The oi
The object of this song is targeting apathy rather than advocating violence. It's aimed at protesting, mobilising and creating a physical and visual opposition to injustice. As Billy Bragg once wrote "wearing badges is not enough on days like these". These days, neither is a website/internet petition - we need to "Get Up and Fight".
These are becoming tough times with the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. Many people, young people in particular, are suffering from low wages (which fail to keep up with inflation), are unable to buy a house, have to pay further education/university fees, and are suffering from zero hour contracts and the gig economy. So it was young people, in particular, that I had in mind when I wrote the song.
Whilst the song does not advocate violence, actual physical protests can, and have, achieve change and influence events. We are now in times when positive change is becoming more and more necessary. Especially as voting fails to result in any realistic or significant change in many parts of the world. Plus, while voting is important, and it's vital that more young people vote, the lyrics "Get Up and Vote" might not have had the same impact!
Here are some of the events when and where protests and protesters have helped achieve genuine change and improvement:
• Suffragettes
• Gandhi
• Rosa Parks
• French Revolution
• American Revolution
• Martin Luther King
• Selma
• Stonewall riots
• Nelson Mandela
• Marriage equality
• Poll tax riots
• Anti-apartheid sanctions
• Rock Against Racism
• Student sit-ins
It was The Clash that sang in 'Clampdown' "Anger can be Power" and Public Image in 'Rise' sang "Anger is an Energy", and as I saw in a old poster/photo in the US, "You are either a victim or a rebel".
The song features he Happy Freuds on vocals. A young guys multinational rock band from Javea, Spain, they produce analogue and authentic style rock. Music is intentionally produced with a minimum of overdubs or fixes.
At the ages of 17 & 14, Swedish brothers Teo and Victor Holmstrom (lead guitar/vocals and drums) created the band with Jack Hunter (English) on bass & lead vocals, together with Sergio Canadas (Spanish) on second guitar. Like music itself, the Happy Freuds know no borders.
The final words are from the poem "The Masque of Anarchy" (or the Mask of Anarchy) which is a political poem written by Percy Bysshe Shelly in 1819 following the Peterloo massacre of that year. It is perhaps the first call for freedom and perhaps the first modern statement/poem of the principle of nonviolent resistance:
"Rise like lions after slumber, in unvanquishable number. Shake your chains to earth like dew, which in sleep had fallen on you: ye are many - they are few!"
lyrics
No job,
We can change that situation,
No pay, and no say.
No food,
You can stop that situation,
Just steal, what is yours.
Chorus:
Why don't you get up,
Get up and fight,
Don't just sit there,
You know it ain't right,
You don't change nothing 'till you get up and fight,
Why don't you get up, get up, get up, get up, get up.
2nd Verse:
No homes,
We can change that situation,
With force,
Things can change,
Don't take,
All this misery for granted,
When you,
Have all the power in your hands.
Chorus:
Why don't you get up,
Get up and fight,
Don't just sit there,
You know it ain't right,
You don't change nothing 'till you get up and fight,
Why don't you get up, get up, get up, get up, get up.
Mid8:
If you think society's working,
Then ask someone who ain't,
The worse the picture get,
More lies the media will paint.
If you can't eat at the table,
Then you must break off the legs,
'Cause there ain't gonna be no changes,
Without breaking a few heads.
Can't you hear,
What I'm saying,
Can't you hear,
What I've said
Can't you hear, Why don't you get up,
What I'm saying Get up and fight,
Can't you hear, Don't just sit there,
What I've said. You know it ain't right.
You don't change nothing 'till you get up and fight,
Why don't you get up, get up, get up, get up, get up.
3rd Verse:
No rights,
You can change that situation,
That strength, is in you,
The peace,
of this slavery is worse than,
The fight,
For your freedom and your rights.
Chorus:
Why don't you get up,
Get up and fight,
Don't just sit there,
You know it ain't right,
You don't change nothing 'till you get up and fight,
Why don't you get up, get up, get up, get up, get up.
Can't you hear, Why don't you get up,
What I'm saying, Get up and fight,
Can't you hear, Don't just sit there,
What I've said. You know it ain't right.
You don't change nothing 'till you get up and fight,
Why don't you get up, get up, get up, get up, get up
Can't you hear, Why don't you get up, El pueblo,
What I'm saying, Get up and fight, unidos,
Can't you hear, Don't just sit there, Jamas sera vencido.
What I've said. You know it ain't right. El pueblo,
You don't change nothing unidos,
'till you get up and fight, Jamas sera vencido,
Why don't you get up, El pueblo,
get up, get up, get up,
get up unidos,
Jamas sera vencido.
El pueblo,
unidos,
Jamas sera vencido.
credits
released November 18, 2018
Trevor Perfect - all music. The Happy Freuds - vocals
Another vaporous classic from Angel Marcloid’s Nonlocal Forest alias, where the Fire-Toolz frontwoman goes full pastel-and-neon. Bandcamp New & Notable Aug 17, 2020
