Arya Stark

Eh, a lot of people are creepy. But that has nothing to do with these lyrics.

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Azucar y Especia. My blog.

Stone Birds

Where's the vegan? she would usually jump into a conversation by now.

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VEGANGELICA

SPROING! Here I am, jumping into the conversation! I'm at work, but I'll take a tiny break.

Ahhh...good...the lyrics of "Wring" are *supposed* to be creepy. I'm glad that's how they come across.

The song is about a farm child who is being indoctrinated into the meat-eating culture she is forced to accept. The song shows the treatment of animals that most people in our culture (since most are eating meat, dairy products, and eggs) are supporting, whether they want to admit it to themselves or not.

There is nothing more chilling, I find, than being with people who feel they are kind even as they commit what I view as atrocities...and unfortunately, there are many examples where people relish the killing and torture of both humans and non-human animals, including livestock. Whereas I suspect most people who eat animals/animal products probably don't think about where their food came from, some become malicious toward animals...probably because this is a way for them to live with themselves hurting others...they almost blame the animals for being weak, as if animals deserve to die because of that.

In the song, the singer (supposed to be an adolescent) is seeing her family consistently ignore the needs of the animals in their "care" (including the desire of the animals for life) and she is consistently told to enjoy eating them and ignore what people have done to the animals as if it were trivial.

She sees what happens when another girl says she doesn't want to eat animals: the child is told to starve. So, she tries to eat the animals and animal "products" (pepperoni on pizza, at the end), since she has no choice. She does not live in a safe or loving world. That's the world I see around me every day, especially here in the midwest, where people put a happy face on animal products and never mention the cruel sides.

Her words are a jumble of our culture's hatred for and dismissal of animals, combined with a zealous Christianity and belief in "God is Good," which is rampant in the U.S. However, her sadness at the treatment of the animals underlies everything. Notice that she tries hard not to cry as her father cuts the head off the sickly hen. This attempt to shut down emotions is typical for farm kids, I've been told...they try to become steely and unaffected; the only other option besides embracing all the killing and the fecal matter and the death is to conclude that her parents, her society, her church, etc., are really like the devil, if there were such an entity as a devil.

The song is supposed to show how people can become sadistic (or are sadistic) toward animals, but the underlying message is that *anyone* eating animal products is complicit in what is being done to them and is endorsing and supporting this cruelty (described in the song) through purchases.

Here in Iowa, for example, workers recently were shoving objects up the vaginas of pigs. The pig industry immediately said, "Oh, we treat pigs humanely." And yet, in the U.S., piglets are castrated without anesthetic, their teeth are pulled out without anesthetic, *and* the little ones, the "runts," and the sickly piglets are killed by bludgeoning them...which is legal and endorsed by the pig industry. In the U.S., "thumping" piglets several weeks old is "performed" in a number of ways, one being that you take them by the back legs and bash their heads against a hard object several times.

Stone Birds, I would say the song *does* have grunge elements (discontent with society and disliking discrimination are elements of grunge, according to Wikipedia). However, VEGANGELICA is now just myself (I've gone solo!) and not a band, and I don't limit myself to any genre except that so far every song I've written is lyrical (based on lyrics and involving rhyming in some fashion).

AwwSugar, I have recorded this song (minus drums), but never have performed it in public, which would be hard since I'm doing all the parts! You can check out my contact information for the myspace link if you want to hear it. In all honesty, the "Wring" song even scares *me* when I listen to it!

--Erica

Stone Birds

summarization plz. i don't have time to read book-long posts. (sorry)

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VEGANGELICA

Summary:
"Wring" is related to grunge, yes. No, Vegangelica is not a grunge band. I am now the only member, too! My backup singer doesn't feel comfortable with my edgy lyrics such as for "Wring." AwwSugar, I've recorded the song minus drums but never performed it in public.

The song is supposed to show how people can become sadistic (or are sadistic) toward animals, but the underlying message is that *anyone* eating animal products is complicit in what people do to animals and is endorsing and supporting this cruelty (described in the song).
--Erica

Stone Birds

you're from Iowa? what part?

