History repeats itself?
December 29th 2008
Right, here we are, at the eve of the new year, and I have the feeling the world is going apeshit.
Credit crunch, recession, rise in unemployment, no faith in polititians and goverments - are we back in the 30s? And to put the icing on the cake, we have a conflict in Israel/Gaza, that has the potential to become a wildfire….
I wish you all good luck for the future, and I just want to post some lyrics, some pretty new, some pretty old, but still as relevant as today:
BLOODSPORTS
(Sullivan/Nelson/Dean/White/Gill) 2007
There are boxes packed with bullets, there are crates all stacked with boxes
There are uniforms and hardware, there are meals all wrapped in plastic
Through the night the ships are loading, every night these ships are loading
Beneath the glare of the burning floodlights and the dancing of the swarmed mosquitoes
And into the fire and the blood red sun the old and rich still send the young men
Into a world of twisted steel and the acrid smell of metal burning
And on the streets of hometown now, we watch each other as if we?re strangers
But say it loud, scream it loud: I am not at war
He says: this body I have been given shall be returned unto its maker
Beneath my clothes these secrets hidden, the sacrifice that I have to offer
By the checkpoint there are soldiers and the cypress branches waving
And the light is hard as glass and the sky is blue and cool and waiting
And into the fire and the blood red sun the old and rich still send the young men
Into a world of twisted steel and the acrid smell of metal burning
And on the streets of hometown now, we watch each other as if we?re strangers
But say it loud, scream it loud: I am not at war
These stupid empty words could all be written on the cold pale skin
Of the dead laid out in shallow graves along the road of bombed out palm trees
And in the corners of the bars and cafes, in every town, in every nation
There are these blood-sports on the TVs and the loaded toneless voices
There are cameras by the gravesides and in the executioners? chambers
There are cameras high above us to guide the missiles down from the heavens
And into the fire and the blood red sun the old and rich still send the young men
Into a world of twisted steel and the acrid smell of oil burning
And on the streets of hometown now, we watch each other just like strangers
But say it loud, scream it loud: I am not at war
HERE COMES THE WAR
(Sullivan/Heaton/Nelson) 1992
Today, as you listen to this song
Another 394,000 children were born into this world
They break like waves of hunger and desire upon these eroded shores
Carrying the curses of history and a history yet unwritten
The oil burns in thick black columns, the buzz saws echo through the forest floor
They shout give us our fair share, give us justice
Here comes the war
On a grey morning to the south of here
Two young men in makeshift uniforms peer into the misty light
And figures dart behind the trees
As a snap of rifle rounds echoes out across the fields
They hardly know their sacred mother tongue but they know their duty
To defend the flag hanging limp and bloody above the village church
While a thousand miles away, in a warehouse complex down by the river,
Young money men play paintball games
Here comes the war - put out the lights on the Age of Reason
So blow out the candle and tell us another of those great stories,
the ones about serial killers. Let dreams flow into savage times.
Do you hear the sirens scream across the city?
We’ve had three hot nights in succession - the riot season is here again
Dear Lord, lead us back into the Valley of the Shadow of Death,
Here comes the war. Did you think we were born in peaceful times?
Faster, faster, like a whirling dervish spinning round
Faster, faster, until the Centre cannot Hold
You screamed give us Liberty or give us Death
Now you’ve got both, what do you want next ?
Here comes the war - put out the lights on the Age of Reason.
