"Osama bin Laden as the Crucified Christ" is a single from Against Me!, released on 7" coloured vinyl on April 18, 2015, on Total Treble Music, as a limited edition for Record Store Day 2015. The track, which originally appeared on the 2014 album ''

Transgender Dysphoria Blues ''Transgender Dysphoria Blues'' is the sixth studio album by the American punk rock band Against Me!. The album was released on January 21, 2014, by Total Treble Music and Xtra Mile Recordings. The album deals with gender dysphoria, following Lau ...

'', appears in two versions: a live version, from ''

23 Live Sex Acts ''23 Live Sex Acts'' (also referred to as ''Against Me! and the 23 Live Sex Acts'') is the second live album by Against Me! It was recorded on the 2014 tour for their sixth studio album, ''Transgender Dysphoria Blues'' and released in 2015. Trac ...

'', and an exclusive alternate version referred to as the "extra dysphoric version" performed solely by frontwoman Laura Jane Grace.

Background

The single was released as a limited-edition 7" single for

Record Store Day Record Store Day is an annual event inaugurated in 2007 and held on one Saturday (typically the third) every April and every Black Friday in November to "celebrate the culture of the independently owned record store". The day brings together fa ...

. The song, before its album was released in 2014, was first played in January 2012 at

Slamdance Film Festival The Slamdance Film Festival is an annual film festival focused on emerging artists. The annual week-long festival takes place in Park City, Utah, in late January and is the main event organized by the year-round Slamdance organization, which als ...

. As the title suggests, the song refers to the

crucifixion Crucifixion is a method of capital punishment in which the victim is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross or beam and left to hang until eventual death from exhaustion and asphyxiation. It was used as a punishment by the Persians, Carthagi ...

Jesus Christ Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

and the

death Death is the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain an organism. For organisms with a brain, death can also be defined as the irreversible cessation of functioning of the whole brain, including brainstem, and brain ...

of Osama bin Laden in 2011. The lyrics also refer to

executions Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

of Benito Mussolini and his mistress Claretta "Clara" Petacci, as well as the public display of their corpses in

Piazzale Loreto is a major city square in Milan, Italy. Origin The name ''Loreto'' is also used in a wider sense to refer to the district surrounding the square, which is part of the Zone 2 administrative division, in the northeastern part of the city. The ...

, in 1945.

Track listing

Personnel

Band

* Laura Jane Grace – lead vocals,

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...

, art direction, producer, recording engineer * James Bowman – guitar,

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are ...

(track 1) *

Inge Johansson Inge Rolf Johansson () (born May 10, 1977) is a Swedish musician. He is best known for his time playing bass in bands such as Against Me! and The (International) Noise Conspiracy, of which he was a founding member. Before forming The (Internatio ...

– bass, backing vocals (track 1) * Atom Willard – drums,

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...

(track 1)

Production

* Pete Matthews – recording engineer (track 2) * Marc Hudson –

mixing engineer A mixing engineer (or simply mix engineer) is responsible for combining ("mixing") different sonic elements of an auditory piece into a complete rendition (also known as "final mix" or "mixdown"), whether in music, film, or any other content of a ...

, recording engineer (track 2) * Mike Zirkel – mastering

Art and design

* Christopher Norris – art direction * Steak Mtn – design, typography, and illustration

References

{{Against Me! 2014 songs 2015 singles Against Me! songs Works about the killing of Osama bin Laden Songs written by Laura Jane Grace Songs about Jesus