1:50
Stay Alive, 2020
Written by Laura Jane Grace
Grace's lyrics have always been a bit recondite, and this song is no exception. Here, she returns to Against Me's acoustic-punk origins with a short but fierce number full of recrimination and frustration. She's chasing someone, but is it someone else or her ideal self? "Petrified polymorphs / I'm tired of the games we're playing / Of many excellent qualities / Thinking has never been one of them." Note the lack of pronoun before "thinking" — it's not clear if this is lashing out or a self-criticism. As for the title, the chorus begins "Smudge and blazes!" which is what the Nome King in Ozma Of Oz cries out in anger when his enchantments are broken and things revoke to their proper, original shape. For Grace, it's a potent image of trans reclamation, the violent joy of returning to who you truly are after years of distortion.
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