The new song from The Smile — Thom Yorke and Johnny Greenwood of Radiohead with Tom Skinner of Sons of Kemet — contains some R-rated lyrics. But that’s because it’s sung in the voice of a character who is sick at heart over the profane crimes against humanity inflicted by a powerful but heartless human being. The phrase “bunga bunga” pops up at one point, which (I’ve learned from a Genius annotation) refers to “parties thrown by former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi in which he and his associates were alleged to have procured women, some of them underage, to dance and have sex with powerful members of Italian society.” Sound like any American congressmen or a former President who lie and lie and lie to try to distract us from their own versions of the same crime?
It’s not an easy song to sing along with. It shouldn’t be. But it represents a healthy conscience, a soulful lament, a rage expressed in love for those who have been wronged. It shouldn’t make us comfortable. It should bring us together in an active striving to be better people, better leaders, better seekers of justice.