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This World Over Lyrics
Ah well, that's this world over
Ah well, next one begins
Will you smile like any mother
As you bathe your brand new twins?
Will you sing about the missiles
As you dry odd numbered limbs?
Ah well, that's this world over
Ah well, next one begins
Ah well, that's this world over
You sadly grin
Will you tell them about that far off and mythical land
About their leader with the famous face?
Will you tell them that the reason nothing ever grows
In the garden anymore
Because he wanted to win the craziest race
That's this world over
Will you smile like any father
With your children on a Sunday hike?
When you get to a sea of rubble
And they ask ``What was London like?''
You tell them, ``Ah well, that's the world over''
Will you tell them about that far off and mythical land
And how a child to the virgin came?
Will you tell them that the reason why we murdered
Everything upon the surface of the world
So we can stand right up and say we did it in his name?
That's this world over
Or so it seems
That's this world over
The end of dreams
That's this world over, over, over and out.
Ah well, next one begins
As you bathe your brand new twins?
Will you sing about the missiles
As you dry odd numbered limbs?
Ah well, next one begins
Ah well, that's this world over
You sadly grin
About their leader with the famous face?
Will you tell them that the reason nothing ever grows
In the garden anymore
Because he wanted to win the craziest race
That's this world over
With your children on a Sunday hike?
When you get to a sea of rubble
And they ask ``What was London like?''
And how a child to the virgin came?
Will you tell them that the reason why we murdered
Everything upon the surface of the world
So we can stand right up and say we did it in his name?
Or so it seems
That's this world over
The end of dreams
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Remember that this song came out in the 80s, in the middle of the cold war. I remember its release well and played it endlessly. There was a ton of music at that time, especially from the UK, that was overtly critical of Reagan and Thacher and the nuclear arms race. We were indeed truly afraid that the arms race would lead to complete nuclear anhilation of the earth. This is one of those -- see the line, about "the far off and mythical place" and "the leader with the famous face"? This the US and Reagan. Taken together with the line about doing it "in his name," which is obviously a comment on destruction in the name of God, I read this song as a commentary on the danger of all forms of human zealotry, but with a particular focus on the Cold War narrative at the time. The USSR was often presented as Godless (which, officially, it was) and the USA as God-fearing, so XTC is challenging the received narratives that as God-fearing people we were somehow better than the Godless USSR. In the end, everybody dies and the world is destroyed -- so who is actually the winner here? No one.
In spite of what it sounds like, this is NOT a Police cover
I just love this song. It's about the aftermath of the Third World War, I think.
I just love this song. It's about the aftermath of the Third World War, I think.
It's pretty clearly an attack against religion (Christianity, at least) and their holy wars. The next world begins with horrible consequences, but it's all within god's plan. As parents, will we tell our children of god's greatness amidst the rubble of London and the limbless babies?
"Will you tell them that the reason why we murdered Everything upon the surface of the world So we can stand right up and say we did it in his name?"
It's pretty clearly an attack against religion (Christianity, at least) and their holy wars. The next world begins with horrible consequences, but it's all within god's plan. As parents, will we tell our children of god's greatness amidst the rubble of London and the limbless babies?
"Will you tell them that the reason why we murdered Everything upon the surface of the world So we can stand right up and say we did it in his name?"