Poison Girls - Chappaquiddick Bridge

POISON GIRLS - 

CHAPPAQUIDDICK BRIDGE

Chappaquiddick Bridge was the début album from Poison Girls, named after the incident in 1969 in which the car of Senator Ted Kennedy, the younger brother of President John F Kennedy, went off a bridge and into a river, killing the female passenger. The incident led to much scandal and controversy due to Kennedy managing to swim to safety but then fleeing the scene of the accident and not reporting it to the police until the next day. Following an autopsy, it was found the girl had died not from drowning but through suffocation. Apparently she had been able to find an air pocket inside of the submerged car where she would have been able to stay alive for a while and if Kennedy had only called the police and the rescue services immediately she could have been saved. Kennedy for some reason or other escaped being jailed and remained a Senator until his death in 2009.

Though carrying the by now almost obligatory instruction of 'Pay no more than...', the gate-fold sleeve of the album broke away from what was becoming the normal Crass label black and white design and was instead a glossy and bright red affair, incorporating a beautiful yin yang/foetus symbol.

An unlisted and unannounced track starts the album, slowly fading in and turning on its axis like a giant discus spinning endlessly on its edge before fading quietly away again: "State control and rock'n'roll are run by clever men," sings Vi Subversa, sounding as though her point of view is born from personal experience and a worldly wisdom. "It's all good for business and it all goes round again. State control and rock'n'roll are run by clever men, politics are ultra chic and wars are in again. Revolution's this year's thing, we're on the streets again and again." Vi's message is essentially one of caution - to watch out, to beware - because everything is a game of swings and roundabouts with fashions coming and fashions going; all controlled by "the boss mob". Everything is sold and then re-sold because "it's all good for business". Music in particular but even wars, politics, revolution, ideology and political theory - and "anarchy is this year's thing".

Being regular touring partners of Crass and from being on the Crass label, Poison Girls were viewed as part of an Anarcho/Crass package though of course they were very much their own band and the marriage was essentially one of convenience. Vi Subversa was a self-proclaimed anarchist and through her songs with Poison Girls and her deliverance of them through her unique vocal style brought a warmth and a strange sense of wonder to Poison Girls' anarchism that was missing from the Crass version. In songs on the album such as Hole In The Wall and Other, there's no overt or apparent political message at all but the sense of wonder and strangeness is obvious, enhanced by the use of piano, echo and dub sound effects.

The stand out track on the whole album is Daughters And Sons which whilst dealing in the very un-rock'n'roll subjects of age, growing old and loss, is brilliantly and exceptionally inspirational.

To the sound of an electric violin effect and a dropping, single bass note, Vi sets the scene: "When you wake up sweating, sweating from a dream, from the same dream that you had the night before. And you're feeling old and you feel the cold from a drought that's coming in through your door... And your son has gone out, yes he's gone out hunting with the man who was your brother. And your daughter's lying, lying on the bed with the man who was your lover... And your daughter's gone out, yes she's gone out dancing with the one who was your lover. And she's picked up all your songs, all the songs you ever sang. And she's picked up plenty more."

As the song builds to a crescendo, a faint guitar riff grows ever louder before being joined by bass, drums and backing vocals. It's at this point that the song rises to a whole new level as Vi, like a matriarch supreme, beseeches her "daughters and sons" to "sing your own songs, you've got your own songs to sing. You can sing your own songs, there's new songs to sing. Come on, sing your own songs - you've got new songs to sing. Sing your own songs."

In its own modestly quiet way, Daughters And Sons is as powerful and inspiring as anything written and sung by the Pistols, The Clash or indeed even Crass. The point of the song being not only an imploring of children to sing their own songs but to live their own life. 'It's your life, so smash and grab it', as Poison Girls would later declare.

The album ends with another unlisted and unannounced track comprised of a few very simple lines sung very sweetly but repeatedly by a young girl: "Oh, my tender lover. Be my tender lover. Be my tender love." The girl's voice is joined and then gradually eclipsed by the much older sounding, cracked and smoke-ravaged voice of Vi's reciting the exact same words, followed by the sound of children laughing and playing. This short but evocative rhyme evokes a depth of emotion that most other bands could only ever dream of and stands as an example of how successfully Poison Girls could marry complex feelings in certain songs with a hardline anarchist stance in others without compromising on either.

This delicate yet complicated balance is exemplified in the song entitled Statement which came as an additional 7" flexi-disc enclosed within the sleeve of the album. The very first lines of this track as recited by Vi places her fairly, squarely and without equivocation into the anarchist camp of Anarcho Punk: "I denounce the system that murders my children. I denounce the system that denies my existence. I curse the system that makes machines of my children. I reject the system that makes men of machines." Vi then goes on to curse, reject and denounce that same system "that turns the bodies of my own sweet flesh into monsters of iron and steel and war, that turns the hearts of my children against this earth, that turns the genitals of my children into factories of fire and destruction. And rapes our flesh, and tears our womb, this earth our home."

In between Vi's heartfelt pronouncements the accompanying music stops to make space for a lone voice to appear, plaintively declaring "There are no words, for us no words. There are no words." Vi then asks despairingly "Where are they that will cherish my flesh? Where are they that will cherish my children? The men that will stand against the deathdealers? The children who can say No to the lifestealers? Where are they that will curse the deathdealers? I denounce the system."

This combination of stark defiance and sad acknowledgement is what gives the song and what gives Poison Girls a rare benevolence, in the process creating something very unique and very, very special.

Due to their partnership with Crass, Poison Girls were sharing and communicating with the same audience but it's probably true to say that Poison Girls were appealing more to the female members and the more thoughtful elements of that audience. To some, Poison Girls were indeed deemed to be a better band than Crass and in many ways they actually were. Whatever, without question Poison Girls were - like Crass - a uniquely profound band who impacted deeply upon a lot of people causing them to consider, to think and - just as importantly - to act.