Kevin Recommends: “SOS” performed by Portishead

So like, we all know that the original ABBA version of “SOS” is great. Its upbeat tune, contrasted with the desperate lyrics — it’s a classic for a reason.

However.

Sometimes you need gloom.

And today, I think we need a little gloom.

A couple years back, in the midst of all the build-up to the Brexit vote, things went fucking insane in the UK, and an MP named Jo Cox was killed — shot and stabbed multiple times — by some fucking extreme right-wing asshole who I won’t name (may he rot painfully in prison). The event stuck to me, haunted me. It reminded me so sharply of Gabby Giffords in Arizona. “Surely,” I thought, “the fine folk of the UK saw that event and will do better. They will see how out of hand this Brexit madness has grown, and will choose a spirit of community over populist-sensationalism. I’m sure of it.”

When the Brexit vote eventually passed, I was floored.

How could people still go ahead with the “yes” vote, knowing that they were standing alongside people like the murderous piece of shit who’d kill someone to push their own political agenda?

It shook me.

It’s still shaking me.

Every time people can willingly look the other way in regard to any politician’s overtly evil actions to justify their own selfish worldview, it shakes my faith in humanity even more.

These are truly trying days as an American, let me tell you.

When I get shaken too badly, I turn to this version of the song for resolve. Originally recorded for the movie High Rise, the video below was released by Portishead in response to the murder of Jo Cox — a call to action and an appeal to common decency that went unheeded.

I think it will haunt you, as it haunts me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVe-9VWIcCo(Song recommendation by Kevin D. Woodall)