Larry's new song about the Police...

Subject: Larry's new song about the Police...
From: InOBU
Date: 17 May 01 - 10:56 AM

Knew that would wake a few of ya up!
Well here it is, we were performing Amadou Diallo, and an older gent began to heckle us, afterwards asking why don't we sing one aboutthe cops who are shot. I told him that the song was about Racial blindness, not about cops... but then I got to thinking, it was ... sort of. So... Well, there is an old expression in Belfast, the Pig in the middle, to describe the working class soldier who becomes the target for a class he gets no benifit from, and well the song just fell out of the noggin. So here it is, it will likely change a bit as I work the tune in... but I thought I'd open it up for comment.
(all rights reserved by Larry Otway, but as soon as I get a tape, let me know if ya want it for sessions Kevin and others...)

The Pig in the Middle

I'll sing you a song bout the cop who died
for the land that he loved, the land of his pride
the land that he gave his child hood and youth
the land that had promised to tell him the truth
but the truth that they gave him no more than a riddle
for his country just made him the pig in the middle

In school he was taught about the wars we won
With God on our side and a US made gun
Till we lost Viet Nam because of traitors and press
would you die for your country his answer was yes
And he dreamed of glory and dreamed of the day
when the county he loved would call him away

He joined the army as soon as he'd grown,
a gangly teenager who'd never left home
but boot camp was hard, and harder by far
was his days in the desert during the Gulf war
He returned to this land, still bearing his pride
and his stead fast belief that God was on our side

There were few jobs to be had, for a soldiers skill
was little more than to be killed or to kill
So he settled on police work, and a hope to do good
bringing law and order to a city neighborhood
never asking why we needed more jails than schools
he was just on the street enforcing the rules.

To the kid that he shot, he was a soldier at war
to the kid who shot him, he was a symbol no more
A symbol of abuse of distrust and of neglect
a symbol of a land that gave him no respect
What value is respect when the pipes and drums sound
when the symbols and the man are left in the cold ground

Subject: RE: Larry's new song about the Police...
From: Giac
Date: 17 May 01 - 11:12 AM

Dang, Larry, that's a tough song. Hurry up (!) with the tune, I can't wait to "hear" it.

Mary

Subject: RE: Larry's new song about the Police...
From: marty D
Date: 17 May 01 - 11:24 AM

Strong work Larry. It's a hard subject to deal with, and I'm afraid you're going to get more than your share of hecklers (probably a few from here as well) but it's a valid topic.

It's not the "bad" cop that worries me, it's the dozens around him or her that condone the behaviour with their silence.

marty

Subject: RE: Larry's new song about the Police...
From: MMario
Date: 17 May 01 - 11:29 AM

I see it more as about the poor guy who is doing his best - and catching crap for it from both "sides"

Subject: RE: Larry's new song about the Police...
From: InOBU
Date: 17 May 01 - 11:30 AM

Thanks Marty... That is in fact why I don't concentrate on the "Good cop bad cop" arguement. Most of the killing on both sides happens when we are blind to each other as we see each other as symbols. The ones who create and whield the symbols are the problem, eh? Think of the symbolism it takes to create a society that hs 3 MILLION! people in jail! It is stagering. We by passed Stalinist Russia, per captia, for our prision population at 1 million!
Thanks for the input, Larry

Subject: RE: Larry's new song about the Police...
From: marty D
Date: 17 May 01 - 11:43 AM

Larry, I'm not a revolutionary (in the sense that I gather you are) but I have eyes to see with, and I know that when you decide to put on a uniform, you have difficulty seeing others as individuals anymore. Just "groups" either sympathetic or dangerous. There is the current case in Philadelphia.

marty

Subject: RE: Larry's new song about the Police...
From: Sorcha
Date: 17 May 01 - 11:52 AM

Spot on, Larry. Wonderful song, would like to hear the tune.......
Sorcha, the Cop's wife

Subject: RE: Larry's new song about the Police...
From: InOBU
Date: 17 May 01 - 12:04 PM

Thanks Sorcha, thanks and as allways, as we've spoken of in the past, my heartfelt best to your husband and his co-workers who try to do their best. Larry

Subject: RE: Larry's new song about the Police...
From: Lonesome EJ
Date: 17 May 01 - 12:32 PM

Good song, Larry. But I think the title will make it harder for a lot of folks to be open to the point of the song. The Irish origin will be lost on people who perceive "Pig" as a hate word for cops.

Subject: RE: Larry's new song about the Police...
From: KingBrilliant
Date: 18 May 01 - 05:04 AM

Good song - I like the first verse best of all.
Its one of those songs that paints a very strong picture & gives a lot of food for thought.
Kris

Subject: RE: Larry's new song about the Police...
From: Gervase
Date: 18 May 01 - 06:40 AM

Good song, Larry.
I like the title "Pig in the Middle" because of the other meaning. In the Met, London's force, some cops use the word jokingly among themselves - referring to Hendon training school as the "piggery" and the noisy sods who roam the skies in choppers as "pigs that do fly!
Anything that breaks down the barriers created by uniform and state and that helps us see others as human is a good thing, and your song does just that.

Subject: RE: Larry's new song about the Police...
From: InOBU
Date: 18 May 01 - 07:46 AM

Thanks for the comments ... One small correction, the line about Viet Nam... should now read,
And that we lost... not till we lost, to express that this is what is being taught in the schools, not that it is the oppion of yours truely. Thanks again... you all keep me at it.
Larry

Subject: RE: Larry's new song about the Police...
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 18 May 01 - 01:03 PM

Guess I've got really ambivalent thoughts about "cop songs" Larry. I have and have had friends who were veteran cops (my leathercarving teachers were cops...AND convicts) and my Glaswegian sister-in-law is one. Like marty, what really concerns me is the "Us against them" thing that they feel makes them safe as' a "team". I'm pretty much a happy contented "loner" who temporarily "joins" other groups constantly. keeps me from getting to close to the "group agenda". When I see bad (or good) behaviour, I want to be able to either condemn it or praise it without worrying whether I'm breaking some sacred "group trust".

'Fraid that goes for my many friends on the "Left" as well who often maintain solidarity when their leadership are acting like pompous idiots.

But as far as the song goes: WELL DONE.

Rick

Subject: RE: Larry's new song about the Police...
From: Amergin
Date: 18 May 01 - 04:42 PM

Well...Larry, I don't have anything to say about your song, except for Good JOB!!! Would love to hear it!