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Milk: It Does a City Good (By the Civic Center Stairs)

from Playland at the Beach by Great Apes

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  • 12" EP
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    An EP about San Francisco's past, current state of flux, and future, inspired by and told from the perspective of different sites and locales in the city.

    1. Rough in the Diamond (A Conversation Between Vesuvio and Specs)
    2. Go Niners (As Told by Telegraph Hill)
    3. Milk: It Does a City Good (By the Civic Center Stairs)
    4. Paint Job (The Lament of 1492 Valencia Street)
    5. Whitney's Playland at the Beach (The Dutch Windmill of Golden Gate Park Speaks)

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lyrics

Centered around the work and resonance of the late Harvey Milk and the murder trial of Dan White, Milk: It Does a City Good is sung by the Civic Center steps.


stepping stones for shined shoes
greased-palm façade
a ladder to the backrooms
of self-service and fraud
between the press pass handshakes
and demolition smiles
I’ve seen hope in a neck tie
every once in a while…

a healing hand for the outcasts’ reach
from the labor yards to Castro Street
let the silent sing through the martyr’s song
let the candles burn from the protest lawn

saint of mothers and teachers
hushed lovers and freaks
while the stubborn stewed scowling
in trembling council seats
oh how the threats came daily
inked in fear
with the chill of premonition
a speaking ghost appears

White in the office
police-issued .38
a Twinkie for the judge
while the jury deliberates

let the bullet shatter every closet door
every landlord's lust, every profiteer's war
let it scream the tune of justice and humility
in the ivory halls let it call for responsibility

credits

from Playland at the Beach, released November 12, 2014

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Great Apes San Francisco, California

Insert hype-up descriptors here. Plain and simple, San Francisco's Great Apes are a lyrical punk band. Music, much like a bio, is often at its best when it’s spit out intensely and quickly, with concision and honesty.

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