BLUES FOR ALLAH SWT - CASSETTE T-SHIRT
I've always wanted to design an album, whether that was vinyl, CD or cassette. I have memories as a kid going through the booklets of CDs while listening to them, devouring the album art and liner notes of my dad's record collection. The moment I learned that it was someone's job to design and make those things to accompany a musician or a band's album I knew there was no going back for me.
In honor of the 51 year anniversary of "Blues For Allah" which was released on this date, Sept 1st in 1975 I decided to design a bootleg J-sleeve for a cassette tape. I've always loved the lo-fi quality of tape cassettes and the xerox copied sleeve art that cradled them. It felt only right to do it in this same fashion and style. This shirt design is a takedown from the J-sleeve cassette design.
Robert Hunter wrote about the song "Blues for Allah" in his book, A Box of Rain:
"This lyric is a requiem for King Faisal of Saudi Arabia, a progressive and democratically inclined ruler ( and, incidentally, a fan of the Grateful Dead) whose assassination in 1975 shocked us personally. The lyrics were printed in Arabic on the jacket of the Middle Eastern release of the album."
The lyrics may be a requiem for a certain King, but it stands as a universal statement about war. "What good is spilling blood? It will not a grow a thing."
Not that 51 years is a lot of time in terms of history surrounding the Holy Land, but it doesn't feel like that much has really progressed since its initial release. Even David Dodd wrote this in 2014 about the album and its political connotations.-
"When the Bush regime invaded Iraq in search of the supposed hidden caches of weapons of mass destruction, I changed the kicked line on the "Annotated Lyrics" website to the line from "Blues for Allah"; "The ships of state sail on mirage and drown in sand." ... It has been what, 11.5 years? And despite a regime change here at home, we seem to find ourselves embroiled in an endless war in the Middle East. Once again, the United States is engaged in hostilities that include air strikes and now boots on the ground, and there is a new enemy, the self-proclaimed Islamic State."
Reading this now feels like it was written yesterday.
Halfway across the world drone strikes and missiles are erasing not only the history of the Holy Land ( ahem Palestine ) but the people who have called it home and taken care of it for millennia.
The song stands as a reminder of the hopelessness of war, a war that still continues today.
100% of profits of this shirt will go towards The BDS Movement - Boycott Divest Sanctions
ٱلْحَمْدُ لِلَّٰهِ
( Alhamdulillah )
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Designed & Printed in Portland, Oregon.
Horizontal fountain pull showcasing a transtition of blue plastisol inks printed on front
Printed on a 6.0z 100% combed ringspun cotton t-shirt
SHIRT MEASUREMENTS
Size - Height" ( from shoulder to hem ) x Width" ( from arm pit to arm pit )
Small - 26.75" - 18.625"
Medium - 27.875" - 20.625"
Large - 29.0" - 22.625"
X-Large - 30.375" - 24/625"
2X-Large - 31.75" - 26.625"
DISCLAIMER: THESE SHIRTS ARE NOT PERFECT ( and that's just the way we like them! ) Due to the nature of our production, no two shirts are identical. Each shirt is dyed by hand and printed by hand in a small studio by me! Each shirt is a labor of love and may have small ink spots from my grimy fingers or uneven or slightly off-center prints.
If you are truly dissatisfied with the quality of the shirt please email me at [email protected]