Art inspired by War
Well, everyone knows war is ugly. Sometimes great beauty can emerge from it. Let's all share some art inspired by war. This was written and performed during Gulf War Part I by my favorite band Bad Religion. It is relevant once again. The song is entitled Heaven is Falling and it is off of Generator.
Heaven Is Falling
as I walk beneath the valley,
I shall fear no evil,
for thanks to King George and his rainbow cabinet,
today murder is legal
God I know that it's wrong,
to kill my brother for what he hasn't done,
and as the planes blacken the sky,
it sounds like heaven is falling,
it sounds like heaven is falling,
you promised me a new day a dawning
I've seen a thousand points of light,
like so many points of hatred, shame and horror
God I want to be a man,
but I don't want to die with a rifle in my hand,
and as the planes blacken....
well nothing here looks new to me,
but a score of mothers 'sons,
caught 'tween the devil and the deep blue sea
Heaven Is Falling
as I walk beneath the valley,
I shall fear no evil,
for thanks to King George and his rainbow cabinet,
today murder is legal
God I know that it's wrong,
to kill my brother for what he hasn't done,
and as the planes blacken the sky,
it sounds like heaven is falling,
it sounds like heaven is falling,
you promised me a new day a dawning
I've seen a thousand points of light,
like so many points of hatred, shame and horror
God I want to be a man,
but I don't want to die with a rifle in my hand,
and as the planes blacken....
well nothing here looks new to me,
but a score of mothers 'sons,
caught 'tween the devil and the deep blue sea
Comments
Originally posted by BR
Let's all share some art inspired by war.
Heaven Is Falling.......
God I want to be a man,
but I don't want to die with a rifle in my hand......
Planes blacken the Sky...
Why must we be doomed to repeat the same old mistakes..
These two images say it for me.
Picasso's " Guernica "
MuCullin's " Shellshock " ( Vietnam GI )
Saw it in person.....just "WOW".
Originally posted by Scott
Another anti-American thread?
Scott, No.
Not for me anyway.
I am a painter and am deeply touched by the raw savage power of Guernica.
As to the image of "shellshock" it's really personal because it reminds me of me.
As it could have been me in Vietnam 72.
Luckily for me, our government withdrew from Vietnam days before I got my marching orders to go. Other mates of mine weren't so lucky.
Good mates too. Guys my age.
So when I look at Donald's Photograph, I am haunted because that guy looks like me.& it just could so easily have been me..
If truth be told, I've seen that look on the faces of Vet's even now after all these years, some of them still get that look...its beyond words
So for me Scott, it's not Anti American...
For me it's about reminders & a prayer of thanks
Originally posted by Scott
Another anti-American thread?
Blow it out your ass Scott. I'm fed up with your bullshit. You may not like the politics of the song but THAT IS NOT WHAT THIS IS ABOUT. If you cannot see the beauty of how the words are arranged you are a ****ing moron. This is art appreciation so cut the crap.
Originally posted by BR
Blow it out your ass Scott. I'm fed up with your bullshit. You may not like the politics of the song but THAT IS NOT WHAT THIS IS ABOUT. If you cannot see the beauty of how the words are arranged you are a ****ing moron. This is art appreciation so cut the crap.
tsss, tsss, ... you have the right to express your opinion , the right to be annoyed, but not the right to insults others members.
Thanks in advance 8)
Originally posted by BR
If you cannot see the beauty of how the words are arranged you are a ****ing moron.
I hate to interject, but even if he can see the beauty of how the words are arranged, him might still be a '****ing moron.'
Originally posted by BR
Blow it out your ass Scott. I'm fed up with your bullshit. You may not like the politics of the song but THAT IS NOT WHAT THIS IS ABOUT. If you cannot see the beauty of how the words are arranged you are a ****ing moron. This is art appreciation so cut the crap.
BR You have a view as does Scott. I fail to see how you gain by using hateful insults towards scott or anyone else for that matter. Your post quoted above is not needed in a public forum.
Fellowship
Originally posted by bunge
I hate to interject, but even if he can see the beauty of how the words are arranged, him might still be a '****ing moron.'
bunge that is cute and all but please have a minimum level of maturity. Implied insults are not welcome here at AI.
