‘Boots on the ground‘ not on Spotify

Massive Attack have put out a statement the track 'Boots on the ground' is their first music distributed under a “Spotify exemption policy“. The band also says further releases are “scheduled prior and subsequent to the band’s run of live performances, including their forthcoming European tour and summer festival headlines“. 

Alongside the Boots on the ground video, Massive Attack will publish an exclusive spoken word reflection on the themes of the work from novelist Omar El Akkad, author of the novels American War and What Strange Paradise. 

‘Boots on the ground‘ vinyl edition available for pre-order

The Tom Waits - Massive Attack song Boots on the ground will be available on vinyl. You can pre-order it at the Waits store.

 The press release: 

This ‘EcoSonic’ edition will be 180g vinyl in colors, red, white and blue and are packed at random.

Side A:

Boots On The Ground (Tom Waits x Massive Attack collaboration song)

Side B:

The Fly (Tom Waits spoken word track. Exclusive to vinyl.)

Today Massive Attack is sharing their collaboration with Tom Waits, "Boots on the Ground." And sadly for all, their song is never more urgent and timely. The song chronicles the madness and rabid abandonment of mankind to the commands of " The Masters of War”, as Dylan put it. It marks Massive Attack's first new music since 2020 and Waits’s first new recording since the 2011 album, Bad As Me.

The song is available today on streaming platforms, and will be followed by a 12" vinyl release. The 12” edition features "Boots on the Ground" on Side A, with an exclusively Waits B-side titled "The Fly” - a track featuring Waits’s trademark droll and sardonic spoken word.

When asked about the collaboration, Waits said:

"One day many years ago, I accepted an invitation from Massive Attack to collaborate. Their long release delay never worried me. Today, as in all of mankind's yesterdays, guarantees this type of song will never go out of style. Man's folly of fiascos is a feast for the flies. Hence, the B-side of Massive Attack’s upcoming 12 inch "The Fly" features my appreciation for the winged nuisance."

Massive Attack have partnered with Good Neighbor to produce an ‘EcoSonic’ pressing. Manufactured using 100% recycled PET (rPET) rather than traditional PVC, the record is fully recyclable and produced via an energy-efficient injection molding process - a significant shift in record manufacturing. Packaging follows the same approach, with sleeves made from 100% recycled, FSC®-certified paper stock and outer slipcases produced from recycled polyethylene.

‘Boots on the ground‘: new Tom Waits - Massive Attack single

 And here it is.

The extended version (with a video in collaboration with US photo artist thefinaleye): 

Lyrics: Big legs dangle from a helicopter hole Big chug rhythm it’s gotta be now ho! Brown, mean and young Dumb and full of cum What can you use a marine for This is a fucking ass machine gun war With your boots on the ground Boots on the ground Boots on the ground Boots on the ground We trim your hedges, we fight your wars Wait in the trenches, and we fuck ‘til we’re sore Boots on the ground Boots on the ground Born shiny bullets in an army of ants Blow that horn, we sleep in our pants Big titties, big titties Well we holler and we burn down cities Boots on the ground Boots on the ground Shootin up the town Stayin in the hole until Jimmy Hoffa is found With my boots on the ground Well something goes tink when the cartridge is spent Where do you think all your cartilage went Boots on the ground Boots on the ground Now who the hell are these federal pricks? Hiding in the senate like a bloated ass tick Air conditioned fuckstick loafers Sittin in a room full of army posters A coal to a diamond, a vote into law They Campaign up all the blood they can draw Mold your world, a soldier’s just clay How much does every soldier weigh? Cut you off at the ankles and they throw that away Boots on the ground It’s cold and hot, as Satan’s .hoof Spinning on the world I’m hiding on a roof I kill a brown man I never ass knew Choked on spit and then he turned blue He spattered black blood, he rolled fin out He died right here I got the pearl from his snout A puff of gray smoke from the tongue of a cloud He rotted in the sand and all that they found was his boots on the ground, boots on the ground, boots on the ground All that they found was his boots on the ground, boots on the ground

Tom Waits collaborating with Massive Attack

 Several social media posts are suggesting a collaboration between Tom Waits and Massive Attack is in the works. More on April 16th. 

New cover album: Where The Willow And The Dogwood Grow

Record company Anti announced a new album called Where The Willow And The Dogwood Grow, with covers of Tom Waits / Kathleen Brennan songs by various artists, such as Solomon Burke, Bruce Springsteen, Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash. Most of the recordings were available previously, as far as I can tell. 

At the moment, the album only seems available as a cd. Preorder is (was) only possible at the European Waits store, but it is now listed as ‘Ausverkauft’ - sold out.

UPDATE April 2: Looks like the cd is available again in the European store, as well as in the US and UK stores. 

 

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New movie starring Tom Waits: Wild Horse Nine

Tom Waits will be starring in Wild Horse Nine, the upcoming movie written and directed by Martin McDonagh. Other actors include John Malkovich, Sam Rockwell and Steve Buscemi. The film – a thriller set in 1973 following a CIA-backed coup in Chile – will be released on 6 November 2026 by Searchlight Pictures.

Sources: Vanity Fair, Wikipedia, IMDB

Tom Waits to appear on Shane MacGowan tribute album

 Tom Waits is one of the artists on the upcoming Shane MacGowan tribute album 20th Century Paddy: the songs of Shane MacGowan.

Other artists contributing to the album include Bruce Springsteen, Steve Earle, the Libertines, Primal Scream, Jesus and Mary Chain and the surviving Pogues. Some star-studded duets too, with Hozier and Jessie Buckley and Johnny Depp and Imelda May.

The album should be out secret is out on November 13th and is available for pre-order. 

Rainy Night in Soho by Bruce Springsteen was released today.