I probably am unreasonable because it's for charity so I'm sure no one will feel bad about ripping me to shreds but the what that rapper on the Grenfell Tower Bridge Over Troubled Waters song says

[TheIncredibleBookEatingManchot]

It could have been his mum or his nephew or him up there.

But a couple of lines earlier he says he's never even met any of the victims so what makes him think he could have been in their homes?

I might be a little forgiving if it turns out he lives in or has lived in a tower block as equally unsafe as Grenfell turned out to be but...

At least 79 people have died, many more are injured, traumatised, homeless and bereaved WHY IS HE MAKING THIS ABOUT HIM?

It's really not. I think you have massively missed the point and seem more impressed with that shite song than anything else.

Well, they could have done fuck all.

I had never heard of Stormzy but I think what he wrote was genuine and heartfelt.

Yeah, I don’t know where to begin so I’ll start by saying I refuse to forget you
I refuse to be silenced
I refuse to neglect you
That’s for every last soul up in Grenfell even though I’ve never even met you
That could have been my mum’s house, or that could have been my nephew
Now that could have been me up there
Waving my white plain T up there
All my friends on the ground trying a see up there
I just hope that you rest and you’re free up there
I can’t feel your pain but it’s still what it is
Went to the block just to chill with the kids
Troubled waters come running past
I’mma be right there just to build you a bridge yo

I actually think I felt similar OP and I think you are getting a bit of a bashing. It doesn't feel that empathetic to me when I can imagine one of the people who lost someone in the fire hearing 'it could have been my mum's house, it could have been my nephew' and thinking 'well it wasn't you. Lucky you. Thanks for telling us how you haven't lost anyone.'

I think that it's almost Stormzy saying 'lucky me that I haven't lost anyone'. That being said I think some of the rest of his verse is beautiful and I admire him for other things.

The song is crap and the cynical part of me is wondering if a quiet donation could not have done a lot more for a cause than subjecting us to it, but maybe I'm just bitter as it's one of my favourite songs.

I hope that in time the Grenfell victims aren't forgotten and that they do get justice.

what makes him think he could have been in their homes?

Also, if you need a more 'literal' explanation - yes, council tower blocks are generally full of the poor. Do you know his background? Wiki tells me that he had a bit of a rough start and was chucked out of school a few times. He's lucky he found his 'thing' and was successful or maybe he'd have been the skint Londoner on floor 23 of Grenfell.

The rapping bits reminded me of Equality Street.

Why can't anyone just sing any more ? Why the insistence on either wrestling 87 notes out of every line and/or slurring so badly nobody can distinguish syllables?

"I will lay me down"
What does that even mean?

You don't have to think that something could happen to you to empathise.

I'm one of those stupidly over empathic people. If I see someone cut their finger, for example, I feel it too.

When I was a teenager my best friend's dad died. I broke down in tears at school because I was so overwhelmed with feeling for my friend. At no point did I think my dad could die too. I wasn't thinking about me, I was thinking about my friend. That is empathy. Feeling emotion for someone else, forgetting yourself.

(And yes, I know empathy to that degree can render me useless in a crisis and in a way be quite selfish. I'm working on it.)

Like a bridge over troubled water, Bartholins

Allowing yourself to come to the need of someone in great pain?

Just one thought amongst many!

I'm one of those stupidly over empathic people. If I see someone cut their finger, for example, I feel it too.

Are you though? 🤔🤔

That was to Bartholins

what makes him think he could have been in their homes?
As some of the flats in Grenfell Tower were being rented privately for over 2 grand a month, I guess you'd need to be a pretty successful gangster rapper to be able to afford to live there.

It's just a sort of archaic way of saying 'I will lay myself down', Bartholin.

Meaning they will lie down and be the bridge.

It should be "I will lay myself down" then?

Yes, but 'I will lay me down' just flows better.

Have you ever heard the original?

It should be "I will lay myself down" then?

Well toddle along and phone Simon and Garfunkel and let them know.

So many literal people!

OP, I think you are getting sympathy and empathy mixed up.

I think Bartholin was just asking rather than criticising, Mitzy.

Although I'm sure Paul Simon has heard worse if she is. :o

PaperDove yes, your first paragraph is the thought I was reaching for but not quite grasping or putting across.

This is so ridiculous. Stomzy is from an area similar to the people who died, he is showing empathy but it's more than that. Saying that could have been me or my family is out of anger.

Anger that poor people have died because the government didn't care enough to protect them. I know so many people living in high rises now, worried about their safety and their children's safety. It doesn't make them less empathetic than some middle class white person in surbubia who can just think what a terrible tragedy and then just move on.

And all the racist bashing of rap music is just fucking pathetic. Not every genre of music is created for white people, get over it.

I guess you'd need to be a pretty successful gangster rapper to be able to afford to live there.

Why is 'gangster' crossed out?

Plus I hope you pop up on all the Muslim bashing threads on here op.
The ones that start after any terrorist attack saying 'it could have been me! I took my child to the natural history museum in 1992, so close to home'.

That kind of hyperbole is the kind of shit that makes a man drive from Wales all the way to London to plow into a group of innocent people.

Maybe she has some inside information Mitzy. Either that or she's a racist cunt.

I love the original of the song so I'm going to avoid the cover.

Well toddle along and phone Simon and Garfunkel and let them know.

Yeah they'll never make it big those two if they don't sort their grammar.