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Tributary #20: "Anacostia"

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13 Aug 2021> stream #20 on Tributaries = «Anacostia»—the lesser known (+ more polluted) brother of Potomac that runs thru the SE before joining w/ Potomac at Buzzard Pt > we've bin told more than 1x that Sound Furies sound like stoner or desert rock, so figured we shd live up 2 our reputation in this song > whereas most of the other tributaries use DADA (or EBEB) tunning, 4 «Anacostia» we tuned our guitar EGEGGE (tho most desert rock guitarists down-tune the top string 2 D)

> guess @ least lyrically this song started as an anti-tribute of sorts 2 PJ Harvey, who also wrote a song called «Anacostia» off The Hope Six Demolition Project (2016), where she lumped DC in w/ Kosovo + Afghanistan as for its general shitiness + goes on about how fucked up DC is in it's gentrification (w/out offering solutions) > we love PJ but she shd stick to her one backyard... not that we got any business writing a song about Anacostia but we've lived in D.C. since 2015, never in Anacostia but spent a year or 2 in the SE quadrant + used 2 run along the Anacostia river on both sides + have walked around Anacostia plenty w/out needing 2 be accompanied by journalists + a film crew 2 document how u was there > we don't offer solutions neither (tho we donate 2 the The Anacostia River Clean Up + Protection Fund when we do our taxes) but we never pretend 2 make any statements w/ anything we do

> musically we 1st recorded a mandolin track which eventually we deleted (except in the middle bridge part u can still hear remnants) + replaced it w/ heavier guitar (actually acoustic) > that's Jeff Buckley @ the beginning ominously singing «+ i'll float w/ the river, where so many have gone» (from an unreleased track of his called «river of dope»... weird timing, cuz in our last post we happened 2 be journaling about him cuz it was a transcribed entry from when we were in Memphis in early 2000 + was walking along the Mississippi where Buckley went swimming for the last time (@ least on this earth)

Anacostia

innercoastal waterways reach
from Spuyten Duyvil to Savu Sea
from toilet's flush to nasoni sips
the Roman baths connect languid lips

ain't no dog gonna pee in no well
chasing zebras thru the gates of hell
in your PJs, u wade in the water
unlike HR, u ain't from here

ermine furs adorn severed arms
the Avon lady sells bodily harm
the green line underground was last to be built
their river polluted to the hilt

tainted trains, a restaurant dearth
a humun stain on the face of the earth
oil spills, roots cracking the concrete
where bald eagles can't make ends meat

the land accosts us
the banks rob us
the taps deplete the clouds release
damned if u do
damned if u don't
the dams complete the damned quandary

+ hear's the video :

> Stream #21: «Manú»

910 <(current)> 912 > book/passenger locator forms 4 the final countdown according 2 patron saints
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