I have more songs.
The first three are based on stuff that I don't agree with, see this for an explanation of that.
I can't believe I didn't remember this until I just saw a post on the Sinn Fein Youth blog, but tomorrow the 4th is the anniversery of the day Martin Luther King Jr. was killed. I wish the song about him below was better, but about 1/2 of it is really good, the rest is okay. There are constraints on how I write the lyrics- I change as little as possible (I violated that rule once when I added two lines that were important) and with some reasonable exceptions, the lines have to rhyme. It's possible there are lines that meet those rules that I could have written to make every part of the song really good, but after spending about 20 min. on each of the lines that are not great, I gave up. It's still a pretty good song. I realize Dr. King was not much of a fan of the IRA (the original is about the IRA), but there are two reasons why it was appropriate to do the song this way:
1) He once said (I'm not sure when, probably towards the end of his life): "Whether they read Ghandi or Frantz Fanon, all radicals understand the need for action - direct, self-transforming and structure-transforming action." (Fanon was associated with advocating armed struggle)
2) The N. ireland civil rights movement was based largely on the American one. Probably some extremely tiny minority of the CRM were at some point republican paramilitaries, and looking at republican paramilitaries in the 1970s, probably some very large majority had been involved in the CRM.
3) The analysis of the Provisionals (now known simply as Sinn Fein and the IRA) (well, a minority of them had the wrong attitude towards the CRM, but in general this is true), shared by most/all of the Nationalist community, was that civil rights could only be secured through national liberation. This point is made very well in the documentary "OFF OUR KNEES."
4) You should also read this post.
I also did a post recently named after Dr. King about non-violence and mass struggle in the North.
1. Class Pride, Worldwide. The labor movement in America.
2. Brits Out. The IRA.
3. Rot in Hell Rudolf Hess. WWII.
4. Rosemary Nelson. A N. Ireland human rights lawyer who was killed.
5. Martin Luther King, Jr. Guess.
The rest of the songs/poems can be found by clicking on the "lyrics" label (there are at least two pages worth of posts, so click on the "older posts" at the bottom of the first page).
"Class Pride, Worldwide" based on "Aryan Pride" by Final War, original lyrics are here.
1. The title is a slogan adopted by anti-racist skinheads (and possibly-probably others) as a response to the racist "White Pride, World-Wide."
2. Bread and Roses is a labor slogan and the bread refers to economic justice, not sure what roses refers to.
3. The line about cops at least slightly exaggerates things, but it's fairly accurate and seemed like the best option.
**4. 45% of this version is me, 55% is the original.
5. I give this song/poem two out of five stars.
6. The word fight in this poem is meant at least 99% non-violently.
7. UPDATE 2/4/11 I have changed the 3rd line of the chorus and replaced THE WORD "you" with the word "Americans" and "your" with "their."
Brothers and sisters, join together as one
Fists uplifted, faces towards the sun
Pride in our movement, from fear we will not hide
Bread and Roses, Class-Pride, worldwide
Chorus:
The right and the bosses hate us for only being proud
Well I'd like to ask them, who's the class warrior now?
We're not corrupt gangsters like Americans see on their TV
We're a risen class, now that we are off our knees
Bosses cry unions, yeah unions full of socialists
Workers pay the price for the mistakes of the capitalists
The cops always try to intimidate or attack us when we protest
Its funny how the media can't see that the worker is oppressed
Our honour won't be broken, we'll hold our heads up high
We will keep on fighting so the labor union doesn't die
Our message will be spread. our voices loud and clear
Inform the youth of the truth, the bosses greatest fear
****
"Brits Out" based on "Jig Run" by Bully Boys, original lyrics are here.
1. Armalites are rifles. Semtex is plastic explosive.
2. Considering the Brits are more likely to have night-vison, I'm not sure they DID fear the setting sun.
3. Recently there was a debate in Sinn Fein about the slogan "Brits out." I'm not sure how it ended, it's one of those things I've missed the last four years and probably will have trouble getting an answer for. The idea was that it was being widely mis-interpreted as referring not just to the British Army and government but also the Unionist population (which overlaps heavily with the Protestant population). The thing is, SF does a fairly good job of making it clear they're not anti-Protestant and want the Unionists to stay (see this), so I'm not sure if they should abandon it as some have argued (the idea is that the popular slogan isn't worth the damage it is doing).
4. "Tiocfaidh ar la" is a republican slogan coined by Bobby Sands that means "Our Day Will Come."
