The 2020 death of George Floyd had an impact on many Americans and people from all over the world. Bartees Strange is clearly part of that group, as his new single, “Hold The Line,” was written about Gianna Floyd, George’s daughter who was just six years old at the time of his death.
Bartees says of the song, the latest preview of his upcoming album Farm To Table:
“I remember watching George Floyd’s daughter talk about the death of her father and thinking wow — what a sad introduction to Black American life for this young person. It was painful to watch her grow up in that moment, like all Black kids eventually do.
‘Hold The Line’ was written over the course of three days during that first pandemic summer. Through this song I was trying to make sense of what was happening in the US, my neighborhood and my community at that moment. During the marches people were trying to stop the bleeding, locked arm in arm, doing everything they could to hold the line.”
Lyrically, Bartees begins the track, “Hold the line, Hold the line / There’s a whole world of people wanna be where you’re going right now / See that babe, see that child / Can’t imagine what’s flying through her young mind now.”
Listen to “Hold The Line” above.
Farm To Table is out 6/17 via 4AD. Pre-order it here.
