08 Oct 01 - 03:03 PM (#567554) Subject: New Song: A Foreign War From: Jeri A FOREIGN WAR It's time for Sunday dinner when the bombs begin to fall Talk of morning's sermon ends, interrupted by a call And the family turns the TV on, and in silence watch the screen Tiny bursts of brightness on night-vision black and green Father wanders to the kitchen, runs water in the sink Daughter drops a glass and Father doesn't think He's halfway beneath the table, he's halfway back in time Then he laughs and tells his Daughter, everything is fine. Daughter changes into jeans to go outside to play Mother reads the paper for there's nothing she can say And Daughter stops and turns around, halfway to the door Daddy, did you kill someone when you were in the war? But Daddy doesn't answer, and his face turns into stone The silence, loud as thunder, chills her to the bone So she turns again and goes outside before she starts to cry Father waits for time to move again, for this moment to go by Mother lies in bed and wonders how she can ease his pain In the dark before the TV, he sees it all again And thinks it's all so far away, it's not really like it seems You can't see the people dying, and you can't hear their screams And it doesn't show how those who live will forever know that fear Those pictures don't mean Jack to us who sit and watch them here And his eyes lose their focus and he stares off in the night And his face shines in the flashing TV light |
08 Oct 01 - 03:07 PM (#567559) Subject: RE: New Song: A Foreign War From: Mrrzy Woof. Whew. Yikes. No blessings here... |
08 Oct 01 - 03:12 PM (#567565) Subject: RE: New Song: A Foriegn War From: Gareth Jeri - With my father it was the same. Some wounds never heal. Gareth |
08 Oct 01 - 03:47 PM (#567586) Subject: RE: New Song: A Foreign War From: AllisonA(Animaterra) Jeri, before I opened this thread I hoped it was yours. Thank you yet again for moving, truthful lyrics- I hope to hear it soon! |
08 Oct 01 - 05:01 PM (#567638) Subject: RE: New Song: A Foreign War From: GUEST,Sonja Great lyrics! I added a link to this song to the thread on New Songs for 9-11-01. Even though yours is about the US response to 9-11, it's still connected to those songs. |
08 Oct 01 - 05:12 PM (#567654) Subject: RE: New Song: A Foreign War From: Paul from Hull That brought quite a lump to my throat.... |
08 Oct 01 - 06:28 PM (#567740) Subject: RE: New Song: A Foreign War From: BH With all due respect to your feelings I am sure that there are many widows, widowers, orphans (now) in the U S that are also staring blankly and wondering about their lives. At least we are not targetting innocents---only maniacal zealots. Doctors WIthout Borders has the audacity--today---to condemn our food drops as propoganda. At least the food dropping planes did not crash into what might be a considered a high rise cave for civilians in Afghanistan Bill Hahn |
08 Oct 01 - 06:55 PM (#567756) Subject: RE: New Song: A Foreign War From: 2 in harmony Jeri - What an incredible song! When I was a little girl I used to ask my father, "What did you do in the war, Daddy?" Never got an answer as a child or as an adult. Regardless of which war or why, I thank you for one possible answer and the moving way in which it was expressed. Of course there may be many experiences and feelings which we cannot know unless we have been there. |
08 Oct 01 - 07:21 PM (#567779) Subject: RE: New Song: A Foreign War From: Jeri Thanks folks - at least a few people thought it was worth posting. I wasn't sure I should. It wasn't meant to be about everybody or all possible views. Just one particular man, one particular family. It's not even necessarily about this war. The story isn't any more important than anyone else's. It's not meant to take any political side. I figure someone else can write those songs, and someone else can keep starting those threads. This song's about feelings, not beliefs, not right or wrong. I guess a lot of kids asked their fathers what being in a war was like. When I was a kid, I DID ask my father if he'd ever killed anyone in WWII. I got the same reaction the girl in the song did. He wouldn't talk about anything to do with the war. When I was older, we had lots of arguments about Viet Nam. He still never talked about his own experiences. |
08 Oct 01 - 07:42 PM (#567793) Subject: RE: New Song: A Foreign War From: GUEST,anne powerfull lyrics, useful in teaching history, especially today |
08 Oct 01 - 07:45 PM (#567797) Subject: RE: New Song: A Foreign War From: BH So--the point is what? Let us bury and mourn our dead? Get on with life and harm others? Perhaps you might listen to the new pieces by Kitty Donahoe and McCutcheon/Chapin/Mark. They give perspective to healing and to also restoring our civilization to ---a civilization. Churchill had it right(as does Tony Blair)"...it is either anarchy or order---and we had best make certain order prevails". Bless Winnie---he had it right. Bill Hahn |
08 Oct 01 - 07:47 PM (#567801) Subject: RE: New Song: A Foreign War From: BH CORRECTION: Should have proof read. 1st line should read at the end:"...get on with life and NOT harm others"? BH |
08 Oct 01 - 08:15 PM (#567833) Subject: RE: New Song: A Foreign War From: Jeri I said above "This song's about feelings, not beliefs, not right or wrong." Bill, I really have no idea how to explain the song if it's not clear from the lyrics. It's about one man's reaction to watching scenes from a war on TV. That's all. It could have been a Viet Nam vet watching the Gulf War. Without the "night vision" reference, it might have been about a WWII vet watching the Viet Nam war. There are no "shoulds," no "do this" - just his feelings. Maybe it's just not the sort of song you care for, eh? No soap boxes. |
08 Oct 01 - 08:57 PM (#567851) Subject: RE: New Song: A Foreign War From: BH WHy no soap boxes? Merely a commentary stating the thoughts representing innocents massacred---as I would have felt about the innocents at Mai Lai, Buchenwald etc; As to watching images on TV. Think how this affect adults and children---compressed on a small screen like a cartoon or action film. Radio can bring the horror more into context---and with the proper program into context of what is going on. Not the scare headlines of the tabloids. Peace would be nice---perhaps we---for the first time--have gotten past revenge and are looking for ways to retalitate and erase terrorism along with the sensitivity of spending millions to drop supplies to the innocents. Having sad memories and flashbacks are a sad thing---I too have them. But, let us stay in the present---the r eality is that our innocents have been murdered. Our society is in jeopardy. Period. Bill Hahn
|