A collaboration with the gravel-voiced Tom Waits<\/a>, also returning to music for the first time since his 2011 album, Bad as Me, \u201cBoots on the Ground\u201d is accompanied by a video using imagery from the US photographer thefinaleye. The striking visuals depict recent anti-ICE demonstrations in America alongside Black Lives Matter protests sparked by the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, on 5 May 2020.<\/p>\n As for the song itself, Waits\u2019s lyrics are delivered in his trademark rumble: \u201cNow who the hell are these federal pricks?\/ Hiding in the senate like a bloated ass tick\/ Air conditioned f***stick loafers\/ Sittin in a room full of army posters.\u201d<\/p>\n He continues: \u201cA coal to a diamond, a vote into law\/ They campaign up all the blood they can draw\/ Mould your world, a soldier\u2019s just clay\/ How much does every soldier way? Cut you off at the ankles and they throw that away.\u201d<\/p>\n Massive Attack, the trip-hop collective formed in Bristol in 1988, surely could have had their pick of collaborators, but arguably none would have been as well-suited as Waits, who at 76 has witnessed decades of upheaval and political turmoil in his native US. His instantly recognisable tones add a sense of resilience to the song, a veteran snapping and snarling at the chaos and injustice he\u2019s witnessing once more. <\/p>\n Waits has a number of politically tinged songs in his catalogue, many of which focus on anti-war sentiment, trauma, greed and cycles of violence. In 2004, he released what was regarded by critics as his first \u201cexplicitly\u201d political song, \u201cDay After Tomorrow\u201d, interpreted as a criticism of the Iraq War. In 2006, he shared the blues number \u201cRoad to Peace\u201d, about the Israel-Palestine conflict and his disgust at America supplying Israel with arms.<\/p>\n While the songwriting in this new Massive Attack track could reference any number of conflicts, its themes feel grimly pertinent on a week where Trump continues to unleash chaos on the world stage<\/a> and send mixed messages about his disastrous Iran offensive<\/a>. Waits\u2019s refrain of \u201cboots on the ground\u201d is a lambasting of America\u2019s sacrificing of young men and women for its own ends \u2013 questioning if those soldiers even know or believe in what they\u2019re fighting for \u2013 and perhaps also an encouragement to citizens to take to the streets and protest. <\/p>\n![\"Massive](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/MixCollage-15-Apr-2026-01-06-PM-2946.jpg\")
Massive Attack and Tom Waits join forces for a powerful new protest song, \u2018Boots on the Ground\u2019 (Warren Du Preez\/Getty)<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/260323_MA_BOOTS_ON_THE_GROUND_PACKSHOT_FINAL_DIGI_01_low_Res.jpg\")
The cover art for \u2018Boots on the Ground\u2019 by Massive Attack and Tom Waits (Press)<\/p>\n