hope that means you.
113	* SomethingBlues: "Short White Blues", "Them Old Song Writin' Blues" and "English Arse Kissing Blues".
114	* SongOfSongTitles:
115	** "And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda..." obviously refers to "Waltzing Matilda".
116	** "Plastic Paddy" name-checks a dozen or so Irish folk songs.
117	* SophisticatedAsHell: "Introduction Song"
118	-->Well I wrote all the songs for tonight's extravaganza,
119	-->So there's a touch of class in every line of every stanza.
120	-->When I'm not writing songs, I hang around doing bugger all
121	* SubvertedRhymeEveryOccasion
122	** "Plastic Paddy":
123	-->"When Irish Eyes are Smiling" and "The Mountains of Mourne"
124	-->In his search for Celtic chiché, the man has left no stone unturned
125	-->'Til he embarks upon the harp that once through terraced halls
126	-->Accompanying himself on the Bodhrán, which takes a lot of... courage.
127	** "World Cup Fever":
128	-->And when some stupid damn committee gave the match to Melbourne City
129	-->Though it made us all feel quite... annoyed, we didn't cause a fuss.
130	* SurrogateSoliloquy: "No Man's Land" is sung to a dead WWI soldier.
131	* ThisIsASong: "Them Old Song Writin' Blues" is a song about how hard it was to write the song. May also count as a SanitySlippageSong.
132	* ThriftyScot: Eric often uses this stereotype about himself, usually at the expense of other band members.
133	* TrainStationGoodbye: "Leaving Nancy", which is based on Bogle saying goodbye to his mother at the train station as he left to emigrate to Australia.
134	* TroubledAbuser: Discussed in "Daniel Smiling".
135	-->"That brutalised children become adults who then brutalise"
136	* TrueArtIsIncomprehensible: Invoked in "Bloody Rotten Audience":
137	-->And when I sing contemporary, me heart and soul is pure
138	-->I must be bloody brilliant, cause my writing's so obscure
139	-->My hero's Music/LeonardCohen, I dig him perfectly
140	-->But I must be so much better, because no one here digs me!
141	* UsefulNotes/TheTroubles: "My Youngest Son Came Home Today"
142	* TheUnintelligible: "Do You Sing Any Dylan?"
143	* UranusIsShowing: "Eric and the Informers"
144	-->"She looked like she came from outer space; from Mars, or maybe Uranus"
145	* ViolentGlaswegian: Eric, who was born in Peebles, does not shy away from his Scottish heritage, and has used this stereotype for songs both comic (e.g. "English Arse Kissing Blues") and serious (e.g. "Glasgow Lullaby").
146	* WarIsHell: The theme of "And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda" and "No Man's Land".
147	* WasItReallyWorthIt: "And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda", "No Man's Land". The latter in particular comes down fairly hard on the side of "no":
148	-->Well the suffering, the sorrow, the glory, the shame\
149	The killing and dying, it was all done in vain\
150	Oh Willy [=McBride=] it all happened again\
151	And again, and again, and again, and again
152	* UsefulNotes/WorldWarI: "And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda", "No Man's Land", "The Gift of Years", "As If He Knows"

Context Music / EricBogle