It’s a catchy song that will stay in your head for a while . . . maybe even for the week that’s left before the election. “Liar Liar GE2017”, a remix of a reggae song by the YouTuber Captain SKA, has all the elements of a good summer hit: nice tune, a funny video clip . . . and strong anti-austerity lyrics destroying Theresa May:
The video opens on a reggae intro while the following message reads on screen: “3.7 million children currently live in poverty in the UK/By 2020 this number is predicted to rise by a further 1 million.” It is mirrored by a clip of May declaring: “We [the Tories] have a mission to make Britain a country that works not for the privileged and not for the few, but for every one of our citizens. Together, we the Conservative Party can build a better Britain.”
And then the chorus hits:
She’s a liar, liar
Ohh, you can’t trust her, no no no no
She’s a liar, liar
Ohh, you can’t trust her, no no no no . . .
Catchy, innit?
Featuring disturbing shots of May sniggering at PMQs and Boris Johnson riding a bike, shocking facts about life under the Tories (“Nurses going hungry, schools in decline”) and more of the PM’s U-turns (“I won’t call a snap election”), “Liar Liar” is surely the song everyone needed for June 2017.
It’s also the song that the country’s less privileged need: according to Captain SKA’s YouTube, “all proceeds from downloads of the track between 26 May and 8 June 2017 will be split between food banks around the UK and the People’s Assembly Against Austerity”. And it’s already topping the Amazon charts. Fighting austerity, one music download at a time.
There’s even a People’s Assembly protest in front of the BBC headquarters this Friday to ask the broadcaster to play the song on air. But if you can’t be bothered to prep a sign (who listens to the radio anyway?), you could still follow the song’s call to arms (in the clip, an image of a ballot box carries the subtitle “People rising up is the only plan!”) and vote on 8 June. Presumably, you know, not for the liar liar.