Jo explains the meaning behind FingerHalo’s debut single, One For The Angels…
In a dystopian, alternate recent history, two trade union activists are arranging a last-ditch industrial action over the telephone. It’s likely to be the last ever such action for the foreseeable future – because the government are on the verge of outlawing the union movement in an attempt to curtail free speech and human rights.
There’s a slight possibility that the legislation could be overturned by political dissent in Westminster, or even by public outrage. But it’s an improbable long shot:
Some southern change can only take you by surprise / Turning the tables
The activists know their move is an almost futile gesture – a defiant ‘going down with guns blazing’ affair; a final act of protestation; a last vainglorious stand, an almost sacrificial act of martyrdom. In fact:
One For The Angels
Union activities are already considered acts of sedition, to be responded to with heavy-handed and ruthless behaviour from the government. The forces of national security are on high alert, bugging phone lines, intercepting mails etc:
Maybe the line isn’t safe to use
The mainstream media is becoming an organ for the government’s propaganda. A single viewpoint is expressed in print, online and on air to an apathetic, dumbed-down society, more concerned with petty problems and desires than the bigger picture. They’ve believed the government’s election rhetoric despite a chain of unkept vows:
The promises were lies
Too few remain inquiring and cynical enough to:
Read between the lines
The activists have realised, late in the day, that their message has gone over the heads or under the radar of the general populace – even those who hold on to more democratic and socially enlightened views:
We could have made the answers easier to find
But there still remains hope, no matter how slender.
Incidentally, the title comes from an old Twilight Zone episode, where a sidewalk salesman, whose time is nearly up, talks Mr Death into letting him make one last ‘pitch for the angels.’
, FingerHalo’s debut single, will be released in June.