After “Unite The Right” demonstrations by white nationalists led to violence this past weekend in Charlottesville, Virginia, Wilco have released a new song titled “All Lives, You Say?” The digital track is designed to raise money for the Southern Poverty Law Center.
The band posted the track to Bandcamp last night (August 14), stating that it could be downloaded with a $1 donation. All of the proceeds that the band collects will be donated to the center in memory of lead singer Jeff Tweedy’s father, Robert L. Tweedy, who passed away this year.
“My dad was named after a Civil War general, and he voted for Barack Obama twice,” Tweedy writes on the band’s homepage. “He used to say ‘If you know better, you can do better.’ America — we know better. We can do better.”
The post makes no mention of Charlottesville, but its pointed lyrics and timing strongly point to the entire ordeal. “Your skin’s so thin/Your heart has escaped,” Tweedy fires over a stripped-down folksy waltz.
Check out the song on the bandcamp below. Featured Jeff Tweedy photo by Matthew Shelter for Vanyaland, from last month’s Newport Folk Festival.