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Stone Birds

I actually live in a small town, i only get to go into the city about once a week. usually spend an hour in Old Market.

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VEGANGELICA

Hello Good People,

Returning to my folk rock origins (leaving metal behind for a moment), here are lyrics for "Africa," which I wrote in June based mostly on observations I made when I visited Kenya and Tanzania 20 years ago and lived in a village for 2 weeks and traveled for 2 more.

I also include in this song more recent information I've gained about the current, historic, political, and geographic causes of continued poverty and malnutrition of many people in in Sub-Saharan Africa. Worldwide 2 billion people live on less than $2 per day and almost 1 billion of those live on less than $1 per day, many in Africa. Low social status of women correlates strongly with people (especially women and children) being poor and malnourished. If you are interested in learning more about Africa, I recommend you view the movies Hotel Rwanda and (absolutely chilling) The Last King of Scotland (about Idi Amin).

Whenever I write lyrics I do so with the tune already in mind, so I have the melody, but slowing me up as I try to convert these lyrics to a full song is that I'm unsure what way to go with the instrumentals. I'm thinking of starting with a simple African sounding beat plus acoustic-sounding clean (electric) guitar that converts to something grittier near the end of the song.

Notes: a kanga is a colorful cloth often used for clothing in East Africa. A zanza is a twangy instrument (you may have made one in elementary school) that has pieces of metal secured over a hole in a sound box. Angelica is a fragrant herb in the carrot family, the roots of which are roasted and used to make tea that is considered protective for women and children.

MUSIC RATING SYSTEM Rating for "Africa" is RI for "Describes the Reality of Injustices in the world today."

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“AFRICA” by Erica

Carry the burden of your heavy load.
Throw banana peels in the dusty road.
Bind your baby to you with your kanga
in Africa.

Work all day in the sweltering fields.
Can’t afford the inputs to get good yields.
Dream about the life in America
in Africa.

Walk two miles to get water from the stream.
Gather firewood to make it boil and steam.
Pound your grain to flour with a grinding stone.
Think what you could buy if you could get a loan.

Cook your corn meal porridge without a stove
out in the yard by the banana grove.
Drink the tea from roots of angelica
in Africa.

Send your barefoot kids in uniforms to school.
Tell them they should never break the golden rule.
Show them wild foods among the flora
in Africa.

Sweep the dirt floor of your mud brick hut.
Wish you had a door and window that shut.
Try not to get malaria
in Africa.

Harvest your maize and your groundnuts.
Take some to the store along muddy ruts.
Hear about a shipment of American grain.
Try to sell your own crops now in vain.

Trade some for shoes to fit your children
and a plastic jug to carry water in
as men in the shade drink a cold fanta
in Africa.

Try to raise the cash to rent your land.
Sell your homemade baskets at a roadside stand,
as your baby sleeps in your kanga
in Africa.

Finish all the chores while the sun is still bright.
Now you and your kids are in the dark of night.
Sing your village songs with the zanza
in Africa.

Try to show your children there is more than toil.
Dance with your bare feet on the dusty soil.
With the moon replacing lantern kerosene oil,
celebrate the tribe to which you are loyal.

See so many stars it makes the heavens seem near.
Think of all you love despite the hard life here.
Gather in these moments of euphoria
in Africa.

In the morning cook ugali corn meal mush.
Try to get your tearless crying baby to hush.
Roast the roots and leaves of cassava
in Africa.

Visit the woman-child health center.
Wait in line to see the tired nurse mentor
for treatment for your baby’s diarrhea
in Africa.

Wish the government would give you property rights
so you could make improvements like water pumps and lights.
Watch your taxes used to shrink the government’s debt
to former colonizers not paid off yet.

See your country’s riches going to the West.
Hear them telling you that it is for the best.
Think, why don’t we live like in America
in Africa?

