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Hiss Golden Messenger: Stones (For George Floyd)

Stones (for George Floyd) is a melancholic track released on Instagram by M.C. Taylor, the folk singer-songwriter known as Hiss Golden Messenger, and whose lyrics directly address George Floyd’s murder. Before performing the song, Taylor stated on Instagram: “I watched the video of George Floyd being murdered by those cops in Minneapolis, and I felt sick”.

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And now the cops are protecting the killer. There’s people crying all around the door. Another brother brought down, the message couldn’t be clearer: The system don’t work for you. And the fires will be burning long after the flames die, when there’s no news left to sell. Hey, it’s hot in the streets when they got you on the asphalt. It’s hot when you’re living in Hell. You pick up a stone. You pick up another. You work until your back can’t work no more. You tried to build a little home, now I think we’re gonna find out other things that stones are for. If it ain’t peace, I don’t know the way out. Real peace. We need police protection, not some kind of legislator seeking re-election. Real peace. I wanna go down singing songs by the river. I wanna tell y’all about something good. But if you only feel tall when your neighbor’s on his knees, I’ve gotta sing a different song for you. So burn, baby, burn, it’s the lesson that they’re learning. It sounds like the governor’s gotta learn a little more. Hey, it’s hot in the streets when they’ve got you on the asphalt. It’s hot when you’re living in Hell. You pick up a stone. You pick up another. You work ‘til your back is sore. You’d rather build a home but now I think we’re gonna find out other things that stones are for.

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