Five Times August, o projecto de música de intervenção do norte-americano Brad Skistimas, já devia ter tocado no gira-discos do Contra há que tempos, mas, por uma razão ou por outra – que é sempre a mesma, o número de horas que há num dia – só agora, a propósito da missa de finados que acaba de lançar, colocamos a agulha na estria certa.

Mas o compositor merece contexto e por isso devemos recuar um pouco no tempo.

Desde a pandemia que Brad tem vindo a compor magníficos lamentos pela civilização em geral e pelo seu triste país em particular. Em 2021, lançou “Jesus… What Happened To Us”, uma trova que denunciava a queda civilizacional no charco da tirania, o fascismo pandémico, o autoritarismo das elites, a hipnose mediática e a correspondente transformação da cidadania em pecuária. O gentil leitor, a estimada leitora, vão perdoar o carácter exaustivo deste artigo, mas, dada a qualidade lírica dos versos em causa, seria imperdoável não os transcrever integralmente.

 

Jesus… What Happened To Us

Shut your mouth, get in line
Just behave or pay the fine
They’re pulling on your backbone
And taking out your spine

They want you weak, don’t speak
Don’t question, don’t think
Keep staring at your smart phone
Get dumber every week

Now give up your freedom and shush
Oh Jesus, what happened to us?

Leave the church, kill your faith
Judge the skin and learn to hate
Make yourself the enemy
But call yourself a saint

Learn the rules, be a fool
Remove your kid from school
And apologize for everything
Apologize for you

Now give the TV all of your trust
Oh Jesus, what happened to us?

Mark, Jack, Bill, Joe
They’ll tell you what you need to know
They give you your permissions
And tell you where to go

Lights, camera, action, edit
We’re so pathetic
You believe it ‘cause you watched it
You believe it ‘cause they said it

Now everybody stay home and rust
Oh Jesus, what happened to us?

We used to stand and fight
We had a voice alright
We had a life worth living
We had a damn worth giving

Now we’re watching it fall
That’s the truth of it all
So shut your mouth, get in line
Just behave or pay the fine

They’re pulling on your backbone
And taking out your spine
They want you weak, don’t speak
Don’t question, don’t think

Keep staring at your smart phone
Get dumber every week

Don’t nobody put up a fuss
Oh Jesus, what’s happened to us?

Oh Jesus
Jesus, what happened to us?

 

Em 2022, Bob Moran, de longe o mais poderoso e inspirado cartonista conservador contemporâneo, criou a célebre ilustração “Fight For You”, como forma de protesto contra os mandatos de vacinação e sua obscena e criminosa incidência nas crianças.

Inspirado no talento de Moran, Brad compôs esta balada lindíssima:

 

Fight For You

Through the madness and the lies
As they’re holding back the truth
No matter what they try
I will always fight for you

I will save your innocence
They are trying to remove
I am here at your defense
And I will always fight for you

Yes I will always fight for you
I will stand here in the way
And I will not give up on you
I will shield you from the pain

In the battle on the field
There is evil on the move
But I hope that you can feel
That I will always fight for you

In the darkness of the times
There’s a light that shines the proof
It’ll soon reveal the crimes
So I won’t stop this fight for you

Yes I will always fight for you
I will brave every attack
And I will not give up on you
I will always have your back

So to every single mother, father
Stand up for your sons and daughters
Do not back down, don’t let up
You are all they have for armor
So make this a war to win
Look in their eyes and tell them

That I will always fight for you
I will stand guard at the gate
And I will not give up on you
I will stop each shot they take

Yes, I will always fight for you
I will always fight for you

 

Ainda em 2022, o autor fez público um tema que serve de hino conservador em qualquer lugar do mundo e em qualquer momento do tempo: criticando com ironia abundante a equívoca utilização da linguagem e a perversa inversão da semântica da esquerda radical dos tempos que correm, este rhythm and blues de grande simplicidade harmónica e brutal eficácia lírica, que podia muito bem servir de banda sonora ao ContraCultura, demonstra por a+b que os verdadeiros fascistas são os que acusam toda a gente de fascismo.

A propósito deste clip, graficamente muito bem construído e editado, há que dizer que a maior parte dos vídeos de Five Times August são também da autoria de Brad Skistimas, que é completamente um criativo multidisciplinar.

