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Take Up Arms

by Momma Swift

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1.
The Hole 04:07
the hole devours the ground like a starving storm with the most brutal signs of human life erupting from the core the flesh of the earth is paraded and piled for all to see until the edges arent distant anymore they're at the feet of you and me and im ashamed im sickened to the stomach to know im one of them everything this earth has eve grown to be is crushed in their mighty metal hands and im crying im speechless when i see their bodies are just like mine but we just have to take one look into the hole to see their fucked up minds no home is safe from these jaws no nest no burrow no house only money feeds and fuels the flames the flames that cant be put out and when the trees hit the floor of the forest they cant be heard for the sound of worldwide domination soon they'll be comin to your town when you sleep at night what is it that haunts you in your dreams is it the sound of this world dying is it the animals screams theres no justice in your words no room for complacency no time for indifference to the lives you crush so easily i hope you toss and turn i hope you never get to sleep i hope you hear the cries of the forest every time you fucking breathe i hope you hate yourselves in ways you'll never truly understand and for what the wads of money in your hands!
2.
You've got blood on your hands you've got blood in your eyes and your mouth that no amount of scrubbing and cleaning will ever wash out you've got blood on your suits on your batons your helmets and chains they tell stories of violence and death at the hands of the state we have scars and broken bones we have hospital records to prove the extent that you\re willing to go to repress and remove we have friends that have died we have friends that are barely alive and right now when i think theres nothing i can do but cry Its all over money its all over power the death count rises by the hour and whilst we mourn and hold our loved ones you sit there laughing in your skyscraper tower this is brutal this is war when we dont know what to expect outside our doors and it makes me ask the question more and more what is it that we're fighting for you take pride in your work you take pride in the badge on your chest it grants you access to a limitless amount of respect so when you beat and shoot us you know that you'll never suffer your backs covered by the heads of the state and the media so you continue the extermination of dissent on the street and not one single tear shed for the bodies that lie at your feet you have protection on the highest level to keep you alive but right now when we think theres nothing we can do but cry one day this will be you
3.
we say goodbye at the beginning of the night when the rest of this littel town will turn out their bedroom lights we say goodbye before we hit the road because the paths we take are not the ones that everybody knows we say goodbye with this fear in our hearts about the people who will do their best to tear our worlds apart we say goodbye not knowing the next time we will meet and if theres a chance that we will be alive cause we dont know how far they will go with us this time so lets tell each other that we love them whenever we can lets keep each other as safe as we possibly can be careful keep quiet but most important of all dont push the ones you love far enough for them to fall cause when we fall we cant stick together and we have to stick together we have secrets we have treasures we have our plans but they can never be measured by ways of consequence cause we cant be sure how fucked up the state decides to react so we burn notes encrypt our messages and find it hard to trust every single person that we are desperate to love and those outside our cirlces are always the enemy to us cause we dont know the ways that they can break us down this time i see that you are hurting i see that you've been beaten i see they cut you deep into your very existence if you need to take some time if you need to get away we can all work together to find somewhere warm and dry to stay cause this will never be safe and this will never be easy and we will need to call our parents to let them know we're still breathing but if we hold each other near every step of the way then maybe it'll be better maybe it'll be better
4.
this feeling it grows from within me clutching at my throat tearing at my insides burning my fingertips until i cannot take it cannot stand to stand idle cannot bear to not take up arms theres blood that must be shed from the depths of the bodies of those that seek to hunt us down there must be rolling heads as a warning to these masters that we will not be held down so lets set fire underneath their cars lets poison them with our medicinal arts lets cut their throats lets break into their system and burn the whole thing down these cages that hold our friends and comrades are smeared with the blood of the others that were held before we see a pattern emerging see a breadcrumb trail leading many through the prison doors
5.
