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Requiem For The Masses Lyrics
Requiem aeternam, Requiem aeternam
Mama, mama, forget your pies
Have faith they won't get cold
And turn your eyes to the bloodshot sky
Your flag is flying full
At half mast, for the matadors
Who turned their backs to please the crowd
And all fell before the bull
Red was the color of his blood flowing thin
Pallid hite was the color of his lifeless skin
Blue was the color of the morning sky
He saw looking up from the ground where he died
It was the last thing ever seen by him
Kyrie Eleison
Mama, mama, forget your pies
Have faith they won't get cold
And turn your eyes to the bloodshot sky
Your flag is flying full
At half mast, for the matadors
Who turned their backs to please the crowd
And all fell before the bull
Black and white were the figures that recorded him
Black and white was the newsprint he was mentioned in
Black and white was the question that so bothered him
He never asked, he was taught not to ask
But was on his lips as they buried him
Rex tremendae majestatis
Requiem aeternam, Requiem aeternam
Have faith they won't get cold
And turn your eyes to the bloodshot sky
Your flag is flying full
Who turned their backs to please the crowd
And all fell before the bull
Pallid hite was the color of his lifeless skin
Blue was the color of the morning sky
He saw looking up from the ground where he died
It was the last thing ever seen by him
Have faith they won't get cold
And turn your eyes to the bloodshot sky
Your flag is flying full
Who turned their backs to please the crowd
And all fell before the bull
Black and white was the newsprint he was mentioned in
Black and white was the question that so bothered him
He never asked, he was taught not to ask
But was on his lips as they buried him
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I think this wonderful tune is a mixture of deep messages. It seems like it was about Vietnam War, and yet it was likely about the death of Davey Moore, the famous boxer.
Whatever the ultimate meaning, whatever the main intention, this is an unsung hero among the litter box that is the 1960's landscape.
The Association are far and unfairly underrated.
The Schaumburg, IL High School Choir web site has a page, http://www.shs.d211.org/music/choir/terrykirkman.htm, about a concert they did in 2003, in which RftM was one of the songs. Terry Kirkman, the composer, wrote them about the song's inspiration and history.
The immediate inspiration was a harrowing flight to Milwaukee during a snowstorm the group took.
he antiwar overtones of the song led radio stations to start to put it in serious rotation (it was the "B" side of "Never My Love"), but, Kirkman says, the Nixon White House called Warner Brothers Records asking that they not promote the song, and they complied... and this fine song faded from sight.
Motifs expressed in the lyrics suggest the Spanish Civil War of 1936, think Mama, matador and perhaps bloodshot skies (Franco was using bombers on the opposition). Still looking for anything on this from the band.