5. The line about beer was already there, and I've heard about republican culture so I'm leaving it.
6. Originally I forgot to put anything anti-fascist/hate in it because it's an Irish Republican song based on an AMERICAN racist song (for an explanation of this issue, see this). So I just changed it from an Irish flag, to the Starry Plough, which is the flag of republican socialism and has always been in opposition to fascism. Also, the Bully Boys are officially connected to the Hammerskins (a Nazi skinhead group), who have chapters world-wide and at one point that included unionists in N. Ireland, so they’re probably not favorable to republicanism.
7. This is not an endorsement of continuing the armed struggle since 1997.
**8. 30% of this version is me, 70% is the original.
9. I give this song/poem one out of five stars.
10. This is exclusively about the IRA.
11. UPDATED 2/8/16 Based on what might be called a fairly scientific look, only about .2% of the IRA's operations intentionally resulted in civilian death.
AK-47s and Armalites
Our committment is undying
Semtex and mortars
And Starry Ploughs flying
We're going on the town tonight
Hit and run
Let's have some fun
We've got the Brits on the run
And they fear the setting sun
Chorus:
We've told you once
We aint gonna tell you twice
We don't give a damn
If you think it's wrong or right
We've had enough of you
And everything you do
This is our land x3
Head'em up and move'em out
Let'em scream and let'em shout
We're gonna win there aint no doubt
Spreading revolt
We're Irish Volunteers
Kicking ass and drinking beer
Tiocfaidh ar la you're gonna hear
Chorus
*******
"Rot in Hell Rudolf Hess" based on "Prisoner of Peace" by Skrewdriver, original lyrics are here.
1. Rudolf Hess was Deputy Fuhrer of Nazi Germany. He tried to make a seperate peace with the West and was arrested by the British. At Nurmeburg he was sentenced to life in jail and compared to others who were not hung, was in jail much longer, until he died in 1987. In the 1970s and 1980s the British, French and Americans wanted to release him, but the Soviets vetoed that. (I'm finding it hard to nail down exactly what happened with this, and read something that indicates in the 80s the Brits and Soviets switched places in terms of opposing his release; if it was more important, I would dig even more than I have, but it seems like it was overwhelmingly the West (and as far as I can tell, mostly center/center-right/right forces) who supported his release and overwhelmingly the USSR (it's complicated, but in general I would not put them on the right or the center) that opposed his release, and I'm not losing any sleep over how long he was in jail, so I don't really care)
2. Despite what I say in the song, I'm actually open-minded about this. Bearing in mind that he was more or less viewed as a martyr in jail, I'm not sure it was a good idea to keep him there- consider that his responsibility for the worst of the Nazi regime was less than you would think since he was Deputy Fuhrer- the thing is, he was gone almost the entire war, he left almost a year before the conference at which the Final Solution took shape, gone before the worst battle-field atrocities were committed by the Nazis. Since those who were around for that and weren't killed were imprisoned for fewer years and were often released early for poor health (unlike Hess), it seems like the Soviets went a little far. On the other hand, he was Nazi scum.
3. Huns was a term for the Germans.
4. I'm not sure if the chorus makes sense- if you go to hell (I don't actually believe in it), you burn forever, I think.
**5. 45% of this version is me, 55% is the original.
6. I give this song/poem three out of five stars.
He liked aggression but he didn't like the cost
Hitler's war of aggression, and german lives were being lost
He wanted peace in the west so Hitler's armies would be released
To slaughter the Communists, Jews and Slavs in the East
He got up on one morning and he went out to his plane
He said good-bye to his wife, and hate was in his brain
To try and fool the Allies was his idea in 1941
But the Brits were determined to win and continued to fight the Huns
(chorus)
Rot in Hell Rudolf Hess
How long will be burn?
We can only guess
I said rot in Hell Rudolf Hess
How long will he burn?
We can only guess
He never realized that day that the Brits weren't fools
Britain was determined to smash the fascist tools
Forty-six years is a long long time in a prison cell to be
And I feel fine with the sentence passed on a Nazi
(chorus)
In the 70s they thought the situation had changed in many ways
The Center and Right wanted to let him go, they decided he had paid
That idea the Reds with their anti-fascist values did deride
And kept the Nazi scum locked away until the day he died
(chorus)
He was a prisoner we could not release
Kept there at the determination of the Marxists in the east
He was a prisoner we could not release
Kept there at the insistence of the Marxists in the east
****
"Rosemary Nelson" based on "I Am Woman" by Helen Reddy, original lyrics are here.
1. I think I actually took the altered lyrics that I wrote called "You Are Woman" and altered those, but it's still basically based on Reddy's lyrics.
