Ungrateful from Invasive EP by James Paddock
The COVID-19 pandemic – a tragically mismanaged three years of irreversible chaos and grief.
Those in authority did their level best to ignore the signs that prompt action and precautions should be taken. They came across to us as cold and uncaring, dampening their language and muddying the waters of information. Public guidances were misleading, mistimed, and miscommunicated. Lockdown periods were needlessly elongated. Governments favoured their image in the public eye over communicating the correct messages, and despite repeat consultation with the scientific community, still caved to those who believed there was no urgent need for preventative action.
As the virus raged on without much inhibition, the world changed, slowly but irrevocably. What little trust we had in those in charge was all but eroded. We, the workforce, the backbone of society, were largely left to suffer, and at worst, perish.
Now we stand, countless thousands of deaths later, in a world that can barely function. Businesses understaffed, families shattered, economies ruined. Governments have been revealed to have been thoroughly corrupt, woefully inefficient and deeply insincere throughout the pandemic period.
Even now that COVID-19 has largely diminished in prevalence, the earth-shaking after-effects are still deeply felt by many. Workers still today are suffering through their employers’ insistence on low pay and overwork, not to mention automatic layoffs as they apparently can no longer afford to pay their workers. After risking life and limb, the thanks we get for working the frontlines is minimal-to-non-existent, and we as a people appear to be more divided than ever – even without a global pandemic to contend with.
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Tracklist
| 1. | Ungrateful | 6:00 |
Lyrics
This world's in disarray
Frontlines fight day by day
Against an invisible menace
Far too fatigued to breathe
Testing relentlessly
The limits of our human kindness
Your only answer
A judge's hammer
Cutting us out like a cancer
Let free destruction
No other options
Our structures left to rot and rupture
(Ungrateful!)
We set you in motion
Now you part us as an ocean
(Unshameful!)
Giving you protection
While we battled the infection
Three years of anarchy
Undying loyalty
Seen not as assets, but as setbacks
You can't be argued with
No room for bargaining
The work we did packed up and sent back
Your willing slave drones
Your biggest takers
You've gone and crunched all the data
So let us all go
Until it's you alone
Let's see if God will help you now
(Ungrateful!)
We set you in motion
Now you part us as an ocean
(Unshameful!)
Giving you protection
While we battled the infection
(Ungrateful!)
All these empty words you speak
Say nothing but corporatese
We're just your commodity
Talk about taken for granted
(Talk about taking advantage)
(Ungrateful!)
We set you in motion
Gave you all of our devotion
(Disgraceful!)
Wipe that smug grin off your face
We helped you avoid this fate
Working through the deaths each day
While you sat in place
Ungrateful!