Try to find enough for your family to eat.
At the market see the vendors selling bush meat,
showing off the hands of a gorilla
in Africa.

Learn that in the neighboring village
rebels have arrived to rape and pillage,
slaughtering your people in this area
of Africa.

Pack a few belongings and try to flee
with your children away from the machete
of the warlords plundering the countryside
as nations are debating, is it genocide?

You carried the burden of your heavy load,
but you end up dead in the dusty road
with your baby beside you in your kanga
in Africa.

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Hi, Stone Birds,
Yes, I've been to the Old Market in Omaha...went to an art store (I love art) and an Italian restaurant. I've enjoyed the Omaha zoo, as well. Omaha is a fun place to visit.
--Erica

Shivs

“AFRICA” by Erica

Carry the burden of your heavy load.
Throw banana peels in the dusty road.
Bind your baby to you with your kanga
in Africa.

Work all day in the sweltering fields.
Can’t afford the inputs to get good yields.
Dream about the life in America
in Africa.

Walk two miles to get water from the stream.
Gather firewood to make it boil and steam.
Pound your grain to flour with a grinding stone.
Think what you could buy if you could get a loan.

Cook your corn meal porridge without a stove
out in the yard by the banana grove.
Drink the tea from roots of angelica
in Africa.

Send your barefoot kids in uniforms to school.
Tell them they should never break the golden rule.
Show them wild foods among the flora
in Africa.

Sweep the dirt floor of your mud brick hut.
Wish you had a door and window that shut.
Try not to get malaria
in Africa.

Harvest your maize and your groundnuts.
Take some to the store along muddy ruts.
Hear about a shipment of American grain.
Try to sell your own crops now in vain.

Trade some for shoes to fit your children
and a plastic jug to carry water in
as men in the shade drink a cold fanta
in Africa.

Try to raise the cash to rent your land.
Sell your homemade baskets at a roadside stand,
as your baby sleeps in your kanga
in Africa.

Finish all the chores while the sun is still bright.
Now you and your kids are in the dark of night.
Sing your village songs with the zanza
in Africa.

Try to show your children there is more than toil.
Dance with your bare feet on the dusty soil.
With the moon replacing lantern kerosene oil,
celebrate the tribe to which you are loyal.

See so many stars it makes the heavens seem near.
Think of all you love despite the hard life here.
Gather in these moments of euphoria
in Africa.

In the morning cook ugali corn meal mush.
Try to get your tearless crying baby to hush.
Roast the roots and leaves of cassava
in Africa.

Visit the woman-child health center.
Wait in line to see the tired nurse mentor
for treatment for your baby’s diarrhea
in Africa.

Wish the government would give you property rights
so you could make improvements like water pumps and lights.
Watch your taxes used to shrink the government’s debt
to former colonizers not paid off yet.

See your country’s riches going to the West.
Hear them telling you that it is for the best.
Think, why don’t we live like in America
in Africa?

Try to find enough for your family to eat.
At the market see the vendors selling bush meat,
showing off the hands of a gorilla
in Africa.

Learn that in the neighboring village
rebels have arrived to rape and pillage,
slaughtering your people in this area
of Africa.

Pack a few belongings and try to flee
with your children away from the machete
of the warlords plundering the countryside
as nations are debating, is it genocide?

You carried the burden of your heavy load,
but you end up dead in the dusty road
with your baby beside you in your kanga
in Africa.

----------------------------------------

Heeeey Vegangelica, nice work! This is a pretty interesting piece, no doubt. Still though, I don't really understand the flow of the lyrics, but I'm sure it'll turn out great, man! Two things that I thought were pretty sick were the first stanza and the last stanza, and how they sort of contrast eachother yet stay the same. I don't know how to explain it, dude, it just sounds good to me. Another thing I enjoyed was the use of african life, and the inclusion of what I think is Darfur in the second last stanza. Excellent job, man. Do you have a YouTube or anything like that so I could hear the songs?

Stone Birds

i am a fan of folk, i hope to hear this recorded
maybe you could make a demo?

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