Song Of The Day 4/29/2015: The Cigarettes – “They're Back Again, Here They Come”

General Punk Week: I put the The Cigarettes’ “They’re Back Again, Here They Come” on a “mixtape” – the word “mixtape” being in quotes because a mystifyingly sizable number of my male Facebook friends threw a bizarre, sputtering fit about my calling a digital mix of songs a “mixtape,” their ability to comprehend metaphors a cargo hold full of used towelettes – back in December 2013. The Cigarettes were from Lincoln, in the county of Lincolnshire, which gently abuts the eastern shoreline of England and provided the world with Alfred, Lord Tennyson and Margaret Thatcher. It’s a slower-paced lifestyle. Lots of agriculture, mainly potatoes.

The Cigarettes recorded two burning singles, this one and “Can’t Sleep At Night.” They sort of straggled the line between what mod and post-punk, I guess. They had a Peel session. Everyone had a Peel session. “They’re Back Again, Here They Come” is a univocally political statement, a significant progression from the blindfolded bat-swinging of some of the dumber punk of the era, and a pretty direct abnegation of racism, specifically anti-Semitism. The National Front were kicking up shit at the time, making peripheral farting noises, kind of the way the Tea Party did a few years back. The Cigarettes were not only eloquent in their denunciation – they also rejected babe-in-the-woods pacifism: “I’m not a violent person/I’ll make exception for you.” I neither condone nor endorse fighting in the streets, but it’s refreshing to hear acknowledgment that hippie marketing, plush toys and neat table settings don’t exactly fix things either.

Well, hey, at least it’s not a problem anymore, unlike this ancient news story from way back in… um, January.