Liars - Scarecrows On A Killer Slant

Over the last couple of days my mind has been preoccupied by worry of what a newly elected Conservative government (albeit with as a coalition) might mean for our country. The thought of this political party in charge has me fearful, especially when I look back at their sustained record of social inequity and intolerance.

Those two issues are at the forefront of Liars “Scarecrows on a Killer Slant”. Taken from the bands new album Sisterworld the track is powered by its creepy tone and metronomic rhetoric that makes this listener feel ill at ease.

The song leads off with the band asking “Why’d you pass the bum on the street?” and “Why’d shoot the man with the gun?” The answers to both are returned as an emphatic “Cos he bothered you” it’s disconcerting and uncomfortable to think that more parts our society could digress into this territory.

Then the band strikes with the songs Coup de grâce. Starting as a whisper and ending as a scream they utter “We should take the creeps out at night, Drag them incomplete by their ears, We should nail their thoughts to the wall, Stand them in the street with a gun, AND THEN KILL THEM ALL!” like the inner mantra of a government who’d like nothing more than for everyone to agree with their views.

The song then begins to tick along to its conclusion, but not before it musters one last question that I'm sure rattles around the heads of those now in government.

“How can they be saved from the way they live every day?”

Maybe those with the power in Westminster should ask it of themselves.

Scarecrows on a Killer Slant.mp3