Beautiful Enemy Lyrics
Another star, another stripe
What's your new bag?
Something real or just some hype
Tell me, what have you sown
Have you prospered and grown?
Why shouldn't you have your moments of genius
Just because our alliance broke with no
Civil words between us
I send my scorn and ridicule
You're not innocent
No, not innocent
No one's innocent
Your name's not on any signs
It's so well-planned
And well-groomed and yet somehow
The past tornadoes through
People talk about you
Can't they see that your reign
Is steely and torturous?
I start thinking that I am sinking
Inside a hollow fortress
My stride is slowed by memory but
Not innocent
No, not innocent
No one's innocent
The juries denounce you
There I stand with the upper hand
But in order to trounce you
I just keep getting above myself
Things can be complicated, but
You're my enemy
You're my enemy
You're my enemy
There are new things we will love
It feels so right
Let's not make up or rise above
Yes, we are more corrupted
Happy and productive
We'll both live in a world of civilized
People
Though I've heard that my brand new church
Has a slightly higher steeple
Hail to your vast hegemony
You're not innocent
I'm not innocent
No one's innocent
Hail to your vast hegemony
You're not innocent
I'm not innocent
No one's innocent
I always interpreted this as being about the Cold War: "Just because our alliance broke with no/ Civil words between us" referring to the fact that it started after America and Russia were allied during World War 2.
One of my favorite Dar Williams songs. It is a song about enemys and how sometimes they like to think the other is evil, when really they are just equal opposite forces. The song shows how they waste time/resources/... in the process of trying to outdo the other.
It shows both that conclusion that the other is wrong: "Can't they see that your reign is steely and torturous?"
and that the other group isn't actually savage, just competition: "We'll both live in a world of civilized people Though I've heard that my brand new church Has a slightly higher steeple"
It just reminds me of so many situations I see where people demonize the other side, instead of working together to accomplish the ultimate goal, which they do not realize is the same for both sides.
Was it just be or did anybody else feel that this was about Bush?
I have always thought this was about either the US and Russia, China, or North Korea.