| Bruce Cockburn – If I Had a Rocket Launcher Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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This song is generally about U.S. government-backed civil conflicts in the 1980's. guatemala is name-dropped, but it is also about the nicaraguan civil conflicts and the contras in Iran that were supplied by the Reagan administration and killed many of their own people. (the iran-contra affair) it is sung from the viewpoint of a fed-up witness to these acts of violence, who is willing to go to the most desperate measures to end the violence. all in all, a great political song. |
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| Buffalo Springfield – For What It's Worth Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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this song is meant to be mostly about the police riot at the democratic national convention in chicago in 1968. There's something happening here What it is ain't exactly clear ^ because people in the area at first didnt understand why the police would attack the demonstrators There's a man with a gun over there Telling me I got to beware ^referring to a policeman, either across a street or behind a barricade, etc. I think it's time we stop, children, what's that sound Everybody look what's going down ^ saying that attention needs to be called to this, and other social injustices in general. ("that sound" was the sound of the police riot: sirens, tear gas guns, dogs, etc) There's battle lines being drawn Nobody's right if everybody's wrong ^shows drastic political and cultural divisions in America at the time, and also the uncertainty about the world What a field-day for the heat A thousand people in the street Singing songs and carrying signs ^another reference to the '68 DNC police riot, where it was a "field day" for the police (heat) because they had tear gas, armored vehicles, batons, armor, billy clubs and such and the demonstrators really didnt have anything, and there were a lot of demonstrators, so they could really go wild 'Young people speaking their minds Getting so much resistance from behind' and also 'Mostly say, hooray for our side' ^both lyrics show how confident each side was in their viewpoints Paranoia strikes deep Into your life it will creep It starts when you're always afraid ^refers to the state of cold war fear of the time, of communism, nukes, etc this song is very good, and has evolved for the better to represent an entire period in american history |
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