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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Mark Oliver

Jukebox Georgie

Songwriters with a collaborative spirit are embracing the internet as a new arena to come together, share ideas, kindle inspiration - and slag off George Bush.

There is already a rich and growing supply of politically satirical music online, including the hilarious Bush and Blair Endless Love Song (just watch those looks of adoration).

And the fantastic sampling of the commander-in-chief singing/rapping Imagine, a fine example of the trend of mashing where incongruous material, often used without permission, is blended together to create a new song.

Admittedly it is not political, but one of the most famous examples of illegal mashing is DJ Danger Mouse's Grey Album, a mix of Jay Z's Black Album with the Beatles' White Album.

Clearly a lot of these songs are the work of internet-savvy mavericks working alone.

But one man who hopes to tap the collaborative songwriting potential of the internet for political music is Fabrice Paget, who is based in London's Notting Hill.

He has written the Political Song, a track which is not overly kind to Mr Bush, and contacted Guardian Unlimited for help in advertising his search for contributions to the lyrics or music. You can watch Paget singing the song on his The Political Song website.

In an online appeal, he says: "I hope you will send your own contributions of verses, choruses, ideas, whatever it is, to make the song even better than it is today."

At the moment, one of the verses is:

It's neo-con for a cash crusade
Mistaking oily sands for the Holy Grail
Yeah, the World is changing.

And the chorus goes:

He's been around for too long
It's been a game all along
He's been around far too long
He's been against… the World

As you can see, at the moment it is quite earnest stuff, but maybe that could change as the song develops. Now I am not a music critic, and the Political Song is a work in progress, and you should listen to it and make up your own mind about its merits. Some may think it could not be improved; others might think he actually really does need some help.

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