I will log out as my virtual mod role now but I can't help but notice the hatred.
Please adhear to respect or don't say anything.
Fellowship
Otherwise, i will be glad, if the members let the mod due their duties when they are online.
Thanks in advance.
Originally posted by Powerdoc
I'll bet that the last three posts where made simultaneously .
Otherwise, i will be glad, if the members let the mod due their duties when they are online.
Thanks in advance.
PS : Bunge i did not understand well your last sentance, i fear that it was also agains the guidelines. It will be cool if people helped these forums to stay nice.
Originally posted by FellowshipChurch iBook
BR You have a view as does Scott. I fail to see how you gain by using hateful insults towards scott or anyone else for that matter. Your post quoted above is not needed in a public forum.
Fellowship
If you think I'm a troll, Scott is ten times worse. He'll invade any thread and call anyone anti-american at any time for any reason. It's ridiculous and I'm ****ing fed up with it. I know a lot of other people are too. Of course, it's ironic that you advocate not making remarks in public but decide to rebuke me in public for it. Real nice.
Back on topic, here is another beautiful song by Bad Religion.
News From the Front
Blood is a river,
Flowing darkly amidst the tangled roots of the tall shining city
Crazy flowing mantide migrations
Engorge the big ventricle of heartbroken America
So many heaven hoping, hopeful groping breathers
All tap together quietly and desperately in unison
Hey, hey, hey, is anybody listening?
News from the front
News from the front
We're living in troubled times
So many fighting for their lives
Why do the troops despise the news from the front?
Ignorance is the root of fear
Fear is the kindling of anger
War is the bringer of shame
But never has the burden lain so heavily upon the victim
Rage and desolation
Pain and loneliness
Isn't it all alarmingly familiar?
Hey, hey, hey, silence is a killer.
News from the front
News from the front
Yeah these are troubled times
How many more will have to die
Before the governors can't deny the news from the front?
Break down the barriers, ally the carriers,
What is your motivation? Take a good look in the mirror
News from the front
News from the front
So many are fighting for their lives
How many more will have to die?
Why does the government decry the news from the front?
New America
Do you know the cost of future misery?
Have you lost your sense of sustainability?
We are just a step away
From realizing what we strive to be
But we've got to break out
From this insulated, blind and lame senility
Wake up the new america wo-oh!
Transcend the mass hysteria wo-oh!
Change is the thing you're wary of wo-oh!
We need a new america wo-oh!
Laurels, human triumph
Bestowments from the past
Victories don't mean a thing
If they don't last
We are just marching toward extinction
With blinders on our eyes
Jeopardizing everything
We've learned and come to realize
You call that wise?
Open your eyes america wo-oh!
See through the lies they tell to us wo-oh!
Confront the fears that worry us wo-oh!
We need a new america wo-oh!
We don't have to be afraid to re-invent
We've got to start to build
Progress and implement
For when we take our fill
And never pay the price
We only build ourselves
A fleeting, false paradise
You can live in staunch denial
And mark me as your enemy
But I'm just a voice among the throng
Who want a brighter destiny
They say with me
We are the new america wo-oh!
This is the new america? Wo-oh
Catch 22 by Joseph Heller. It is an excellent novel and I suggest that anyone who has not read it pick up a copy.
10,000 Maniacs
Jerome Augustyniak/Natalie Merchant
Detroit to D.C. night train, Capitol, parts East.
Lone young man takes a seat.
And by the rhythm of the rails, reading all his mother's mail from a city boy in a jungle town postmarked Saigon.
He'll go live his mother's dream, join the slowest parade he'll ever see.
Her weight of sorrows carried long and carried far.
"Take these, Tommy, to The Wall."
Metro line to the Mall site with a tour of Japanese.
He's wandering and lost until a vet in worn fatigues takes him down to where they belong.
Near a soldier, an ex-Marine with a tattooed dagger and eagle trembling, he bites his lip beside a widow breaking down.
She takes her Purple Heart, makes a fist, strikes The Wall.
All come to live a dream, to join the slowest parade they'll ever see.
