We Live Here by Bob Vylan (2020)

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We Live Here Cover

The Black Lives Matter movement reached its new heights following the killing of George Floyd on May 25th. Floyd was an African-American man who was killed by a white police officer in Minneapolis. This incident caused mass protests around the world including in the UK.

Though their new EP was too extreme to release as the theme about spanning from police brutality to fear-mongering in the media, upon its released the frontman Bobby Vylan said, “this project is scarily relevant to the climate we are living in right now and we didn’t want to wait another day!”

We Live Here is as a reflection of the current situations about frustration and pain. The release ends with Moment of Silence which plays out dead air. [1]

Bob Vylan

Key Lyrics

Free school dinners for the poor

Pizza with a side of misery

Teachers said when I leave

No one here will miss me

Didn't know I was a sinner

But if they say so, well I must be

Big lips, wide nose

God knows no one will trust me

Mum don't look like me

But thank God she still loved me

Neighbours called me nigga

Told me "go back to my own country"

Said since we arrived

This place has got so ugly

But this is my fucking country

And it's never been fucking lovely [2]

Black Empowerment

The song was originally inspired by Bobby Vylan's young daughter who randomly announced ‘We live here!’ when playing in the family’s front room.

“She often says very beautiful things with very little reason behind it,” he explains with a laugh. “But I knew it was going to be the title for something. Eventually, I came to the conclusion that she’ll have the same experience that I did. One day someone will call her ‘n—r,’ and I can’t shield her from that.”

The song specifically addresses racism, while the album’s whole theme talking about the UK indictment and its ridiculous monarchy, by tracks like “England’s Ending,” “Lynch Your Leaders” and the serpentine “Intro,” on which Vylan intones, “The price of life is on the rise/ And this country is making a killing.

“This is the England I know,” he explains. “I was born here, but when someone calls you ‘n—r’ at a very young age, you realize you’re never gonna be English in that sense. I’m in this country, but not of it. You have to come to grips with that. But the other side of that is, ‘No—fuck that. This is my country.’ There’s no ‘Go back to where you come from.’ This is where I come from. I am England. This is what England looks like now.” [3]

We Live Here is an album released by London-based duo, Bob Vylan, that is the collection of songs that talk about racism, police brutality and socioeconomic divide, ripping the UK apart. The song with the same name of the album, is lyrically straight point "Remember Stephen Lawrence / he too was free to roam / eighteen years-old at the bus stop / murdered on his way home.” [4]

References

  1. Bob Vylan – ‘We Live Here’ review: anarchic London punks that the music industry deemed “too extreme”. Retrieved January 18, 2021
  2. We Live Here Bob Vylan. Genius. Retrived January 18, 2021
  3. Bennett, J. On “We Live Here,” UK Grime-Punk Bob Vylan Gives Racism the Finger. Daily Band Camp. June 25, 2020. Retrieved January 18, 2021
  4. We Live Here Bob Vylan. Rough Trade. Retrieved January 18, 2021