We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.
/

  • Streaming + Download

    Purchasable with gift card

     

about

"Agency" was inspired by Toni Morrison and Harper Lee. Beats courtesy The Loop Loft.

lyrics

1.
Toni reads the New York Times with a
pencil in hand and a poet's eye
She picks through the language upon the pages
Patiently.
She kills some words quickly; some, she lets suffer.
She be laughing as she slashes [through] others
But the laughter is not fun.
It is agency.

2.
She be laughing on the regular
At them that try to edit her.
All of their so-called improvements just be
Deleterious.
They change her titles, even changed her name
They make it worse; she takes the blame.
So her laughter is not silly.
It is serious.

3.
She finds yet another editor's crime.
So Toni begins to fantasize
About the reprimand.
She say: "Y'all got some nerve to capitalize
The final word in Paradise
What part of my Nobel Prize
do you not understand?"
But Toni's too cool to say it.
But don't confuse cool with complacency.
Listen for her laughter.
It is agency.

4.
Harper had an editor, too.
Wanted to edit her Daddy.
Wanted to edit the messenger too.
Wanted to end it happy.
Editor be like: "This is not fully conceived.
Don't make him who he was
Make him who we need him to be."
Harper say: "He was both of these men at once."
For thus the Lord said unto Harper Lee
"Go, set a watchman to declare what he see.
Go, set a trap for 2015."
Harper laughs and waits so patiently
Because laughter is an agency.

credits

from Songs About Books About Writers, track released January 1, 2017
The Buggy Jive is:
BT: Vox, Acoustic Guitar, Rising Action
Jennifer: Lead Guitars, Backing Vox, Climax
Cleopatra Jones: Bass, Backing Vox, Falling Action
DJ Lady Mac: Beats, Samples, Synths, Backing Vox, Denouement

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Bryan Thomas image

Bryan Thomas Albany

Nippertown’s Greg Haymes says Albany soul rocker BRYAN THOMAS's "writes smart, and he writes from the heart, balancing intellect, passion and politics.”

The Times Union named him“Best Male Singer-Songwriter” shortly after he released his acoustic hip-hop debut Radio Plastic Jennifer in 1999. The follow-up soul rock epic Ones and Zeros was Metroland Magazine’s “Album of the Year” in 2002. ... more

contact / help

Contact Bryan Thomas

Streaming and
Download help

Redeem code

Report this track or account

If you like Bryan Thomas, you may also like:

Bandcamp Daily  your guide to the world of Bandcamp

On Bandcamp Radio

Fabiana Palladino stops by to talk about her mesmeric debut LP.
listen now