BLACKING
UP
This is a call of some actors
in the movies
Like Daniel Day Lewis who felt he had to prove his
Acting craftsmanship in My Left Foot
Couldn't that've been done by someone more suit able
Not bodied but experienced in the soul
The role we're told not really believable see
From an actor that really had cerebral palsy
D'you remember when the white excuse for Othello
Was 'Black actors don't have that Shakespearean word flow'
In reality knowing Desdemona kissed his white lips
Allowed the fantasy to be upheld by liberal racists
Well their attitude's the same towards us cripples and freaks
They want make up, prostheses, and thespian techniques.
An able bodied actor takes the rostrum to applause-
You justify apartheid by giving an award?
And for all the "Come on now, this man's hysterical with hatred"
What ELSE d'you call it whan your'e ostracised, denied and segregated?
Todd Browning, Lon Chaney, and Christopher Walken,
Have all been paid from the Piggies bank by givin' us aporkin'
Lon Chaney's Quasimodo played as Esmarelda's clown
Todd Browning liked to keep his freaks humiliated, down
To the actor's who, through playing a crip, had their career crowned
Like Mr Day-Lewis-the price was right? Well come in fucking down.
Now of course you get the actors who will say
"But a part removed from one's own self is interesting to play!"
Well of course it is; I don't resent a study of the art
Just why d'you have to take OUR jobs, ensemble Escariot?
We're here now, and we can act, so the A.B.'s all can flee
We've got Poitiers ready to rock, and I'm feeling a bit Spike Lee
Yes, the parallel I'm making is of BLACKING UP for an actor
'Cos to us that's how it is, now see how we react-ah
While your'e earning money onstage, blackin up
The angry crips are in the wings, their fury stackin up
And frankly, my dears, we give a damn and it finds me cracking up
No more to be shut out it's heart to be cut out: The glee of hacking up!
So! Ladies and gents of the
Stage Film and Television today
The personal politics of responsibilty MUST come in to play
'Cos producers directors the profit collectors have our involvement prevented
We ask YOU to boycott playing us or be resented.
Cos law and culture see nothing wrong; why can't you wake up?
THE ACTING WINE TASTES GOOD SO MOVE THE FUCK AWAY FROM MY CUP
And finally, to the actor playing "The Cripple of Inishman"
See if we ever meet pal? YOU BETTER REMEMBER HOW TO RUN..
Tracklist.
- Thalidomide Ninja
- Yin & Yang
- 30 Something Telegraph Reader
- Survival of the Shittest
- Outsiders
- Don't Fuck With Us
- Civil Rights
- Good Day
- Verbatum Vomit
- Blacking Up
- Dreams of Justice
- Bones of a Dog
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