short'n'sweet Friday night post (TM)
Apr. 27th, 2012 11:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
floatingleafSo, lately most of my time at work is spent updating our radio stations database. Not particularly inspiring in itself - but it always gets me thinking of those brilliant lyrics by New Model Army.
88.2 is your Saviour station
God hangs like a shadow high above the nation
Like a phantom hurricane
91.6 is Classic Soul
Obama flyer still hanging by the side of the road
Like a long last prayer
And the pawn shops glisten like the porn girl stars
And the cheap imitation armoured cars
Roll up and down past empty bars
Showing re-runs of the glory years
But now the Champion of All Time is getting battered and bruised
The blows come raining down
He's standing there terrified to lose
But he's punch-drunk and he's going down
94.7 is the Weather Channel
Floods and droughts and plagues straight out of the Bible
And the scientists shake their heads
And the air-con unit rattles and dies
The golf course green but the wells are dry
All looking to heaven with anxious eyes
As the vapour trails drift across cloudless skies
96.4 is Classic Rock
Some of the kids that were sent are not coming back
It's like a ritual sacrifice
Pressed uniforms and body-bags
And the smalltown church all decked with flags
And the waiting beds unslept in
By the ghosts all up in Arlington
And as the leaves blow on an autumn day
The funeral gathering kneels to pray
Make it OK, make it OK, God, please, make it OK
101-point-nothing is the shock jocks
Where every week is Hate Week
And we can scream and rage about everything
Then get back in the box that they keep us in
As the great land stretches on
Where the endless hopes are born
All caught in a false dawn that lasts forever
And the great land stretches on
Where the endless dreams are born
All caught in a false dawn that lasts forever
Pretty much sums up the way I feel about my current country of residence. Very unpatriotic, I'm sure.:P But I was never a good patriot - at least not past elementary school, I think. At some point I became highly suspicious of the idea that any nation should be considered somehow better than any other - and the same went for religions, by the way. Or any ideology that essentially divides people into "us" and "them". It sort of tends to stink, sooner or later. Sometimes in a very ugly way. Which, again, reminds me of another song by New Model Army - a very old one (1984), but extremely applicable here and now:
My Country
Tell all the people who believe what they read in the press
Tell all the folk who stare from behind suburban walls
The enemy is not some nation far across the sea
The enemy is with us every single breathing day
So yes, I will fight for my country
The land that I love so well
Yes - for justice, a land fit for all our futures
Yes, I will fight for my country
The land that I love so well
Hear the voices of our history echo all around
Fight all the ones who divide us rich against poor
Fight all the ones who divide us white against black
Fight all the ones who want their missiles in our earth
Fight all the powers who would lead us into war
No rights were ever given to us by the grace of God
No rights were ever given by some United Nations clause
No rights were ever given by some nice guy at the top
Our rights they were bought by all the blood
And all the tears of all our
Grandmothers, grandfathers before
For all the folk who gave their lives for us
For all the folk who spit out - never say die
For all the fires burning on our highest hills
For all the people spinning tales tonight
Fight all the powers who would abuse our Common Laws
Fight all the powers who think they only owe themselves . . .
My definition of patriotism, if you will. And now it's very much past my bedtime, Friday or not... *sigh*
88.2 is your Saviour station
God hangs like a shadow high above the nation
Like a phantom hurricane
91.6 is Classic Soul
Obama flyer still hanging by the side of the road
Like a long last prayer
And the pawn shops glisten like the porn girl stars
And the cheap imitation armoured cars
Roll up and down past empty bars
Showing re-runs of the glory years
But now the Champion of All Time is getting battered and bruised
The blows come raining down
He's standing there terrified to lose
But he's punch-drunk and he's going down
94.7 is the Weather Channel
Floods and droughts and plagues straight out of the Bible
And the scientists shake their heads
And the air-con unit rattles and dies
The golf course green but the wells are dry
All looking to heaven with anxious eyes
As the vapour trails drift across cloudless skies
96.4 is Classic Rock
Some of the kids that were sent are not coming back
It's like a ritual sacrifice
Pressed uniforms and body-bags
And the smalltown church all decked with flags
And the waiting beds unslept in
By the ghosts all up in Arlington
And as the leaves blow on an autumn day
The funeral gathering kneels to pray
Make it OK, make it OK, God, please, make it OK
101-point-nothing is the shock jocks
Where every week is Hate Week
And we can scream and rage about everything
Then get back in the box that they keep us in
As the great land stretches on
Where the endless hopes are born
All caught in a false dawn that lasts forever
And the great land stretches on
Where the endless dreams are born
All caught in a false dawn that lasts forever
Pretty much sums up the way I feel about my current country of residence. Very unpatriotic, I'm sure.:P But I was never a good patriot - at least not past elementary school, I think. At some point I became highly suspicious of the idea that any nation should be considered somehow better than any other - and the same went for religions, by the way. Or any ideology that essentially divides people into "us" and "them". It sort of tends to stink, sooner or later. Sometimes in a very ugly way. Which, again, reminds me of another song by New Model Army - a very old one (1984), but extremely applicable here and now:
My Country
Tell all the people who believe what they read in the press
Tell all the folk who stare from behind suburban walls
The enemy is not some nation far across the sea
The enemy is with us every single breathing day
So yes, I will fight for my country
The land that I love so well
Yes - for justice, a land fit for all our futures
Yes, I will fight for my country
The land that I love so well
Hear the voices of our history echo all around
Fight all the ones who divide us rich against poor
Fight all the ones who divide us white against black
Fight all the ones who want their missiles in our earth
Fight all the powers who would lead us into war
No rights were ever given to us by the grace of God
No rights were ever given by some United Nations clause
No rights were ever given by some nice guy at the top
Our rights they were bought by all the blood
And all the tears of all our
Grandmothers, grandfathers before
For all the folk who gave their lives for us
For all the folk who spit out - never say die
For all the fires burning on our highest hills
For all the people spinning tales tonight
Fight all the powers who would abuse our Common Laws
Fight all the powers who think they only owe themselves . . .
My definition of patriotism, if you will. And now it's very much past my bedtime, Friday or not... *sigh*
