Singer-songwriter Larkin Grimm recently came forward with allegations that her former mentor and label owner, experimental musician Michael Gira of Swans, had raped her in the spring of 2008. She has now released a new song called “I Don’t Believe.” Posting to the song’s Bandcamp page, Grimm writes, “This song was written for all the survivors of abuse. You are not alone.”
In the hours following last week’s allegations, Gira initially called them a “slanderous lie,” then appeared to soften his reaction with an official statement via his publicist, amending the incident as “an awkward mistake” and a “consensual romantic moment that fortunately was not consummated.” Responding to Gira, Grimm wrote in her own statement: “This is your truth as you remember it. Unfortunately, this was still rape.”
Here are the lyrics to “I Don’t Believe”:
I don’t believe you ever could be
So like those men around you.
So hungry.I don’t believe you ever think about it
But you remember words like they were more than music.I don’t believe you could ever be that way
Addicted to the pleasure, the things that people say.
I wrote this poem for you on your birthday,
Your mother read the poem
And said it couldn’t be you
Nothing so beautiful
Could come from something I made.
I don’t believe you.I don’t believe you
You hear your mother cry
I wish that I could die
I wish that you would die too
So I could play outside
I could be free with you.
I don’t believe you.I don’t believe you need to think about it
But you remember words like they were more than music.
You hear the words I’m speaking as more than poetry.
