JEREMY SANKEY - LYRIC BREAKDOWN

ballpointpressbne
May 26
8 min read

Words: Joseph Maranta

Images: Luke Johnson @luke.shots

The number of Palestinians murdered by the US-backed Israeli genocide is impossible to measure. The relentless attack on Gazan medical infrastructure prevents proper surveying of the dead while the attacks on civilian infrastructure have left tens of thousands of Palestinians disfigured beyond recognition underneath the rubble.

Current estimates suggest 50,000 Palestinians have been martyred since October 7th, though this number has remained implausibly stagnant since April of 2024.1 As the Israeli Defence Force and Israeli civilians prevent life-saving aid from entering Gaza, communicable diseases, starvation and lack of medical resources will only worsen the already dire situation, resulting in the deaths of tens of thousands of innocent civilians. 2

The level of manufactured consent orchestrated by Western governments and legacy media outlets on behalf of the Israeli government would make Joseph Goebbels blush. Only last Monday, Benjamin Netanyahu detailed his explicit plans for the erasure of Palestinians from their homelands,

"The fighting is intense and we are making progress. We will take control of all the territory of the (Gaza) Strip, we will not give up. But in order to succeed, we must act in a way that cannot be stopped." 3

It should be hard to fathom how an explicit call for ethnic cleansing does not result in an immediate condemnation from the global community, yet, in the last 19 months we have collectively become numb to the words and actions of the Israeli state.

Any criticisms of Israel’s actions are met with smears of anti-semitism, any solidarity with the people of Palestine is marked as radical and anyone who dares platform Palestinian perspectives is erased from the mediasphere of Western nations.

You only have to look at Peter Lalor or Antoinette Lattouf in Australia as examples of how media prominence plays second fiddle to the interests of zionist lobbies in this country. 4

But the most prominent example of how Zionist influence reigns supreme in Australia is Anthony Albanese. Once the head of Australian Parliamentary Friends of Palestine, Albanese now rests his hat on expelling pro-Palestinian members of his party and allowing the sale of F-35 parts to Israel, directly involving Australia in the genocide of Palestinians. 5

As global scrutiny begins to mount on the actions of the Israeli government in Gaza, the complicity shown by governments, media institutions and those in power will unfortunately be forgotten and overlooked by many.

But for some, the image of Ahmad Mansour burning alive, swallowed by flames as he extends his arms out for help, will never be forgotten. 6

The thought of six-year-old Hind Rajab screaming into a phone, pleading with the Palestinian Red Crescent for help as she hides in a car next to her dead cousin, before she too was executed by Israeli soldiers, will never be forgotten. 7

The justification of evil will never be forgotten but the disillusionment with the societal status-quo will forever remain.

JOE: When did you decide to write ‘Che Guevara T-Shirt’?

JEREMY: It was after the death of Mohammad Bhar. I’ve been conscious of what's happening even before the escalation after October 7th, but after hearing how the IDF sent attack dogs on a passive civilian with Down Syndrome, that’s when I could no longer push it out of my mind.

To an extent I tried to avoid writing music about it, especially with Special Features, as I didn’t see us as a political band. I also wrote this song just before the Queensland election, and the two main selling points of the LNP were youth crime and abortions, and I just had this thought of “what are we doing here?”

JOE: You haven’t bit your tongue remotely on this single, but was there any anxiety or fear you felt covering these topics so passionately?

JEREMY: Yeah, not really. It was more so a worry of saying something that was uninformed. There was a bit of chat amongst the band about us directly naming politicians such as David Crisafulli, but we tend to do things on our terms because at the end of the day we do this for our own enjoyment.

But like I said, our biggest concern was that we did this song justice. The topics of this song are pretty heavy so we had to do it properly.

JOE: You’re heavily invested in a lot of sad shit in the world, how do you remain sane in spite of it?

JEREMY: I’m not sure, my life is consumed by a lot of it. Since I study social work, I’m constantly seeing at the QPS locking up children and the homeless being evicted from parks because they can’t afford to rent a house. I’m really deep in it - but I like it. I think having an opinion by itself is what keeps me sane. I know for a fact that my opinions aren’t always well informed, but I have a moral conscience and values I live by, and if something doesn’t align with that then I’m not going to be a bystander.

CHE GUEVARA T-SHIRT LYRICS

I’m getting radicalised by my government’s decisions

I’m thinking of ways to topple our genocidal politicians

I’m getting pushed to the edge and at the top of ASIO’s shortlist

Cos' somehow being against the murder of Palestinians makes me an extremist

And Dave Crisafulli wants a Handmaid’s Tale rerun in Queensland

I’m just glad my sisters don’t live here anymore cos I’d hate for their reproductive rights to be controlled by a man

We’d had the instruments done for this song for a while, and the punchiness of it was perfect for when I began writing this. It was in the hours after I’d read the article on Mohammed Bhar. I think it just naturally flowed on to the mention of David Crisafulli. Having three older sisters and a mother who is a mid wife, it was something which I was very concerned about. I was rewatching the Handmaid’s tale, and having also read the book, it just put into perspective how fast female rights can erode away. I often wonder what the next thing will be and where it will lead us. We're going to end up so far down a hole it’s going to look like fucking Gilead. A lot of what I say in this song is for shock value, I enjoy songs that push it a little with taking the piss out of things. It’s more palatable that way I reckon.

