Massive Attack and
Tom Waits
have shared a new collaborative single entitled “Boots on the Ground,”
which marks the first new Massive Attack music distributed under what
they’re referring to as a
Spotify exemption policy. It’s also Waits’ first original music in 15 years and the first new tune from Massive Attack in six years.
The
protest anthem comes with a spoken-word B-side from Waits entitled “The
Fly,” as well as additional spoken-word reflections from the
Egyptian-Canadian-American writer Omar El Akkad that will arrive
tomorrow, April 17.
“It’s
a career honor to collaborate with an artist of the magnitude,
originality and integrity of Tom, but this track is arriving in an
atmosphere of chaos,” Massive Attack shared of the collaboration.
“Across the western hemisphere, state authoritarianism and the
militarization of police forces are fusing again with neo-fascist
politics. Seen within the American emergency, at home and overseas, this
track contains pulses of callous impulse & abandoned mind.”
Added
Waits: “One day many years ago I accepted an invitation from Massive
Attack to collaborate. Way back then, we sent them ‘Boots on the
Ground.’ Their long release delay never worried me. Today, as in all of
mankind’s yesterdays, guarantees this song will never go out of style.
Man’s fiasco folly is a feast for the flies. Hence, the B side of
Massive Attack’s upcoming 12 inch ‘The Fly’ features my appreciation for
the winged nuisance.”
The single comes with a film made by Massive Attack in collaboration with the photographer thefinaleye. You can pre-order the 12-inch of “Boots on the Ground” here,
Apr 16, 2026
Film created by Massive Attack (working with US photo artist thefinaleye). This montage work portrays a momentous American epoch that is yet to be named, and comes in the aftermath of the largest public protests in American history - focused on opposition to ICE raids, the militarisation of domestic forces, and state authoritarianism.
The film quotes statistics and research by the following sources: American Immigration Council, American Civil Liberties Union, Inside Higher Ed, National Coalition for Homeless Veterans, US National Library of Medicine, US National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), Privacy International, FactCheck.org. Viewers seeking further information or wishing to take action are encouraged to visit aclu.org, veterans-aid.net, immigrantdefenseproject.org, and freedomforimmigrants.org.
Lyrics:
Big legs dangle from a helicopter hole
Big chug rhythm it’s gotta be now ho!
Brown, mean and young
Dumb and full of cum
What can you use a marine for
This is a fucking ass machine gun war
With your boots on the ground
Boots on the ground
Boots on the ground
Boots on the ground
We trim your hedges, we fight your wars
Wait in the trenches, and we fuck ‘til we’re sore
Boots on the ground
Boots on the ground
Born shiny bullets in an army of ants
Blow that horn, we sleep in our pants
Big titties, big titties
Well we holler and we burn down cities
Boots on the ground
Boots on the ground
Shootin up the town
Stayin in the hole until Jimmy Hoffa is found
With my boots on the ground
Well something goes tink when the cartridge is spent
Where do you think all your cartilage went
Boots on the ground
Boots on the ground
Now who the hell are these federal pricks?
Hiding in the senate like a bloated ass tick
Air conditioned fuckstick loafers
Sittin in a room full of army posters
A coal to a diamond, a vote into law
They Campaign up all the blood they can draw
Mold your world, a soldier’s just clay
How much does every soldier weigh?
Cut you off at the ankles and they throw that away
Boots on the ground
It’s cold and hot, as Satan’s .hoof
Spinning on the world I’m hiding on a roof
I kill a brown man I never ass knew
Choked on spit and then he turned blue
He spattered black blood, he rolled fin out
He died right here I got the pearl from his snout
A puff of gray smoke from the tongue of a cloud
He rotted in the sand and all that they found was his
boots on the ground, boots on the ground, boots on the ground
All that they found was his boots on the ground, boots on the ground