There was a time when i believed that men could have their hold on me that they could click their fingers and i would be the one to please that my decisions would be stained with all the things they had to say i couldnt leacve my house my room without them standing in my way but in the years to come i'd find out all these ways to smash them down to free myself of all the bullshit that i'd built my life around but still to this day Im terrified of what you can do to me and this fear consumes me whether i'm awake or asleep im aware of the restrictions that you have on my life and if i defend myself with my fist or my knife then you're there in the courtroom waiting to see me cry well i am going to fucking cry so this year i found out that pretty much most of my friends have been raped or abused in the dirty hands of cis men that everything they knew and trusted crashed all around them now they're picking up the pieces but they havent quite found them so now we're trying to support each other but we dont always know how because from every angle we are faced with shame and disempowerment and just when we think we're ready to live our lives again well you go and do it again, well you go and do again! So still to this day i know you like to think of the stranger in the alley of the psychopath with no self control in the movies well i hate to break it to you but it may just be your son your nice guy of a friend or your sweet loving husband when society raises us to take whatever we want and that men are valid humans expected to be more dominant that our needs only matter if we have a dick to assert them with and that consent is just a killjoy word to ruin perfect moments with if you dont get permission then that makes you a rapist if they're drunk asleep your partner or last night they wanted it there are no excuses there are no blurred lines so get the fuck away form em and let me get on with my life cause it may take months or it may take years and there may never come a day where we dont shed our tears but we are powerful we are beautiful we are better than you'll ever be you better watch out for your fucking life cause you are now the enemy so still to this day you should be terrified of what we can do to you on the streets and in our bedrooms the power no longer lies with you if you're horny and you tell yourself that you are entitled well tell your friends to come and visit you in hospital cause you have to learn somehow these bodies are ours and ours alone now do you understand when i say no?
6.
Fascist 03:09
you hear it in the supermarkets you hear it on the bus you hear it in the coffee shops you hear it down the pub you hear it in the hairdressers you hear it where you work you hear it everywhere so its no wonder you repeat the words immigration is stealing our jobs immigration is getting us robbed it dont matter that you're human or that you've got mouths to feed immigration is not benefiting me so you hear about the casuals or about the EDL britain first the patriots or your local infidels these racists claim they're heroes and you're liking what you hear your hatred is collective you're a fascist on from here and you say immigration is converting our children immigration is perverting our women and anyone who disagrees is coward lefty scum immigration go back to where you're from so today is your big day out you pile on the bus you're pissed before midday there's already been a punch up flags held high and proud but there's only ten of you cause no one else wants to be a fascist twat like you from around the corner you already know you've lost whether its ten thousand marching strong or antifa black bloc we've come out to show you that you're fascism aint welcome here and you spend the day nursing your broken nose over a beer and you say antifascists are destroying our country antifascists are brainwashing you and me white traitors the lot of them dirty anarchist scum antifascists are ruining our fun and we say antifascists remember history antifascists will not stop until we're free from white power attacks on blacks from refugees being sent back from unwarranted arrests and raids from walking home not feeling safe terrorising diverse towns media scapegoating browns antifascists wont stand down antifascists dont stand down!
7.
All cops are bastards all cops are bastards they're the worst kind of people they beat us they crush us they cage us and they kill us all in the name of the law they take our friends just to make an example but we'll always stand in solidarity we'll never disappear and we'll never be discouraged we will fight til everyone is free cause we dont need your systems we dont need your wealth we dont need your prisons we'll decide for ourselves all the time and money that you spend to oppress us imagine if you'd put that to some good but in a system that is built on exploitation we'll never see the day that you would so we've got to tell our friends we've got to tell all children we've gotta share in every single way never trust a cop or a politician you'll regret it til your dying day cause we dont need your money we dont need your laws we dont need your violence we dont need anything of yours
8.
