The Killers make U.S. Refugee Crisis statement with Spike Lee - Noise11.com
The Killers photo by Anton Corbijn

The Killers photo by Anton Corbijn

The Killers make U.S. Refugee Crisis statement with Spike Lee

by Paul Cashmere on January 15, 2019

in News

The Killers have created a new stand-alone song ‘Land of the Free’ and then collaborated with director Spike Lee to put a powerful statement into the US marketplace.

While America is at crisis stage with its refugee problem it still ignores its internal gun crisis. ‘Land of the Free’ addresses America’s cruelty to not only those outside its borders but also its own citizens. “We’ve got a problem with guns / In the land of the free”.

About refugees the song says “Down at the border / They’re gonna put up a wall / With concrete and rebar steel beams / High enough to keep all those filthy hands off of our hopes and our dreams / People who just want the same thing we do”

Spike Lee filmed the scenes along the US/Mexico border in late 2018 capturing actual migrants families suffering as they are denied freedom.

‘Land of the Free’ was produced by Jacknife Lee at The Killers Battle Born Studios in Las Vegas. The gospel choir is Lynn Mabry, Dorian Holley, Will Wheaton, Sherree Patrice Brown, Akasha Mabry with The Killers’ touring vocalists Amanda Brown, Danielle René Withers and Erica Canales.

Land of the Free lyrics

Can’t wipe that wind blown smile from across my face
It’s just the old man and me
Washing his truck at the Sinclair station
In the land of the free

His mother Adeline’s family came on a ship
Cut coal and planted a seed
Down in them drift mines of Pennsylvania
In the land of the free
In land of the free

When I go out in my car I don’t think twice,
But if you’re the wrong color skin
You grow up looking over both your shoulders
In the land of the free

And we got more people locked up than the rest of the world
Right here in red white and blue
Incarceration’s become big business
And it’s harvest time out on the avenue
In the land of the free
Move on, there’s nothing to see

So how many daughters?
Tell me how many sons
Do we have to put in the ground
Before we just break down and face it?
We’ve got a problem with guns
In the land of the free

Down at the border
They’re gonna put up a wall
With concrete and rebar steel beams
High enough to keep all those filthy hands off of our hopes and our dreams
People who just want the same thing we do

In the land of the free

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