No Birthdays This Year

by OK Koala

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about

This song was made in an attempt to capture some of the spirit of 2020. Between COVID-19 and police violence, we've been met with death at every turn this year, and those of us who've lived through it all have been trapped in our homes and often, for the most marginalized among us, met with violence outside of them. It makes celebrating birthdays or other happy occasions seem futile when there is so much death and suffering. This is one of my first attempts at being overtly political, but things in the world are too important to ignore. Please don't let this be okay. Please don't let us return to "normal" as if our old lives weren't a constant struggle against corrupted power, as if that power hasn't continued to thrive during the pandemic while the people who provide its profit waste away. Now is not the time to be silent. Join the fight in any way you can. Do not let injustice thrive in your own communities. We have to band together to stop it.

"Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot,
Nothing is going to get better, it's not."
-Dr. Seuss, The Lorax

Once costs have been covered for the production and release of this single, a percentage of all additional profits will be donated to various protester bail funds and GoFundMes for the families of victims of police brutality.

This song is dedicated to the memory of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and all other Black victims of police brutality. Black lives matter.

lyrics

Spring has been long, and it's getting old
Summer is gone, and autumn's on hold
I wanna run, but I cannot leave
But I'm not the one with a reason to grieve

Thousands have dropped right in our midst
The future's in limbo; it doesn't exist
Time is a blur, but long are the days
I'm in a hole, holding my face

I'm drawn into the mattress; days are short but without end
Writing IOUs on birthday cards that I'll forget to send
Someone please reset the timeline, turn it off then on again

There's not enough room to bury the dead
When cowards in blue are spilling the red
The hand of the badge murders and steals
This is a scab time alone will not heal

He was smothered on the pavement 'til his breath was at an end
And her twenty-seventh birthday cards they'll never get to send
Someone please erase this timeline, wind it back and start again

credits

released December 18, 2020
All vocals and instruments, production, tracking, and mixing by OK Koala
Mastering by Kirk Tinnel
News clip sample taken from a CBS Evening News video, 5/24/2020
Protest chant sample taken from field recording at a Black Lives Matter protest in Nashville, 9/26/2020
Artwork by Hana Behrs

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OK Koala Nashville, Tennessee

Warmly cathartic pop-punk/alternative band from Nashville, currently composed of Logan Flanagan, Carter Tarr, Rose Berry, and Caison Rogers

Debut album out now!

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