Stream Andrew Bird’s Timely New Single “Capital Crimes”

By: Staff –

Grammy nominated multi-instrumentalist, Andrew Bird has released his timely new single, “Capital Crimes”. Watch the video, directed by Matthew Daniel Siskin below.

“I wrote Capital Crimes more than a year ago about capital punishment,” Bird explains. “For a while they were giving IQ tests to death row inmates. If you scored below 70 your life was spared, above 70 and you were executed. Of course this is absurd and was eventually done away with but the fact that it was in practice for even for a moment is alarming. Lately we find ourselves having these moral arguments, these false choice fallacies that older citizens should sacrifice themselves for the sake of the economy. The government exists to protect and care for its citizens especially those who are most vulnerable, not decide who should be sacrificed. I hope the song handles the issue more eloquently than my prose here. ‘If I let go of your hand it would be murder’ – the things that hold our society together are not really institutions and laws but everyday humanity and compassion. An acceptance that we are all in this together.  I thought this was a single issue song until Matthew Siskin put this video together and made me realize that it’s far more universal than I thought.”