Deadletter – "Fit for Work" (2020)

Johnny’s missing two arms

But his legs look dandy

Fit for work! Fit for work!

“Who the hell is Deadletter?” you may be asking yourself.  

Good question!  

Here’s the answer, from Jordan Carrigan’s article about the group in Yuck magazine:

I have spent more time than I care to admit knee-deep in the streams of Spotify, panning for gold.  [I wade] through the never-ending network of related artists in a bid to find the next big thing and secure the associated clout that comes from having heard them first.  More often than not, these extended listening sessions end in little more than avant-garde noise records blasting into my ears at two o'clock in the morning, stuck in an existential spiral of my own thoughts. . . . However, every now and then my efforts are rewarded.

(That one dude is TALL!)

I can recall with great clarity my first encounter with Deadletter.  In the midst of a lockdown evening, already hours down the rabbit hole, I stumbled across the band and was immediately grabbed by the skipping chug of the opening refrain in “Fit For Work.”  That infectious bass line paired with the track’s priceless opening line – “Johnny’s missing two arms but his legs look dandy/Fit for work!” – set the tone for what is perhaps one of the best political songs of recent times with its scathing annihilation of the quickly deteriorating British benefits system.  After multiple listens I concluded that the search was up, I’d found the new band. My new band. 

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Carrigan could have saved a lot of time and effort by listening to Drew Carey’s “Friday Night Freakout” show on Sirius/XM.  That’s where I heard our featured record for the first time.

Click here to listen to “Fit for Work.”

Click here to buy that record from Amazon.