The lead single from the new collaborative album by Tom Morello and The Bloody Beetroots is called “Radium Girls,” and its lyrics cannot be mistaken for anything other than what they are: a tribute to watchmaking’s Radium Girls.

“Radium Girls” by Tom Morello and The Bloody Beetroots

Radium Girls were the women working in American watch factories in the 1920s and 1930s who were tasked with painting numerals and other markings on timepiece dials with a luminous paint comprising glue, water, and radium powder. These employees were instructed to continuously reshape the hairs of the brushes they used by putting them in their mouths.

“Radium girls” painting radioactive lume on watch dials

This obviously did not go well for them with radiation poisoning being the outcome. They were however instrumental in helping change labor rights laws and establishing legal precedents for labor safety standards.

There have been numerous tributes to the Radium Girls, the last of who passed away in 2015, including a documentary called Radium City.

And now Tom Morello, who you might know better as the guitarist from Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave (a personal favorite band of mine), has teamed up with Italian electronic dance musician The Bloody Beetroots (Bob Rifo) in the lead single from a seven-song electric punk EP entitled The Catastrophists. Vocals on “Radium Girls” are performed by Nadya Tolokonnikova of Pussy Riot, Aimee Interrupter of the Interrupters, White Lung’s Mish Way, and The Last Internationale’s Delila Paz.

In an interview with NME, Morello explains the inspiration for this luminous song: it turns out that New York City native Morello spent childhood summers in Ottawa, Illinois, the site of one of the American watch factories at the time, Radium Dial Company, and was well aware of the atrocities that led to the deaths of the Radium Girls. For years he placed flowers at a monument to these “quiet heroes, and this song is dedicated to their memory.”

Morello is also an activist, an added layer to his extraordinary guitar playing that has attracted me to his music. While this song is not what I would call his usual fare – if anything he does can be termed “usual fare” – it is both highly danceable and highly head-bangable. In combination with the horological history-infused lyrics, it might just advance to my favorite song to come out this year.

And Morello also directed the accompanying video, which is worth a watch. I’ve had it on repeat loop all week.

Lyrics of “Radium Girls” by Tom Morello and The Bloody Beetroots

Radium girls
Radium girls
Radium girls
Radium girls
Radium

First, I heard voices in my head
Could never do the things they said
And still, they whisper in the night
Now I’ve decided, they might be right

Radium girls
Radium girls

(I’m ready, I’m ready, I’m ready)
Radium girls
(I’m ready, I’m ready)
Radium girls
Radium girls

Boss has told me, “Don’t worry, young lady”
“Shut up, sit down, and look pretty”
Lick, lick, lick, lick, lick radium
Shut up, sit down, and look pretty
Did you know I was carrying a baby?
And now my baby is dead facedown
Let me tell the bossman it ain’t ready
To make your glasses, they click, click, click

Radium girls
(Uh) radium girls
(I’m ready, I’m ready, I’m ready)
Radium girls
(I’m ready, I’m ready)
Radium girls
Radium girls

There’s something wrong, I can see it
Everybody knows, no one’s talking about it
Death is glowing in the dark, my bones, they fall apart
These lines of poison paint, they’re gonna be my last sentence

Lick the tips of the paintbrush
Lick the tips of the paintbrush
Lick the tips of the paintbrush
Lick the tips of (do what you’re told)

Radium girls
Radium girls
(I’m ready, I’m ready, I’m ready)
Radium girls
(I’m ready, I’m ready)
Radium girls
Radium girls

There’s something wrong, I can see it
Everybody knows, no one’s talking about it, ooh
Death is glowing in the dark, my bones, they fall apart
These lines of poison paint, they’re gonna be my last sentence

Do what you’re told
Do what you’re told

Lick the tips of the paintbrush
Lick the tips of the paintbrush

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