Not Waving but Drowning Not Drowning, Waving takes their name from the poem. The underground '90s emo-hardcore act I Hate Myself recorded a song with the same name on their album 10 Songs. A track on Julian Cope's 1991 album "Peggy Suicide" was titled "Not Raving but Drowning" after the poem. The poem was also set to music by singer-songwriter Vic Chesnutt on his debut album Little with a spoken introduction from a Stevie Smith recording. Singer and songwriter Tanita Tikaram set the poem to music in her song titled "Not Waving but Drowning" which appeared as a b-side to her single "I Might
Waving the bloody shirt Waving the bloody shirt In the American election campaigns in the 19th century, "waving the bloody shirt" was a phrase used to ridicule opposing politicians who made emotional calls to avenge the blood of the northern soldiers that died in the Civil War. The pejorative was most used against Republicans, who were accused of using the memory of the Civil War to their political advantage. The phrase gained popularity with a fictitious incident in which Representative and former Union general Benjamin Butler of Massachusetts, when making a speech on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives, allegedly held up