Swingshift - Time Bomb (CA, 1981)

Swingshift was a Bay Area women's jazz ensemble who performed regularly and released a couple cassettes during the 1980s. Members included Bonnie Lockhart on piano, Susan Colson on bass, Naomi Shapiro on sax & flute, Frieda Feen on vocals, and Joan Lefkowitz / Danielle Dowers on drums (first Joan, then Danielle). In a collectively written 1985 article for "Hot Wire: the Journal of Women's Music and Culture," Swingshift described sharing "a passion for jazz, a well-rooted lesbian identity, and an active commitment to left political movement" building. Following from this, they wrote topical songs about labor, military intervention, feminism, nuclear power, and more. They viewed themselves as cultural workers who could either play their traditional instrumental set in club environments or spontaneously perform at benefits & protests a cappella, according to the needs of the environment. The band was hosted by Nicaragua's revolutionary Sandinista government in the mid-80s.
"Time Bomb" is an anti-nuclear track written by Susan Colson. Special thanks to Bonnie Lockhart for bringing the song to my attention, digging up the tape, digitizing the track, and agreeing to let me share it here. It is the only song currently shared on this channel that doesn't come from my own collection, so I had no album artwork to upload. Instead, I stole the "Gay Community News" photograph from the staggeringly thorough Queer Music Heritage website, which also provided a full text scan from the above-cited article. I'll put a link in the comments.
"Time Bomb" [Lyrics[
"This death it comes quiet, it floats on the air
Seeps into our water, our bones,
Everywhere
It's a time bomb a' tickin' under your feet
It's a time bomb, taking life so sweet
It's a time bomb from this good earth
Kids stare at death from the
Moment of birth
Nuclear power don't belong in no song
In no life, on no planet, and we won't
Be here long
Reactors and missiles all over the place
Enough to destroy the human race
Money and power is the name of this game
Public or private, they all are the same
They'll tell you this way is the only one
'Cause no power company can own the sun
Who told them they could build them
Not you, not me
Who's getting rich while they make it,
Not you, not me
Who's helping them to fake it
Not you, not me
Well, who is, well who is, well they're
Killing our kids
They're destroying our lives, no one's
Gonna survive
We've got a right to safety and health
We've got to stop these parasites of
Power and wealth
Short-sighted scientists playing at gods
With plutonium cores and uranium rods
They never asked if we waned to pay
For all their mistakes when they
Blow us away."

[@metallicrainforest]

Queer Music Heritage provided excellent background on Swingshift in addition to the image: queermusicheritage.com/nov2008d5.html
Link to Swingshift's "No Intervention" on Bonnie Lockhart's UA-cam channel: ua-cam.com/video/pZuRKyUrsIE/v-deo.html
Swingshift performing "Dignity": ua-cam.com/video/mnMo2PZWi5Q/v-deo.html

[@metallicrainforest]

More on anti-nuclear movement music here, including Swingshift: pmpress.org/index.php?l=product_detail&p=1675