Famous anarchist Emma Goldman never actually said "If I can't dance I don't want to be in your revolution". Her actual response to be being criticized for dancing and having a good time, was "I want freedom, the right to self-expression, and everybody's right to beautiful, radiant things." Somehow her sentiment was paraphrased by a printer into her most famous "quote" when creating an Emma Goldman t-shirt in 1973. While the modern version is definitely snappier, and fits better on a t-shirt, it doesn't really do justice to the sentiment she was originally expressing.

In the late 19th and early 20th century, when textile workers went on strike to improve their lot, the slogan "Bread & Roses" came to symbolize their desire not only for better working conditions and decent wages but an improvement in the quality of their lives. There is more to human existence than simply the drudgery of work and the struggle for survival. Emma wasn't just saying that she wanted the right to party and have a good time, she was saying that social movements had to fight to liberate not just the bodies of the people they represented, but their minds and spirits as well.

When Goldman said she did not think that "a cause believing in the release and freedom from conventions and prejudice should demand denial of life and joy", and that she wanted nothing to do with it if it meant living like a nun or in a cloister, she was unfortunately expressing a minority opinion. Since her death in 1940 I doubt there has been anybody in a leadership position on any side of the political fence who has considered quality of life, freedom of expression, or beauty, as worthy even of mention, let alone worth fighting for.

Even those you'd expect, or hope, to express such sentiments, have for the most part stuck to politics. The majority of musicians, who could so easily bring beauty and joy into people's lives, with either their sound or their message, have taken to being either preachers or purveyors of mindless and thought-destroying noise. English ska bands the English Beat and the Specials of the early 1980s were exceptions. The infectious joy of their music made it impossible to resist dancing, while their lyrics spoke of resistance to the spread of social conservatism and appealed for racial tolerance.

Perhaps I shouldn't be surprised that the first band I've heard since those days that's able to recreate that same spirit, has its roots in ska music. Babylon Circus' disc Dances Of Resistance, due for release at the end of this month on the Mr. Bongo label, is 17 (18 with the hidden ghost track) songs of the wildest, most exuberant, make you glad-to-be-alive music that I've heard in a long time. Not only have these nine guys from France got something to say about the state of the world, they say it in a manner that brings you to your feet from joie de vivre.