Daniel Kahn & The Painted Bird - “Freedom Is A Verb“ (official video)

Directed by Patrícia Bateira From Daniel Kahn & The Painted Bird’s album “The Butcher’s Share“ Release concert November 10, 2017 at Maxim Gorki Theater Berlin Info: Official CD/LP/Digital release November 17, 2017 on Oriente Musik Info: Follow on FB: TOUR Jan-Feb 2018 Germany / Switzerland / Austria Info: Video produced with support from Maxim Gorki Theater’s Studio Я featuring Daniel Kahn - vocals, accordion (piano, guitar) Christian Dawid - saxes, clarinets Michael Tuttle - bass Hampus Melin - drums Hussein AL Shatheli Kenda Hmeidan Karim Daoud AK Spaniel “Shmonik“ Lapsker On record: Dan Blacksberg - trombone Psoy Korolenko - back vocals Michael Alpert- back vocals Costumes Sofia Vannini Make-up Spyros Prosoparis Grading Tobias Schaarschmidt Post-Produntion Assistant Melina Pafundi Thanks to Studio Я / Maxim Gorki Theater Exil Ensemble 25p Cine Support Studio Mitte Postproduktion Eva Lapsker Monica Marotta Luís Alves Video © Patrícia Bateira / Daniel Kahn 2017 Music & Lyrics © Daniel Kahn 2016 Lyrics: You can fight a war with drones, you can fight a war with loans, You can fight a war with gas, or cans of paint. But don’t you realize that the game is compromised If you think that this is something that it ain’t. Cause we got images of murder that don’t manage to disturb, An international order that is bordering absurd, And no one gets the freedom they were told that they deserve Til they realize that freedom’s not a noun: IT’S A VERB, IT’S A VERB, FREEDOM IS A VERB, SOMETHING NEVER FINISHED, NEVER DONE. IT’S SOMETHING YOU MUST MAKE, IT’S SOMETHING YOU MUST TAKE, IT’S SOMETHING YOU MUST CONSTANTLY BECOME. This weekend revolution, it’s a radical inclusion, It’s a holiday of popular revolt. It’s the social interaction of inconsequential actions, Using faces to replace a silent vote. But lower pay and higher rent’s another kind of violence: The violence of silence and of greed, The violence of feeling your irrelevance revealing Every way in which you never will be freed. IT’S A VERB, IT’S A VERB, AN ACTION AND AN URGE, AS FERTILE AS THE BARREL OF A GUN. IT HAPPENS OUT OF NEED, IT’S A FIRE AND A SEED, AND ITS TERRIBLE POTENTIAL HAS BEGUN. Well they tell you that your liberty is constantly in jeopardy, It’s something you must loyally defend. But isn’t it demeaning when your well-intended meanings mean Your means will have to justify your ends? So improvise a barricade of furniture cascading. It’s a carnival of helmets in the flood. For bottles can be filled with either gasoline, or lager, Or detergent that’ll wash away your blood. IT’S A VERB, IT’S A VERB, FREEDOM IS A VERB, SOMETHING NEVER FINISHED, NEVER DONE. IT’S SOMETHING YOU CAN FAKE, AND IT’S SOMETHING THAT’LL BREAK IF IT AIN’T SOMETHING THAT YOU CONSTANTLY BECOME. IT’S A VERB, IT’S A VERB, AN ACTION AND AN URGE, AS FERTILE AS THE BARREL OF A GUN. IT HAPPENS OUT OF NEED, IT’S A FIRE AND A SEED, AND ITS TERRIBLE POTENTIAL HAS BEGUN.