 

Anti-Fascist Blues

Everybody head down
Pick yourself a pronoun
Join the resistance
On government assistance
Stop all the hate
As you advocate violence
Block and suppress
Anyone you want silenced
Take what you want
‘Cause what you want
Is what you’re owed
Call everyone a fascist
‘Til they’re all controlled

Preach in the street
For the communist party
Pro choice, no voice
Never mind the heart beat
Dictate, race bait
Agitate, mandate
Dress in drag and burn the flag
Then run to find a safe space
Tell us how you feel
Until we give you what you need
Call everyone oppressive
‘Til they’re on their knees

Impeach free speech
Better dye your hair pink
TV, phone screen
It’s better if you don’t think
Debt to university
Segregate diversity
Give yourself a ribbon
Every time you face adversity
Find another problem
Tell yourself you’re not alone
Tell everyone who’s straight
That they’re all transphobe

Defund police
No guns, oh please
Fight for your right
To start a war
Until there’s no peace
Take it down, tear it up
It’s in the name of progress
Make the rule you never lose
‘Til everything is lawless
Tell me what to think
And how to feel and where to go
‘Cause everyone’s a fascist
‘Til they’re all controlled

Find your path in life
But make it socio or psycho
Nonsense, wokeness
You’re gonna lose your mind though
Bigotry, insanity
An ally, or an enemy
There’s too much masculinity
So wave goodbye to family
Represent the one percent
Who want to overthrow
‘Til everybody lives
In an autonomous zone

Act tough, steal stuff
Smash another window
Loot store, get more
Grab another brick, throw
She/Her/He/Him
They/Them/Xe/Xem
Women are the men now
And the men are now the women
Make yourself a slave
Until you feel like you are free
Dig yourself a grave
For The American Dream

 

De regresso ao presente do indicativo e à razão fubndamental deste texto: na semana passada, Five Times August lançou um tema que anuncia o falecimento do Rock’n Roll e que visa a indústria musical, acusando artistas como Mick Jagger, John Legend e os Foo Fighters de se venderem à indústria farmacêutica e aos mandatos de vacinação e confinamento durante a pandemia.

A canção anuncia que o rock não existe, que os blues perderam a alma, que o punk já não luta contra os poderes instituídos e que o pop é não mais que comércio. As estrelas rebeldes de outrora brilham com o ouro dos grandes conglomerados económicos e dobram-se às ordens das elites. E quando os Rage Against The Machine não permitiam que os não vacinados assistissem aos seus concertos onde é que ficou a raiva perante a máquina? E onde foi arrumada a necessária rebeldia do Rock, quando os Kaiser Chiefs (ou “Pfizer Chiefs”) lideravam as multidões com gritos de:

“Deixem-me ouvir se tomaram a vacina da Pfizer! Quero ouvir Moderna! AstraZeneca!”

Tanto mais que até os dinossauros que nos convenceram da honestidade da sua inquietude se transformaram em agentes das narrativas oficiais, pelo que não só temos razões para duvidar da honestidade dos “rebeldes” contemporâneos como nos devemos perguntar pela sinceridade dos “renegados” do século XX.

Depois de terem abandonado completamente a sua atitude anti-sistema, os ídolos da indústria musical de ontem e de hoje passaram rapidamente a servos do poder e vai daí, a morte do Rock.

Um tema explosivo, pungente, e assertivo como uma lâmina afiada pelo ferreiro de um samurai.

 

There Ain’t No Rock and Roll

Well there ain’t no rock and roll
eversince they sold out Rolling Stone
all the words that were sung in the past
will never feel the same when we’re looking back

All the old men sitting in their make up chair
with the gold record walls really couldn’t care
all the fame feels the same when you’ve had enough
so they don’t bother standing up

And there ain’t no peace & love
ever since the 60s kids grew up
all the drugs and the girls and the cash
after all the songs it was gone in a flash

All those bad boy rebels and the attitude
what a show we didn’t know that none of it was true
All the self serve anti-establishment
we were all so innocent

Because there ain’t no rock and roll
and the blues has lost its soul
all the punks gave the man control
and every pop star’s bought and sold

No, there ain’t no, ain’t no rock and roll
and there ain’t no Joni, no Bob
no one stuck around for their protest job

All the stars and the Big Farma whores
shillin’ for a check from their corporate chores
all the actors say what they’re paid to say
while the fans take the blame

All the once cool fools that were me and you
well they pushed us all away

Because there ain’t no rock and roll
and the blues has lost its soul
all the punks gave the man control
and every pop star’s bought and sold

No, there ain’t no, ain’t no rock and roll
and there ain’t no Boss no Queen
never was a rage against the damn machine
no there ain’t no fighter in the Foo
no more rocking in those free world shoes

All the high strung Neil Young wannabes
yeah their Silence has been deafening
all the suits lick the boots of the government
what they sang they never meant

Because there ain’t no rock and roll
and the blues has lost its soul
all the punks gave the man control
and every pop star’s bought and sold

No, there ain’t no, ain’t no rock and roll
No, there ain’t no, ain’t no rock and roll
No, there ain’t no, ain’t no rock and roll
No, there ain’t no, ain’t no rock and roll

 

Five Times August. A orquestra de um homem só, que canta a verdadeira raiva contra o sistema.