Why are these women here
Dancing on their own?
Why is there this sadness in their eyes?
Why are the soldiers here
Their faces fixed like stone?
I can't see what it is they despise
They're dancing with the missing
They're dancing with the dead
They dance with the invisible ones
Their anguish is unsaid
They're dancing with their fathers
They're dancing with their sons
They're dancing with their husbands
They dance alone...
They dance alone...
It's the only form of protest they're allowed
I've seen their silent faces scream so loud
If they were to speak these words
they'd go missing too
Another woman on the torture table
what else can they do
They're dancing with the missing
They're dancing with the dead
They dance with the invisible ones
Their anguish is unsaid
They're dancing with their fathers
They're dancing with their sons
They're dancing with their husbands
They dance alone...
They dance alone...
One day we'll dance on their graves
One day we'll sing our freedom
One day we'll laugh in our joy
And we'll dance...
One day we'll dance on their graves
One day we'll sing our freedom
One day we'll laugh in our joy
And we'll dance...
sotto voce
Ellas danzan con los desaparecidos
Ellas danzan con los muertos
Ellas danzan con amores invisibles
Ellas danzan con silenciosa angistia
Danzan con sus padres
Danzan con sus hijos
Danzan con sus esposos
Ellas danzan solas
Danzan solas
Hey Mr. Pinochet
You've sown a bitter crop
It's foreign money that supports you
One day the money's going to stop
No wages for your torturers
No budget for your guns
Can you think of your own mother
Dancin' with her invisible son
They're dancing with the missing
They're dancing with the dead
They dance with the invisible ones
Their anguish is unsaid
They're dancing with their fathers
They're dancing with their sons
They're dancing with their husbands
They dance alone...
They dance alone...
Dancing on their own?
Why is there this sadness in their eyes?
Why are the soldiers here
Their faces fixed like stone?
I can't see what it is they despise
They're dancing with the missing
They're dancing with the dead
They dance with the invisible ones
Their anguish is unsaid
They're dancing with their fathers
They're dancing with their sons
They're dancing with their husbands
They dance alone...
They dance alone...
It's the only form of protest they're allowed
I've seen their silent faces scream so loud
If they were to speak these words
they'd go missing too
Another woman on the torture table
what else can they do
They're dancing with the missing
They're dancing with the dead
They dance with the invisible ones
Their anguish is unsaid
They're dancing with their fathers
They're dancing with their sons
They're dancing with their husbands
They dance alone...
They dance alone...
One day we'll dance on their graves
One day we'll sing our freedom
One day we'll laugh in our joy
And we'll dance...
One day we'll dance on their graves
One day we'll sing our freedom
One day we'll laugh in our joy
And we'll dance...
sotto voce
Ellas danzan con los desaparecidos
Ellas danzan con los muertos
Ellas danzan con amores invisibles
Ellas danzan con silenciosa angistia
Danzan con sus padres
Danzan con sus hijos
Danzan con sus esposos
Ellas danzan solas
Danzan solas
Hey Mr. Pinochet
You've sown a bitter crop
It's foreign money that supports you
One day the money's going to stop
No wages for your torturers
No budget for your guns
Can you think of your own mother
Dancin' with her invisible son
They're dancing with the missing
They're dancing with the dead
They dance with the invisible ones
Their anguish is unsaid
They're dancing with their fathers
They're dancing with their sons
They're dancing with their husbands
They dance alone...
They dance alone...
Lyrics submitted by Novartza
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STING: Its power is that it's ostensibly a peaceful gesture. It's innocent in a way: Security forces can't arrest you for dancing, although I'm sure they'd like to. But this is such a powerful image, of women dancing with pictures of their loved ones pinned on their arms and clothes instead of going out there with Molotov cocktails, which only elicits another kind of violence. This is something that has to win - it's so powerful that it actually has to succeed. Whereas terrorism, no matter how justified by previous violence, will never work. I'll tell you an interesting story. When we first started to record with the Police, I wrote some hard-driving rock'n'roll songs, like 'All I Want Is to Be Next to You'. Andy and Stewart said that I shouldn't write a love song, that the future was in pseudopolitical songs, or whatever. So I said, 'Well, I've written this, why don't you try and write something else ?" So they both went home with the song's backing tracks and Andy came up with 'I'm Not Going to Take a Gun to You' and Stewart came up with something almost the same. Miserable.
I think even after having written and recorded this song, he still couldn't believe that those things he sang about were actually happening. There's a little bit of surprise left in his voice and that's what makes it even more touching.
I don't think that this song is only sad. The lines
One day we'll dance on their graves
One day we'll sing our freedom
One day we'll laugh in our joy
And we'll dance..
appeal quite positive to me - he's sure that one day things will change eventually and to honor the women we'll dance on their graves.
Check out this live performance where Sting and Peter Gabriel dance with the real women ("los madres") in the end! It breaks your heart!
youtube.com/…