Back in the 70's, Randy Newman wrote this song, which seems appropriate as a description of American foreign policy, then and now. See if you agree:

POLITICAL SCIENCE

No one likes us, I don't know why,
We may not be perfect, but heaven knows we try.
All around, even our old friends put us down
Let's drop the big one and see what happens. . .

We give them money, but are they grateful?
No, they're spiteful and they're hateful!
They don't respect us, so let's surprise them
We'll drop the big one and pulverize them!

Asia's crowded, Europe's too old,
Africa is far too hot
And Canada's too cold
South America stole our name
Let's drop the big one
There'll be no one left to blame us!

We'll save Australia
Don't want to hurt no kangaroo,
We'll build an all-American amusement park there
They've got surfin' too!

Boom goes London,
Boom Paree,
More room for you,
More room for me!
And every city
The whole world 'round
Will just be another American town
Oh how peaceful it will be!
We'll set everybody free!
You'll wear the Japanese kimono, baby,
Be the Italian shoes for me!
They all hate us anyhow,
Let's drop the big one now!

System of a down has a bit:

Pushing little children
With their fully automatics
They like to push the weak around
Pushing little children
With their fully automatics
They like to push the weak around

And then there's the clash, not sure how well it applies:

Now the king told the boogie men
You have to let that raga drop
The oil down the desert way
Has been shakin' to the top
The sheik he drove his Cadillac
He went a' cruisnin' down the ville
The muezzin was a' standing
On the radiator grille

CHORUS
The shareef don't like it
Rockin' the Casbah
Rock the Casbah
The shareef don't like it
Rockin' the Casbah
Rock the Casbah

By order of the prophet
We ban that boogie sound
Degenerate the faithful
With that crazy Casbah sound
But the Bedouin they brought out
The electric camel drum
The local guitar picker
Got his guitar picking thumb
As soon as the shareef
Had cleared the square
They began to wail

CHORUS

Now over at the temple
Oh! They really pack 'em in
The in crowd say it's cool
To dig this chanting thing
But as the wind changed direction
The temple band took five
The crowd caught a wiff
Of that crazy Casbah jive

CHORUS

The king called up his jet fighters
He said you better earn your pay
Drop your bombs between the minarets
Down the Casbah way

As soon as the shareef was
Chauffeured outta there
The jet pilots tuned to
The cockpit radio blare

As soon as the shareef was
Outta their hair
The jet pilots wailed

CHORUS

He thinks it's not kosher
Fundamentally he can't take it.
You know he really hates it.

Oh God said to Abraham, "Kill me a son"
Abe says, "Man, you must be puttin' me on"
God say, "No." Abe say, "What?"
God say, "You can do what you want Abe, but
The next time you see me comin' you better run"
Well Abe says, "Where do you want this killin' done?"
God says, "Out on Highway 61."

Well Georgia Sam he had a bloody nose
Welfare Department they wouldn't give him no clothes
He asked poor Howard where can I go
Howard said there's only one place I know
Sam said tell me quick man I got to run
Ol' Howard just pointed with his gun
And said that way down on Highway 61.

Well Mack the Finger said to Louie the King
I got forty red white and blue shoe strings
And a thousand telephones that don't ring
Do you know where I can get rid of these things
And Louie the King said let me think for a minute son
And he said yes I think it can be easily done
Just take everything down to Highway 61.

Now the fifth daughter on the twelfth night
Told the first father that things weren't right
My complexion she said is much too white
He said come here and step into the light he says hmm you're right
Let me tell the second mother this has been done
But the second mother was with the seventh son
And they were both out on Highway 61.

Now the rovin' gambler he was very bored
He was tryin' to create a next world war
He found a promoter who nearly fell off the floor
He said I never engaged in this kind of thing before
But yes I think it can be very easily done
We'll just put some bleachers out in the sun
And have it on Highway 61.

Remember 99 red balloons, both the english and German versions?

