EPISODE 36 - “safe and legal” with bad cop bad cop (and shout your abortion)
SHOW NOTES
Host Shawna talks to Linh Le of Bad Cop Bad Cop as they dig into their song “Safe and Legal.” She’s later joined by Amelia Bonow, co-founder of Shout Your Abortion. There’s a lot of talk about the importance of story-sharing, as well as: the hardship of finding a real bathroom at warped tour, instruments as a shield, old footage of dance recitals, being both a gymnast and a rockabilly, moving to the west coast, laughing a lot, never wearing pants, gender is not a genre.
The official sponsors of this episode are First Defense Krav Maga, and Pupcakes and Pawstries, where you can use promo code waronwomen15 to get 15% off your next order.
Episode transcripts, important links, and ways to support Shawna and this podcast can be found at shawnapotter.com. Everything War On Women can be found at linktr.ee/waronwomen. For bonus episodes, behind the scenes content, and the chance to make special requests and get shoutouts on air, become a patron at patreon.com/shawnapotter.
Thanks to Brooks Harlan for chopping up War On Women’s song “Her?” to create the podcast theme song. Main podcast photo: Justin Borucki.
SPONSOR LINKS:
https://www.firstdefensekravmaga.com/
https://pupcakesandpawstries.com/
SHOW LINKS:
https://badcopbadcopmusic.com/
Original bass players band, Jen Carlson?
https://www.thesidewalkproject.org/
https://www.bassistagainstracist.com/
“Simple Girl” video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxOxO3-xI8Q
“Safe and Legal” video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REH_SpKYZUI
PlanCPills.org
ShoutYourAbortion.org
Photo of Linh: @sarahmacphotographs
SHAWNA’S LINKS:
shawnapotter.com
Making Spaces Safer: https://www.akpress.org/making-spaces-safer-book.html
https://www.youtube.com/@shawnapotter
https://www.cameo.com/shawnapotterwow
War On Women songs about reproductive rights: Roe V. World, Pro-Life?, and Childbirth.
SHOW:
Welcome to But Her Lyrics...the show where we delve into the political lyrics of songs I like, songs I wrote, or topics that I think should be a song. I’m Shawna Potter, singer and lyricist for War On Women - and your host. We’ve got a fun one, I finally - finally - got my buddy Lihn from BCBC to sit down and chat with me. We met almost 10 years ago, we’ve toured together, but I did not really know her or her bands origin story, so get ready for a deep dive on Lihn, how she got into music, how BC started, and the very real story behind the song we’re focusing on this episode, “Safe and Legal”. Despite the serious nature of the song, despite the very real struggle to regain rights we already had in this country right now, there’s a lot of laughter, get ready for two friends having fun, getting to know each other even better. Later in the episode I have a brief chat with Amelia of Shout Your Abortion about why it’s so important to keep shouting, how things have gotten worse in recent years, and what we can all do about it.
[PATREON ]
Before we get into it, I want to shout out our official sponsors, First Defense Krav Maga and Pupcakes and Pawstries. Links in the show notes, check them out. And big thanks to my Recruits Melissa and Ronni! (Ronnie has a cool, trans-affirming hair salon in Seattle, look up Navarro Hair Design). And to my Meatheads Stephan, Zacharie, Peter, Bob, Byron, Russell, Isaias and Ben, and Hunters Mike, Andris, Lydia, Tim, Bessie, Zachary, Kevin, and Lauren. Please don’t forget y’all that you get to make requests. If you want some cool perks consider joining my Patreon, where you’ll also get access to behind the scenes stuff, bonus content, and I have a new shirt design if you join at the Meathead level or above for 3 months, some of those just shipped out, can’t wait to see them in real life. A cool new thing Patreon has is a chat feature on both the desktop and app version of the site, so it kinda feels like we’re all on a big text thread together? Lots of Rosie pics being shared, so whether you’re a new patron or an existing one, download the app so we can chat!
Alright, stay tuned for my chat with Amelia from Shout Your Abortion, but up now, my interview with Linh of BCBC.
[interview time]
[interview transcript otw]
Thank you Lihn! So excited to hear they are working on a new album, selfishly I hope we can tour with them again, but I know I’ll see them at Fest at least! I’ll play “Safe and Legal” in full at the end of the episode, but first, SHOUT YOUR ABORTION!
[interview time]
[interview transcript otw]
Big thanks to Linh and Amelia, for all you do, all you will do, and for being rad.
Keep listening to hear the BCBC song “Safe and Legal” in full.
You can support this podcast by liking my youtube channel, and sharing, subscribing, and reviewing But Her Lyrics... Wherever you get your podcasts - it’s free and it helps. To find episode transcripts, or to find out more about what I do, my book, my trainings, my patreon, head to shawnapotter.com
To learn about all things WOW, head to linktr.ee/waronwomen
You can also find me on Cameo!
I’m working on some fun stuff for July and August, so subscribe to my Patreon if you haven’t already, thanks for listening. Abortion forever.
SAFE AND LEGAL
It doesn’t matter what the reason is
Because it’s no one else’s fucking business
I can tell you from experience
Had no regrets and it was the best decision
I made at the time
I remember when I saw double blue
I felt afraid defeated and confused
Given two options that I had to choose
It didn’t take long to know what I wanted to do
I made up my mind
For my body, for my life
My own justification
Life Saving termination
End the stigma in this choice
It’s my story and my voice
No force into submission
As we fight for legislation
Over the years no one really knew the trauma I sustained
I hid that memory deep in the back of my brain
I finally found the support that took away the shame
And they taught me that I don’t need to explain
The solution is my mine
My autonomy to decide
Thank god I had a choice then
It’s our time to shout it loud
Vote these politicians out
We need to keep our options
Safe and legal abortion
Whoa…Whoa…Whoa…Whoa
Whoa (Safe & Legal)