Now 35 years since the hugely influential Blue Lines, and 16 since their last LP, Robert Del Naja and co return, joined by the unmistakeable voice of the American musician, with a powerful, poignant, topically political number portraying the perspective of a boorish, monstrous warmonger. It begins and ends with Waits making disturbing, slow, laboured breathing, before clattering rhythms and a gruff, Beefheart-like delivery. Del Naja is overtly political, speaking and demonstrating against war, about climate change, and was one of 500 people recently arrested during a peaceful Palestine Action protest. Waits recorded this vocal some time ago, but has drily stated: “Today, as in all of mankind’s yesterdays, guarantees this song will never go out of style.” The song comes with a video featuring the work of a documentary photographer who posts on Instagram as thefinaleye, and includes footage of Black Lives Matter protests and the police response, recent ICE raids, and homeless veterans.
On Friday 17 April, Massive Attack will also publish an exclusive spoken word reflection on the themes of the work from novelist Omar El Akkad (American War, What Strange Paradise, and One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This). See their website.
As part of continued environmental efforts, Massive Attack have partnered with Good Neighbor to produce an ‘EcoSonic’ pressing of the ‘Boots On The Ground’ vinyl manufactured using 100 per cent recycled PET (rPET) to make it fully recyclable and produced via an energy-efficient injection moulding process. The sleeves will also be made from 100 per cent recycled, FSC®-certified paper stock and outer slipcases produced from recycled polyethylene.
Massive Attack will be donating all profits from the sale of the vinyl edition to the American Civil Liberties Union and the US Immigrant Defense Project. See the Bandcamp page below. Out on Play It Again Sam.
To explore and enjoy more by Massive Attack and Tom Waits, see also the other embedded links below.
Big legs dangle from a helicopter hole
Big chug rhythm, gotta be now ho!
Brown, mean and young, dumb and full of cum
What can you use a Marine for?
This is a fucking ass machine gun war
With your boots on the ground, boots on the ground
Boots on the ground, boots on the ground
We trim your hedges, we fight your wars
Wait in the trenches and we're fucked till we're sore
With boots on the ground, boots on the ground
Born shiny bullets in an army of ants
Blow that horn, we sleep in our pants
Big titties, big titties
Well we holler and we burn down cities
Boots on the ground, boots on the ground
Shootin' up the town by stayin' in the holе till Jimmy Hoffa is found
With my boots on the ground
Well, something goеs tink when the cardrige is spent
Where do you think all your cartilage went?
Boots on the ground, boots on the ground
Now who the hell are these federal pricks?
Hiding in the Senate like a bloated-ass tick
Air-conditioned fuckstick loafers
Sittin' in a room full of army posters
A coal to a diamond, a vote into law
They campaign up all the blood they can draw
Mold your world, a soldier's just clay
How much does every soldier weigh?
Cut you at the ankles and they throw that ass away
Boots on the ground
Cold and hot as Satan's hoof
Spinning on the world, I'm hiding on a roof
I kill a brown man I never ass knew
Choked on spit and then he turned blue
He spattered black blood, he rolled Fin out
He died right there, I got the pearl from his snout
A puff of gray smoke, the tongue of a cloud
He rotted in the sand and all that they found was his boots on the ground
Boots on the ground, boots on the ground
All that they found was his boots on the ground, boots on the ground
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