2. Rosemary Nelson was a human rights lawyer in N. Ireland who was killed by loyalist paramilitaries (quite likely with security force collusion) in 1999. I knew that she represented people accused of republican paramilitary activities and she also represented the Garvaghy Road Residents Coalition who were dealing with the Drumcree parade in Portadown. I recently learned she also represented the family of a Catholic man who was beaten by loyalists while police watched, she did work on behalf of Travelers (basically Roma in Ireland), about discrimination in the workplace, and on women's rights, which is partly why I decided to go with this song to alter. There's more about her here.
3. Although this is nothing new with my songs, I take on the voice of someone I am not, in this case, a northern Catholic (writing it otherwise would have made most lines more bulky than in the original, and I try to avoid that, especially since some of these songs I like to sing with the original and I figure other people might do the same).
4. As I've explained elsewhere, it is posisble they'll be held down again, but the fact is the nationalist community is very strong and determined.
**5. Not counting changes like "I" to "You" and other minor changes, 7% of this version is me, 93% is the original.
6. I give this song/poem three out of five stars.
7. UPDATE 2/4/11 When it says "we will do anything," I just mean non-violently. Although this is a poem about the North written by a republican, I'm pretty certain that Nelson was more or less against violence.
8. UPDATE 2/4/11 Most of the Protestants, to one degree or another, don't understand that they're not better than Catholics, that Catholics are not their enemy, etc. (UPDATE 10/6/11 It's possible that what I just said is acurate, but it might not be "most," it could be a large minority, most of the stats I've found indicate that instead of a majority)
You were woman, London heard you roar
In a voice too intelligent to ignore
And you knew too much to go back and pretend
'Cause you'd heard it all before
And we'd been down there on the floor
No one's EVER going to keep us down again
Chorus:
Yes, we're now strong
But it's wisdom born of pain
Yes we paid the price
But look how much we've gained
If we have to, we will do anything
Together we are strong, we are invincible
You were woman!
They could bend but never break you
'Cause it only served to make you
More determined to achieve your final goal
And you came back even stronger
Not a novice any longer
Cause they deepened the conviction in your soul
Chorus
You were woman, we watched you grow
We saw you standing toe to toe
As you spread your your loving arms across the land
But we're still an embryo
With a long, long way to go
Until we make the Protestants understand
Chorus
****
"Martin Luther King, Jr." based on "Billy Reid" (original author appears unknown, multiple recordings) For the lyrics of a version almost exactly the same as what I listen to, go here.
1. Billy Reid was an IRA member killed in 1971.
2. He was in Memphis to support labor union members (many/most/all were black).
3. Bread is a symbol of economic justice (that had become a major theme of King's work in his last years). king became very critical of the Vietnam War.
**4. 44% of this version is me, 56% is the original.
5. I give this song/poem three out of five stars.
6. The word fight in this poem is meant 100% non-violently.
7. UPDATE 12/18/09 I have made a small change to the 2nd line of the last verse. It now says "save our country" (basically saving it from bigotry, division, war, etc.)
I'll sing you a song, of a terrible wrong
When the flags they all flew at half mast
A man he lay dead, he'd been shot in the head
And he died because he stood fast
Chorus:
And the radio said, Dr. King's been shot dead
And he died with a dream in his head
Well they didn't say why, Dr. King had to die
Well, he died for equality, for peace and for bread
It happened one day, when the bold MLK
Went out to fight for the union
More determined than anyone, he put the racists on the run
And returned to the motel with Jesse Jackson
Chorus
When returning with dreams, Dr. King met the racist extremes
And when the shooting had begun
His committment was sound, even as he lay on the ground
And he died because of a bigot with a gun
Chrous
Although he lay dying, his spirit was undying
The racists thought they'd win without him around
But they still fear him yet, and they'll never forget
How brave Dr. King stood his ground
Chorus
If you think he was right, come join in the fight
And help to save our country
For although he is dead, we remember the dream in his head
And how he died for you and for me
Chorus
One last note: Even with the songs that are only about 10% me (and at the upper end, one is 75% me), I have a request, although I don't have strong feelings or expectations about this. First, I want credit for these songs. Second, I'd appreciate it if the notes follow the lyrics around the internet. If you modify the lyrics further, please either make some notes for the changes if you leave some of my changes, or just provide a link to this URL so people can see my version. Although I'm not sure how many people will like what I'm doing with the lyrics, to one degree or another (depending on how much I changed them) I'm proud of these songs- and at the risk of getting a little personal, if people like the songs, I could really use the extra boost of getting credit for them right now (or if you don't like them, they were all written by Sarah Palin- that fascist, what kind of sick person enjoys altering racist lyrics?).
No comments:
Post a Comment