The Proclaimers - You May Offend - A Blunt Conversation Under a Spotlight

The Proclaimers’ new single “You May Offend” arrives like a blunt conversation held under a spotlight.  It is part protest song, part philosophical provocation – and it’s aimed squarely at… all of us. Delivered with the duo’s unmistakable vocal delivery (and a beautiful arrangement), it’s a song that wants to be heard clearly, even when what it is saying might make the listener uncomfortable. This is songwriting of the highest quality - it gets in, delivers its message, and gets out.  The message is one designed to make us all reflect - this is grown-up pop music.

Lyrically, it sketches a world where expression is both inevitable and dangerous. The repeated idea that “as you breathe, as you grow… you may offend” frames speech as something that cannot be neatly sanitised without consequence – as, perhaps it always has been. Set against the accompanying visual concept of omnipresent “listening machines” and anonymous operators scanning for “dangerous thoughts,” the song extends its argument into a broader dystopian allegory: a society where tolerance becomes conditional and surveillance extends beyond behaviour into intent. The chorus, invoking tolerance as a “street that runs both ways,” captures the song’s central tension.  It is a demand for reciprocal openness that sits uneasily alongside its own awareness of social friction.  But it tells us to prepare ourselves to offend – and infers that it is even a necessary part of personal growth.  It's almost like a father telling a child don't suffer fools gladly, just for the sake of being nice.  Who the fools are - well that's up to you to decide.

Ultimately, “You May Offend” feels like The Proclaimers leaning into confrontation as an artistic choice. It is not interested in neutrality; it is interested in the uneasy space where speech, interpretation, and consequence collide. Whether you agree with its premise or not, it is difficult to ignore - and that, perhaps, is exactly the point.  Watch the video for "You May Offend" below.

Bette Midler Sings Woody Guthrie’s All You Fascists (Bound to Lose) with a Stellar Supporting Cast

Bette Midler may be 80, but she can still belt out a good number.  There are few better (or timelier) than Woody Guthrie’s All You Fascists (Bound to Lose).  The lyrics have been updated a little (with permission from Guthrie’s family) and is an exhortation to voters to get to the polls and vote.  It’s definitely a toe-tapper and Midler delivers it with her usual gusto.  Not only that, it has a stellar supporting cast of backing singers, too.

You may be able to spot one or more of the following… Barbara Hershey (co-starred with Bette Midler in Beaches), David Hyde Pierce (appeared with Bette Midler in Down and Out in Beverly Hills), Brian Hargrove (married to David Hyde Pierce, linking him to Bette Midler), Shoshana Bean (Wicked), Marisha Wallace (Dreamgirls), Jennifer Lewis (The Preacher’s Wife), Christian Dante White (Ain’t Too Proud), Sara Edwards Butler (Sister Act), Ari Butler (Les Misérables), Matthew Mucha (Save Rock and Roll), Jaime Bartolett (The Phantom of the Opera), Aron Kaburick (Jersey Boys), Amanda LaMotte (Wicked), Elaine Caswell (Cats), Kristen Beth Williams (Wicked), James Ludwig (Law & Order), Cayden Smaka (The Voice), Corban Belle (Hamilton),  and finally Don’Tae Mitchell (Dreamgirls).  Phew – that’s quite a cast.

Guthrie himself wrote the song in the early 1940s as a response to the fascist threat of Hitler, Mussolini and the likes.  Midler, who is concerned about the way that politics is going in her own home country, has sent out this message to her fans: “I hope you'll sing it when you are marching. Because sometimes people, sometimes you just gotta SING OUT!”.  Indeed.  Take a look at the video below.