And that Phil Collins song whose video featured the claymation version of several world leaders, and ended if I recall correctly with a massive nuclear explosion and a laughing Reagan replica?

Now that was the stuff.

This is the age of machinery,
A mechanical nightmare,
The wonderful world of technology,
Napalm, hydrogen bombs, biological warfare,

This is the twentieth century,
But too much aggravation
It's the age of insanity,
What has become of the green pleasant fields of Jerusalem.

Ain't got no ambition, I'm just disillusioned
I'm a twentieth century man but I don't wanna be here.
My mama said she can't understand me
She can't see my motivation
Just give me some security,
I'm a paranoid schizoid product of the twentieth century.

You keep all your smart modern writers
Give me William Shakespeare
You keep all your smart modern painters
I'll take Rembrandt, Titian, Da Vinci and Gainsborough,

Girl we gotta get out of here
We gotta find a solution
I'm a twentieth century man but I don't want to die here.

I was born in a welfare state
Ruled by bureaucracy
Controlled by civil servants
And people dressed in grey
Got no privacy, got no liberty
Cos the twentieth century people
Took it all away from me.

Don't wanna get myself shot down
By some trigger happy policeman,
Gotta keep a hold on my sanity
I'm a twentieth century man but I don't wanna die here.

My mama says she can't understand me
She can't see my motivation
Ain't got no security,
I'm a twentieth century man but I don't wanna be here.

This is the twentieth century
But too much aggravation
This is the edge of insanity
I'm a twentieth century man but I don't wanna be here.

The Unknown Soldier
-Jim Morrison

Wait until the war is over
And we're both a little older
The unknown soldier

Breakfast where the news is read
Television children fed
Unborn living, living, dead
Bullet strikes the helmet's head

And it's all over
For the unknown soldier
It's all over
For the unknown soldier

Hut
Hut
Hut ho hee up
Hut
Hut
Hut ho hee up
Hut
Hut
Hut ho hee up
Comp'nee
Halt
Preeee-zent!
Arms!

Make a grave for the unknown soldier
Nestled in your hollow shoulder
The unknown soldier

Breakfast where the news is read
Television children fed
Bullet strikes the helmet's head

And, it's all over
The war is over
It's all over
The war is over

Where to now St. Peter
-Bernie Taupin

I took myself a blue canoe
And I floated like a leaf
Dazzling, dancing
Half enchanted
In my Merlin sleep
Crazy was the feeling
Restless were my eyes
Insane they took the paddles
My arms they paralysed

So where to now St. Peter
If it's true I'm in your hands
I may not be a Christian
But I've done all one man can
I understand I'm on the road
Where all that was is gone
So where to now St. Peter
Show me which road I'm on
Which road I'm on

It took a sweet young foreign gun
This lazy life is short
Something for nothing always ending
With a bad report
Dirty was the daybreak
Sudden was the change
In such a silent place as this
Beyond the rifle range
I took myself a blue canoe

Sky Pilot (aka Georg W Bush)
-Eric Burden

He blesses the boys as they stand in line
The smell of gun grease and the bayonets they shine
He's there to help them all that he can
To make them feel wanted he's a good holy man
Sky pilot.....sky pilot
How high can you fly
You'll never, never, never reach the sky

He smiles at the young soldiers
Tells them its all right
He knows of their fear in the forthcoming fight
Soon there'll be blood and many will die
Mothers and fathers back home they will cry
Sky pilot.....sky pilot
How high can you fly
You'll never, never, never reach the sky

He mumbles a prayer and it ends with a smile
The order is given
They move down the line
But he's still behind and he'll meditate
But it won't stop the bleeding or ease the hate
As the young men move out into the battle zone
He feels good, with God you're never alone
He feels tired and he lays on his bed
Hopes the men will find courage in the words that he said
Sky pilot.....sky Pilot
How high can you fly

You'll never, never, never reach the sky
You're soldiers of God you must understand
The fate of your country is in your young hands
May God give you strength
Do your job real well
If it all was worth it
Only time it will tell

In the morning they return
With tears in their eyes
The stench of death drifts up to the skies
A soldier so ill looks at the sky pilot
Remembers the words
"Thou shalt not kill"
Sky pilot.....sky pilot
How high can you fly
You never, never, never reach the sky

all this time i've been thinking that music is supposed to be uplifting but i surely feel down after reading all the above...
so i say to thee...

get up, stand up
dont' give up the fight.