 I wanna wear a che Guevara t-shirt

I wanna wear a che Guevara t-shirt

So I feel beautiful

I wanna wear a che Guevara t-shirt

And I want it to be ethical

I think the idea of someone buying a Che Guevara T Shirt off AliExpress is so ironic, it completely goes against everything the guy stood for. It’s a bit of a dig at left wing politics to be honest.

Remember Perrottet

He dressed up as a nazi above the criminal age

And now Newscorp’s in my ear telling me it’s just a mistake

Dom Perrottet (NSW Premier 2021-2023) dressed up as a NAZI for a 21st, and when it first broke I was blissfully ignorant and didn’t comprehend it fully, but I do remember that it went away pretty quick. I just thought that was strange, and I read a news.com article criticising the notion that he got backlash, arguing that we should just let jokes be jokes, and saying how everyone is offended by everything. But it’s so ironic how conservatives push youth crime so hard, but they’ll make an excuse for someone wearing NAZI insignia over the age of criminal consent.

Where’s my illusion of choice or the freedom of press

We’ve locked up another whistleblower can’t you see this system

 It’s been made to oppress

I wanna wear a che Guevara t-shirt

So i feel beautiful

I wanna wear a che Guevara t-shirt

While I read the courier mail

Way too much of the press in the country is owned by Rupert Murdoch, and I think it creates so much misinformation for people who solely consume his media. It seems hopeless at times, they have so much control and it leads to people like Albanese trying to appease the right. He won’t attack capital gains or any substantive housing policy because he knows how News Corp will spin it and he’ll lose voters. I definitely had an illusion of choice growing up, I used to see Labor different to Liberal, as if it were black and white. But as I’ve grown, I’ve seen the blending of colours between the parties - our choice is centrism or right-wing politics. Independents and Greens are great, but they can’t compete with the backing of the two majors, it’s such an uneven playing ground.

The whistleblower portion is in reference to David McBride. I think his case speaks for itself. Although I don’t fully agree with his politics, I wholly agree with the principles of his actions. The fact he was the only person to be locked up the war crimes he exposed, is a fucking disgrace.

I wanna wear it as I jaywalk past the Enoggera army barracks

I wanna wear it through Arana Hills

I wanna wear it through Adelaide CBD

I wanna wear it through Canberra, The Lodge and Kirribilli

I live around the Enoggera army barracks, and whenever I go for runs nearby I always jaywalk past it. I don’t even know why I do it, as trivial as it is I just figure I’m not waiting for these guys. I think about McBride and remember these guys don’t get held to account. The army is used to oppress, whether it’s the middle east or Timor Leste, I struggle to see the altruism of those military operations. They overthrew a democratically elected leader in Timor Leste, and you don’t do that if you believe in democracy.

Arana Hills is where Peter Dutton’s electorate was. He actively participates in the oppression of Palestinians, and his whole hypocrisy with vouching for Ukrainian refugees and then damning the idea of accepting Palestinian refugees - the only difference between the two is their skin colour.

The Adelaide CBD is where Penny Wong’s office is, and I’ve seen so many examples of her side stepping the criticism of Israel. She has so much power as the foreign affairs minister and I think she is entirely complicit in the genocide because she doesn’t call it out. I don’t care about foreign relations, if people need to die for our sustainment then we should find another way to sustain ourselves.

Canberra, The Lodge and Kirribilli, well Albo has to be there somewhere. He’s the Prime Minister of the country and used to be vehemently pro Palestinian and now he has to tow this fucking line. I think that’s why he hates Max Chandler-Mathers so much, he sees himself in Max. He sees how far he’s strayed from his own morals.

JOE: Do you think it’s fitting that your single launch is the final gig at The Bearded Lady?

JEREMY: Yeah, I feel a huge level of responsibility honestly. It’s fitting though, I think the song is a spoken form of resistance and in Brisbane our culture is being choked by closures such as this. We lost Season Three earlier in the year and now we’ve lost the Beardo’. Venues like that, you can have such great conversations with like minded people and us losing that space is another form of us losing unity especially as artists. The lyrics of this song don’t necessarily tie into The Beardo’s closure, but it is about disillusionment and frustration too - and that reflects how a lot of people feel about The Beardo closing. It’s so tragic.

JOE: Do you have a message you want to pass on to Jamie?

JEREMY: I just want to thank him for all he’s done. I’m so grateful to him, the venue is so special in Brisbane. New venues like the Fortitude Music Hall are great, but it hasn’t got its soul yet and it doesn’t do a whole lot for emerging bands. I couldn’t think of a better place to play at or to have a beer at then The Bearded Lady, everytime I’m in West End I’d make a point of popping in. The significance of what he’s done for the Brisbane music scene should never be lost on Jamie. Bands in Brisbane have all grown together, and it’s a meeting spot for so many musicians in this city. It’s our version of the Central Perk.