26 years ago...
Oliver's Army
Don't start me talking
I could talk all night
My mind goes sleepwalking
While I'm putting the world to right
Called careers information
Have you got yourself an occupation?
Oliver's army is here to stay
Oliver's army are on their way
And I would rather be anywhere else
But here today
There was a checkpoint Charlie
He didn't crack a smile
But it's no laughing party
When you've been on the murder mile
Only takes one itchy trigger
One more widow, one less white nigger
(Chorus)
Hong Kong is up for grabs
London is full of Arabs
We could be in Palestine
Overrun by a Chinese line
With the boys from the Mersey and the Thames and the Tyne
But there's no danger
It's a professional career
Though it could be arranged
With just a word in Mr. Churchill's ear
If you're out of luck or out of work
We could send you to Johannesburg
(Chorus)
=================================
According to Wikipedia... Oliver's Army is a song written by Elvis Costello, originally performed by Elvis Costello and the Attractions and appearing on the album Armed Forces in 1979. It is an anti-military song, attacking the British Army for targeting disadvantaged young men leaving secondary school (when the song was written in the late 1970s, England had a record high unemployment rate). The title refers to Oliver Cromwell, who as Protector of the Commonwealth created the New Model Army, an earlier version of the modern British Army. The song also mentions specific "trouble spots" in the world, such as South Africa (at the time experiencing turmoil over Apartheid), Palestine, and most prominently Northern Ireland. In reference to the latter country, Costello included the controversial lyric "It just takes one itchy trigger/One more widow, one less white nigger", referring to the Irish, as they have historically been oppressed by the English, much as black people have been oppressed in many countries.
Don't start me talking
I could talk all night
My mind goes sleepwalking
While I'm putting the world to right
Called careers information
Have you got yourself an occupation?
Oliver's army is here to stay
Oliver's army are on their way
And I would rather be anywhere else
But here today
There was a checkpoint Charlie
He didn't crack a smile
But it's no laughing party
When you've been on the murder mile
Only takes one itchy trigger
One more widow, one less white nigger
(Chorus)
Hong Kong is up for grabs
London is full of Arabs
We could be in Palestine
Overrun by a Chinese line
With the boys from the Mersey and the Thames and the Tyne
But there's no danger
It's a professional career
Though it could be arranged
With just a word in Mr. Churchill's ear
If you're out of luck or out of work
We could send you to Johannesburg
(Chorus)
=================================
According to Wikipedia... Oliver's Army is a song written by Elvis Costello, originally performed by Elvis Costello and the Attractions and appearing on the album Armed Forces in 1979. It is an anti-military song, attacking the British Army for targeting disadvantaged young men leaving secondary school (when the song was written in the late 1970s, England had a record high unemployment rate). The title refers to Oliver Cromwell, who as Protector of the Commonwealth created the New Model Army, an earlier version of the modern British Army. The song also mentions specific "trouble spots" in the world, such as South Africa (at the time experiencing turmoil over Apartheid), Palestine, and most prominently Northern Ireland. In reference to the latter country, Costello included the controversial lyric "It just takes one itchy trigger/One more widow, one less white nigger", referring to the Irish, as they have historically been oppressed by the English, much as black people have been oppressed in many countries.
posted by The Editor at
12:15 AM
2 Comments:
Were you watching Rage? I turned it on just before dear Mr Costello appeared (he and the band playing on some exotic beach somewhere... very weird), and for half an hour or so it was like time travel back to the 80s. Kinda disturbing, really.
:)
Deirdre, yep, I was watching Rage... I put the words up here to show how apt they are even today...
Fox, yes. But let's not let the rest of the European colonisers of the hook. Spanish, Dutch, French, German, Belgian, American, etc... All of them white supremacist bastards, murdering and thieving their way to the wealth that is now the very air in Globalisation's engine room.
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
==========
<<<<< Home
==========