__________________
72 W114/M130

RedMeat cartoon

NAMING OF PARTS

To-day we have naming of parts. Yesterday,
We had daily cleaning. And to-morrow morning,
We shall have what to do after firing. But to-day,
To-day we have naming of parts. Japonica
Glistens like coral in all of the neighboring gardens,
And to-day we have naming of parts.

This is the lower sling swivel. And this
Is the upper sling swivel, whose use you will see,
When you are given your slings. And this is the piling swivel,
Which in your case you have not got. The branches
Hold in the gardens their silent, eloquent gestures,
Which in our case we have not got.

This is the safety-catch, which is always released
With an easy flick of the thumb. And please do not let me
See anyone using his finger. You can do it quite easy
If you have any strength in your thumb. The blossoms
Are fragile and motionless, never letting anyone see
Any of them using their finger.

And this you can see is the bolt. The purpose of this
Is to open the breech, as you see. We can slide it
Rapidly backwards and forwards: we call this
Easing the spring. And rapidly backwards and forwards
The early bees are assaulting and fumbling the flowers
They call it easing the Spring.

They call it easing the Spring: it is perfectly easy
If you have any strength in your thumb: like the bolt,
And the breech, and the cocking-piece, and the point of balance,
Which in our case we have not got; and the almond-blossom
Silent in all of the gardens and the bees going backwards and forwards,
For to-day we have naming of parts.

-Henry Reed

V1:
19 insane, gave millions a fear
a nation divides, the enemy unclear.
our news feeds the cause,
our culture gives in,
for every broadcast
is a battle they win.
We've spent so much time,
in search of one name,
but there is no purpose,
with thousands the same.

Ch:
A nation lost,
for dollars and cost.
We've seen tragedy
but some still don't see.

(unfinished lyrics of mine, from late september 2001. A bit simplistic in retrospect. But I figured this was a lyric thread, and this is one of the few things I have written that is not going to be copyrighted, plus it somewhat relates to the theme of the other lyrics.)

__________________
headrivenoise... listen.

I prefer the Clash song mainly because the Clash is the best band ever.

Er, I think it you meant the GERMAN version, the band NENA was from FRG(Federal Republic of Germany, West Germany).

__________________
Nachi11744

Come 'n listen to my story 'bout a man named Jed

Poor Mountaineer barely kept his family fed

An' then one day, he was shootin' at some food,

An' up thru the ground came a bubblin' crude.

Oil that is! Black gold! Texas tea!



Well, the first thing ya know, Jed's a millionaire

Kin-folk said, "Jed, move away from there." Said

Californy is the place y'oughta be, so they

loaded up the truck, and they moved to Beverly.

Hills that is! Swimmin' pools, Movie stars!



Ol' Jed bought a mansion. Lawdy it was swank

Next door neighbor was pres'dent of the bank,

Lotsa folks objected, but the banker found no fault,

'Cause ol' Jed's millions was a-layin' in the vault

Cash, that is! Capital gains, Depletion money!



Well now it's time to say goodbye to Jed and all his kin

An' they would like to thank you folks fer kindly droppin' in.

You're all invited back again to this locality,

T'have a heapin' helpin' of their hospitality.

Hillbilly, that is! Set a spell, Take your shoes off!

Y'all come back, here!

All in all
You're just another
Brick in the wall.