These songs have been on a special playlist on my ipod for awhile now, and were brought back to mind by photos I saw today of the rows upon rows of war graves in just one cemetery in France, from WWI. There was a picture of a gravestone on one of the sites, just showing the epitaph at the bottom - 'Till we meet again Father'. These songs just highlight for me the pain and loss of all wars and battles.
The first, a song by Bruce Watson - 'Trenches'
There are trenches in the hills by Sarajevo
Where soldiers hunch against the wind and snow
Their eyes, their guns sparkle in the red glow
Of the houses burning in the town below
Their hearts are filled with pride
Their minds are filled with hate
God is on their side
They fight for glory, land and state
There's a trench in a field by Sarajevo
Where a mother lays her precious child to rest
He was looking for his father from the window
When a sniper's bullet took him in the breast
She mouths a silent prayer
She shivers in the frost
The countryside is bare
There's no wood for a cross
There are trenches that will rend the hearts forever
Of the women raped in anger and disdain
By the soldiers, who in peaceful times could never
Have believed they'd be so eager to cause pain
When purity is all
For women and for race
To the victor goes the spoils
To the victim sheer disgrace
There are trenches between people in the Balkans
Of ethnic pride and history's tie to land
But wherever hearts are cold and lives are broken
We all must see the blood on our own hands
From our shanty towns of shame
To the famine's cruel decay
Between us and them
We build trenches every day
Trenches every day
His website is: http://www.geocities.com/brucewatson1/
The second is Fred Smith's 'Kusi & You'
When Kusi and you were leaving for Bougainville
Part of the 2nd Battalion from Lay
I felt so proud, my husband the soldier
Working for peace in a land far away
I didn't understand about the Pangoona thing
Who's Francis Ona, what's BRA?
But I understood that you are a soldier
As you marched like a soldier from the barracks that day
I said I love you now
More than I ever did
Wish you weren't leaving, I wish you could stay
But I understand that you are a soldier
You are a soldier, you fight for your pay
When I got your first call, you'd made it to Buka
Were heading down south on a chopper that day
Four weeks then past, til you called me from Aranwa
Something had happened, you seemed so far away
And so I said 'Hey what you doing'
And you got all secretive
Government work, you said it's classified
Well let the Government know
It's your woman you're speaking with
Does the Government know of the nights I have cried
I'll bet I love you now
More than I ever did
I need you now, more than I could ever say
And I don't understand
Just what you're doing there
But you are a soldier, you fight for your pay
And the day that you left, was the first of December
Said you'd be home by the first of July
But I had to wait til the third of October
Just for this letter, it says that you died
It tells me you fell in the BRA ambush
Fought til the end, til you ran out of rounds
But Kusi just told me, that wasn't what happened
He said one of their men turned your claymores around
And I need to know
There was some better reason
Need to now, that it wasn't in vain
But the Moresby politicians
Seem to change every season
This hole in my heart now, seems to remain
Because I love you now
More than I ever did
Need you now, more than I could ever say
I need to know
There was some better reason
Than you are a soldier, who died for his pay
Fred wrote this during his time in Bougainville working for DFAT, singing songs in Pidgin
you can listen to a little at http://payplay.fm/iaincs (it's well worth listening to the snippets of his other songs)
The third - 'Were You There?' by Martin Pearson & the MP3
Were you there in Washington
When the eagle spread his claws?
Sat down with the lion-heart
To flout their own damn laws
Were you when the order came
Aboard an east-bound transport plane?
Where Jordy prayed to Jesus
To the Jesus he knows well
Who's words of peace will rule the Earth
When Allah's blown to hell
Were you there in Baghdad
When the bombs lit up the sky?
Did your spirit turn away
When you saw that child die?
Did you hear her mother cry
The self same tears as you and I?
And the bombers pray to Allah
And Allah knows them well
And Allah's words will rule the Earth
When Jordy's blown to hell
Were you there in Canberra
When the phone calls came?
Calling obligations in
Without a trace of shame
And another long sad day goes by
Too many tears we've yet to cry
And we pray to Gods and Saviours
Oh but surely we can tell
Their words will ring, in an empty world
When we're all blown to hell
and the final song, Martin Pearson & the MP3's version of 'Masters of War'
Ah you masters of war
You have built all the bombs
You have built the death planes
You've built all the guns
You hide walls
And you hide behind desks
I just want you to know
That I've seen through your masks
You've never done nothing
But build to destroy
You play with my world
Like it's your little toy
You put a gun in my hand
And you hide from my eyes
Then you turn and run faster
When hard bullets fly
Like Judas of old
You lie and deceive
Well war can be won
You want us to believe
But I've seen through your eyes
And I've seen through your brain
Like I see through the water
That run downs my drain
You fasten the triggers
For others to fire
Then you sit back and watch
As the death count gets higher
For threatening my babies
Unborn and unnamed
You aint worth the blood
That runs in your veins
And I hope that you die
And your death will come soon
I will march by your casket
In the pale afternoon
And I'll watch while they lay you
Down on your deathbed
Then I'll stand by your grave
'Til I'm sure that you're dead
(Harmonica solo)
Let me ask you one question
Is your money that good?
Will it buy you redemption?
Did you think that it would?
I think you might find
When death takes it's toll
All the money you've made
Won't buy back your soul
Ah you masters of war
You have built all the bombs
You have built the death planes
You've built all the guns
You hide behind walls
You hide behind desks
I just want you to know
That I've seen through your masks
All you masters of war, masters of war
phew.... it feels good to get that one off my chest...
You can check out Martin at www.7thdimension.com.au/index.cfm?artist_details=4
I'll put some more related links up when I can be bothered finding them, but for now, reflect and enjoy
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