Effigy

10 weeks ago by @nwhosings

Effigy

nwhosings

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Liner Notes

I wasn’t going to write today. I gave myself the out. And then I watched Lindsay Ellis’s video Yoko and the Beatles, and this song would not relent until it was given voices. Voices because it required four layers of vocals before it was happy.
I was also inspired by the Titular Skirmish, title Darker Liars.
I don’t live in the States, but I grew up in religious fundamentalism. I know intimately well all the arguments they wield to deny people rights. It’s very easy to feel completely hopeless. There was a clip in Lindsay’s video of John remarking on how the people always have the power, but that we sometimes need to be woken up to our power before we start to exercise it. If I’m not overstepping, I hope this song can be part of the waking, one rallying cry among many.
The image of the chair burning comes from a tweet from Yoko Ono, I’m paraphrasing here, ‘When you burn the chair, you realize that the image of the chair in your mind is not gone, though the chair itself no longer exists.’ I thought this was a powerful image for how even though the lies told about certain groups of people can be disproved without possibility of argument, the feelings people have are much harder to sweep away.
An effigy can be both an image for remembrance, and an image used in an act of sympathetic magical destruction. I like both, so I used both.
The line ‘Silence equals non-existence.” Is from Margaret Cho in the Out Standing Documentary on Netflix, a brilliant work exploring the role of queer comedians in the fight for acceptance. It made me cry when I heard her say it, and it felt healing to sing (and growl and shout).
I’m nervous to post this, even though I am a member of the queer community, so please let me know if it resonates.
#acapella #chant #incantation #queer #liberation #skirmish #political #anthem

Lyrics

We gather here today to burn the chairs to burn the tables
Empty now of evidence of the stories in our minds
We gather here today to build the effigy of witches
Nuanced truth too easy to be evil simplified

Step by step and arm in arm
Giving voice to every harm
Silence equals non-existence
We will not go quietly!

We gather here today to set fire to the histories
Blatant lies set down in stone by the men with crimes to hide
We gather here today to light our candles for extinguished flames
We will not forget the price they paid for daring to shed light

Step by step and arm in arm
Giving voice to every harm
Silence equals non-existence
We will not go quietly!

We gather here today and though we burn the furniture
The blueprint is imbedded in the language of our dreams
We gather here today to burn the effigies of liars
As below we will above
We cry, “So mote it be!”

We gather here today to burn the chairs to burn the tables
Empty now of evidence of the stories in our minds
We gather here today to build the effigy of witches
Nuanced truth too easy to be evil simplified

Step by step and arm in arm
Giving voice to every harm
Silence equals non-existence
We will not go quietly!

As below, we will above
We cry, “So mote it be!”

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