Their weight of sorrows carried long and carried far, taken to The Wall.
It's 40 paces to the year that he was slain.
His hand's slipping down The Wall for it's slick with rain.
How would life have ever been the same if this wall had carved in it one less name?
But for Christ's sake, he's been dead over 20 years.
He leaves the letters asking, "Who caused my mother's tears, was it Washington or the Viet Cong?"
Slow deliberate steps are involved.
He takes them away from the black granite wall toward the other monuments so white and clean.
O, Potomac, what you've seen.
Abraham had his war too, but an honest war.
Or so it's taught in school.
G. Lightfoot
Down the hall their voices ring, their feet are on the run.
Phantoms on the winter sky, together they do come.
Faded lips and eyes of blue they're carried in the wind.
Their laughter filled the countryside but they'll not laugh again.
All the games are ended now, their voices have been stilled.
Their fathers built the tools of war by which they all were killed.
Their fathers made the uniforms showing which side they were on
and the young boys were the middle men for the guns to pray upon.
You've seen the fires in the night, watched the devil as he smiles.
You've heard a mother's mournful cry as she searches for her child.
You've seen the lines of refugees, the faces of despair
and wondered at the wise men who never seem to care.
Goodbye you lost children, God speed you on your way.
Your little beds are empty now, your toys are put away.
Your mother sings a lullaby as she gazes at the floor.
Your father builds more weapons and marches out once more.
Down the hall their voices ring, their feet are on the run.
Phantoms on the winter sky, together they do come.
Faded lips and eyes of blue they're carried in the wind.
Their laughter filled the countryside but they'll not laugh again.
Someone much older and smarter than I said something to the effect that 'oppression produces the best art'.
Even if it's not true, I believe it.........I must be American.
Originally written/sung by our lord, Robert Zimmerman
Come you masters of war
You that build the big guns
You that build the death planes
You that build all the bombs
You that hide behind walls
You that hide behind desks
I just want you to know I can see through your masks.
You that never have done nothin' but build to destroy
You play with my world like it's your little toy
You put a gun in my hand then you hide from my eyes
Then you turn and run farther when the fast bullets fly
Like Judas of old you lie and deceive
A world war can't be won, and you want me to believe
But I see through your eyes and I see through your brain
Like I see through the water that runs down my drain
You that fasten all the triggers for the others to fire
Then you sit back and watch while the death count gets higher
You hide in your mansions while the young people's blood
Flows out of their bodies and gets buried in the mud
You've thrown the worst fear that can ever be hurled
Fear to bring children into the world
For threatening my baby, unborn and unnamed
You ain't worth the blood that runs in your veins
How much do I know to talk out of turn
You might say that I'm young, you might say I'm unlearned
But there's one thing I know, though I'm younger than you
Even Jesus would never forgive what you do
Let me ask you one question: is your money that good?
Will it buy you forgiveness? Do you think that it could?
I think you will find when your death takes its toll
All the money you made won't ever buy back your soul
And I hope that you die and your death will come soon
I'll follow your casket through the pale afternoon
And I'll watch while you're lowered into your death bed
Then I'll stand over your grave till I'm sure that you're dead.
Words by Haile Selassie
Until the philosophy which hold one race
Superior and another inferior
Is finally and permanently discredited and abandoned
Everywhere is war, me say war
That until there are no longer first class
And second class citizens of any nation
Until the colour of a man's skin
Is of no more significance than the colour of his eyes
Me say war
That until the basic human rights are equally
Guaranteed to all, without regard to race
Dis a war
That until that day
The dream of lasting peace, world citizenship
Rule of international morality
Will remain in but a fleeting illusion
To be persued, but never attained
Now everywhere is war, war
And until the ignoble and unhappy regimes
that hold our brothers in Angola, in Mozambique,
South Africa sub-human bondage
Have been toppled, utterly destroyed
Well, everywhere is war, me say war
War in the east, war in the west
War up north, war down south
War, war, rumours of war
And until that day, the African continent
Will not know peace, we Africans will fight
We find it necessary and we know we shall win
As we are confident in the victory
Of good over evil, good over evil, good over evil
Good over evil, good over evil, good over evil