"A More Perfect Union" is a 2010 song by New Jersey-based punk rock band
Titus Andronicus
''Titus Andronicus'' is a tragedy by William Shakespeare believed to have been written between 1588 and 1593, probably in collaboration with George Peele. It is thought to be Shakespeare's first tragedy and is often seen as his attempt to emul ...
, the lead track from their second album, ''
The Monitor''. The song is 7 minutes and 10 seconds long, and begins with a recording of
Abraham Lincoln's Lyceum address
Abraham Lincoln's Lyceum Address was delivered to the Young Men's Lyceum of Springfield, Illinois on January 27, 1838, titled "The Perpetuation of Our Political Institutions". In his speech, Lincoln warned that mobs or people who disrespected U.S ...
. The song ends with another spoken-word segment, taken from an article written by
William Lloyd Garrison
William Lloyd Garrison (December , 1805 – May 24, 1879) was a prominent American Christian, abolitionist, journalist, suffragist, and social reformer. He is best known for his widely read antislavery newspaper '' The Liberator'', which he foun ...
in the first issue of ''
The Liberator'', published in 1831.
Music video
On March 29, 2010, three weeks after ''The Monitor'' was released, Titus Andronicus premiered their music video for A More Perfect Union on their
MySpace page. The video features the band playing outdoors in the snow, and was directed by Claire Carré.
The video is, at 3 minutes and 35 seconds long, exactly half as long as the actual song, and ends after the recording of Garrison's speech, leaving out what Tom Breihan called "the raging second half" of the song.
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References
2010 songs
Titus Andronicus (band) songs
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