Another Bag of Bones

About Another Bag of Bones

"Another Bag of Bones" is a song by Kevin Devine released on August 19, 2008, as a digital EP and a 7" vinyl record, with catalog number AFS.006 on the label Academy Fight Song. It includes the song "Another Bag of Bones", and a lyrically revised cover of Phil Ochs' "Love Me, I'm a Liberal", inspired in part by the 2008 US presidential election. Brian Shultz of Punknews.org praised the release, describing the two tracks as a "creative renaissance" for Devine. Both tracks were produced by Rob Schnapf. The title track, "Another Bag of Bones", is a political song, giving voice to personal feelings and metaphors on themes of war, environmental injustices and religion. The lyrics' potent imagery, the crisp and confident vocals, and the subtle layers and swells of instrumentation caught the notice of reviewers. The artist related to SPIN that it is not "a song about politics in any traditional sense". The magazine lauded the absence of heavy-handed rhetoric and political sloganeering, combined with Devine's vocal performance and "tension-building arrangements", as distinguishing the track from a plethora of political songs. Devine's reworking of the 1966 protest song "Love Me, I'm a Liberal" has updated lyrics touching on contemporary issues such as Barack Obama's candidacy and Hurricane Katrina. It satirizes the hypocrisy and insincerity of liberals' support for war in Afghanistan, systemic racism, corporate hegemony and Obama's mixed messages of "change", "with crocodile tears now being shed for the New York and Iraqi dead while 'Afghanistan got what was coming'". Part of a contemporary current of anti-war and social justice protest from artists such as Patti Smith, Public Enemy and David Rovics, Devine's call-out follows the ironic original in a humorous but scathing recrimination of those who selectively profess liberal ideals - as long as their own self-interest is not threatened. Critical reception of the reimagined counterculture classic was less glowing, but it was still considered a well done and solid effort, with both tracks commanding the listener's attention more strongly than some of Devine's previous efforts. The vinyl version was available in either transparent blue or red from Academy Fight Song's website, and a black tour edition was also available at shows. more »

Year:

2009

4:15

141 Views

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It's a brush fire spreading, feeding as it moves
It's a disappeared glacier; it's the airborne flu
It's your disbelieving eyes logging concrete miles
It's your yawning conscience and your lawyer's smile
It's an occupied country foaming at the mouth
No smoking gun, no mushroom cloud
It's a military mother with a boy in hell
And it's a flag-draped casket down an oil well
It's an Argentine school-girl gagged and bound
It's a torture camp; it's a long way down
It's the constant bracing shock of now
And it's the whole damn world turned inside out, alright
It's a march to extinction with your god in step
It's his name in your mouth; it's his cross on your neck
It's a farm boy sprinting over desert dirt
And he's panting the 'Our Father' in staccato spurts
Now that's his automatic rifle and it tells no lies
It's his truth in your stomach, it's no alibi
But the trouble lies on the other side
With an equal truth prepping for his holy night
He sees the crescent and the star blink in the virgin sky
And hears the call of milk and honey from the afterlife
And as he eases to the checkpoint, he is calm and sure
It's collateral damage; it's the cost of war
It's another bag of bones for the Gods to sort
It's just another bag of bones for the Gods to sort

Well it's a species disappearing, all the birds fly south
In a January heatwave, in a pulsing crowd
It's an African Militia, kids with sub-machines
It's a conflict diamond on your bride-to-be
It's the dispossessed lining up at every gate
It's the facts worth facing, faced way too late
It's the mission of modernity, go get what's yours
Til there's nothing leftover to go get no more
And it's not what we're owed, but it's what we've earned
And it's closer than we realise, and it's time now to burn
And oh it's time now to burn
And oh it's time now to burn
And oh it's time now to burn, to burn

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Kevin Devine

Kevin Devine is an American songwriter and musician from Brooklyn, New York, who is known for alternately introspective and political lyrics and melodic acoustic guitar songs. He cites his influences as Neutral Milk Hotel,Bob Dylan, Elliott Smith, Pavement and Nirvana, among others. more »

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