I'm standing there in the club, I've got my friends and a lot of love for the music and a love for the night You seem to think it's okay to stand there and prey on the girls cause you think they're too drunk to be right We may be dancing and we may be laughing But you might be sleeping in the gutter tonight darling If you don't get out of my face in 5 seconds time Just because I've had a few and my vision's not that good as new And I'm tripping up when I'm in the loo It doesn't mean i'm up for it with you Or with anyone Did it cross your mind I'm no singleton and I don't want to be involved with a dick head like you Not tonight and not ever And especially when I'm walking back home on my own Where the fuck's your right to my body Where the fuck's your right to my mind Since when do you have a licence to justify your violence with the classic old timer 'she was dressed to have a good time' Where the fuck's your sense of morality Or even just a slither of respect Learn your own language, no is always no And don't get too big headed even when we say yes But of course how can we enforce our thoughts in a court with no recognition from the law We're all sluts we're all easy we're good for nothing whores I thought we had it bad here with hyper sexualisation But what about Iran the families bear too much humiliation For them to take, for them to live with and so they're willing To eliminate embarrassment with your standard backstreet honour killing But if she lives she won't talk Where's the required 4 witnesses And if she talks she'll be branded, ostracised and left to bleed Or left to carry the remains of her burden in the form of a potential rapist too And don't give me the response 'oh i'd love getting sucked off in my sleep' You don't deserve the right to breathe let alone the chance to breed And don't give me some bullshit pathetic line She was grinding on me so I decided to take whats rightfully mine She's a goddess you're the lowest of lows Regardless if she's come out tonight not wearing too many clothes She's a lioness, you're a worthless pig Put down that roofie and for fuck's sake put down her drink Where the fuck's your right to my body To my pride, my dignity and my soul i don't remember giving you permission To destroy everything that I know
9.
Pilgrims of the great north sea noble and worthy travellers are we Rule Britannia, commanders of the waves superior to other men, who'll die being our slaves These shores are fresh like virgins, the land we are to claim Flags announcing from the sand it's us who are to reign The creatures that reside here, are savages and beasts We'll capture, rape and murder them, upon their flesh we'll feast Terra Nullius, Terra Nullius But the land is ours, it's now ours, TN, Your land is ours, you are ours With weapons made of steel, disease and white power Your women we will ravage, your land we will devour Your children will be taken and raised against their own Or buried neck deep in the burning sand battered by our stones Your water we will poison, your gods we will abolish We'll string you up we'll burn you down You won't just be admonished We'll instil the deepest sense of fear inside your starving bodies You'll die inside our prisons, or be struck down with our disease These national holidays of fireworks and flags An insult to the ones who'll never take their lives back These history books of white supremacy and western victory Will never do justice to the worlds they have attacked Asia, Australia, Africa, India, the middle east, canada, north and south america Islands far out in the sea, or ice where we're not meant to be The boats sail in, the triggers pulled, war's declared, we'll kill them all Eurocentric dominance, imperialistic ignorance Our children never learn the truth, so they grow up being racist too And all the while we still hate, imprison, torture, murder, rape Rule Britannia, bow down slaves, Rule Britannia, bow down slaves!
10.
Viva la quinta brigada, rumba, la rumba, la rumba, la, que nos cubrirá de glorias, ay, Carmela, ay, Carmela. Luchamos contra los moros, rumba, la rumba, la rumba, la, mercenarios y fascistas, ay, Carmela, ay, Carmela. El ejército del Ebro, rumba, la rumba, la rumba, la, la otra noche el río cruzó, ay, Carmela, ay, Carmela. Y a las fuerzas invasoras, rumba, la rumba, la rumba, la, buena paliza les dio, ay, Carmela, ay, Carmela. En los frentes de Granada, rumba, la rumba, la rumba, la, no tenemos días lunes, ay, Carmela, ay, Carmela. Ni tenemos días martes, rumba, la rumba, la rumba, la, con los tanques y granadas, ay, Carmela, ay, Carmela.
11.
Birds 05:01
like birds we yearn for the skies to carry our bodies when we fly over seas over mountains over trees let these winds take us to a better life and if these winds could ease our sorrow and our pain until whats left would be washed away with the morning rain then to the skies we must take this final flight until these bodies know a better life

about

loads of fun songs to have a dance and a shout to

wanna dedicate this one to all the amazing people everywhere doing brave, difficult, stressful and dangerous things so that they can live their lives out of this fuckin system, to all the cool cats that i've met this year who i now get to call my friends, and to the Hambach Forest, please check out the website hambachforest.blogsport.de

credits

released September 15, 2015

momma swift - banjo, singy shouty, percussion stuff
princess joel - fiddle, singy shouty, bowed banjo goodness
dwayne 'the rock' simone - singy shouty

recording, mixing, artwork etc - momma swift

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Momma Swift Brighton, UK

Momma Swift was the solo project of musician Em Swift, between 2014-2015. Since then, they played in folk punk band Cistem Failure, and are currently touring and making music under Rootweave.

contact rootweavemusic@gmail.com for booking shows
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