Rhiannon Giddens - Better Get It Right The First Time
LCM Song Of The Day: ‘Better Get It Right The First Time’ - Rhiannon Giddens
Our LCM featured track today is very powerful and timely. It’s taken from Rhiannon’s 2017 ‘Freedom Highway’ album
For every triumph, every leap, there are 10 Philando Castiles to remind us how long the highway to true freedom really is. Rhiannon tackles this on “Better Get It Right the First Time,” a tale of police brutality laced with punishing harmonies, urgent horns, and a reflective and powerful rap. “Better Get It Right the First Time” is a loaded phrase, a word of warning to a Black man who has no room for error when it comes to the police, a mournful recognition of how there are no second chances once bullets fly, and a shameful call to humanity which has had so many damn chances to just get it right. But Rhiannon didn’t call this album Freedom Highway, after the legendary Staple Singers’ civil rights anthem of the same name, because she’s ready to give up hope. We evolve, highways go on, and, eventually, that first time will finally be our last.
Photo credit: David McClister