5 Meanings
Add Yours
Share
Sweet Bird of Truth Lyrics
6 o'clock in the morning & I'm the last person in this plane
Still awake
Why'know I can almost smell the blood washing against the shores,
Of this land that can't forget its past.
Oh the wind that carries this plane, is the wind of change,
Heaven sent and hell bent!
Over the mountain tops we go, just like all the other GI Joes
EE-AY-EE-AY----adios!
CHORUS
This is your captain calling--"with an urgent warning"
We're above the Gulf of Arabia--"our altitude is falling"
& I can't hold her up--"there's no time for thinking"
All hands on deck--"this bird is sinking"
Across the beaches and cranes, rivers and trains
All the money I've made--bodies I've maimed.
Time was when I seemed to know,
Just like any other GI Joe
Should I cry like a baby, or die like a man
While all the planets little wars start joining hands,
Oh what a heaven--what a hell!!
Why'know there's nothing can be done in the whole wide world.
I don't know what's wrong or right,
I'm just a regular guy, with bottled up insides,
I ain't ever been to church or believed in
Jesus Christ
But I'm praying that Gods with you when you die!!!
CHORUS
Thanks to community NFP radio (3RRR Melbourne Australia) I first heard this track when it was released in ' 86, I bought the album at first opp. The words chilled me... Thanks Matt!
This song was written during the Reagan era, with all the troubles between America and the countries around the Persian Gulf in mind. I think I remember reading an interview with Matt Johnson where he described it as the thoughts of a mercenary on a plane about to crash into the Persian Gulf. Funnily enough, it predates both the Gulf War of 1991 and the more recent American adventures in that area.
I never had the album Infected in the '80s, but my best friend did, on vinyl. When I bought it on CD some years later, the version I found had three bonus tracks, 12" versions of Infected, Slow Train To Dawn and this song. The 12" version is even creepier than the album version with wailing pseudo-Arabic musical interludes and voices chanting "Hussein Hussein Hussein" (I think).
No. José, José, José, José because that's Spanish for Joe, GI Joe.
No. José, José, José, José because that's Spanish for Joe, GI Joe.
No. José, José, José, José because that's Spanish for Joe, GI Joe. Spanish because of the "Adios" and that Latin America was the usual place for American military intervention, Chili, Cuba, Panama, Nicaragua etc.
No. José, José, José, José because that's Spanish for Joe, GI Joe. Spanish because of the "Adios" and that Latin America was the usual place for American military intervention, Chili, Cuba, Panama, Nicaragua etc.
War. Matthew J is singing about war. Pure and simple. A fighter pilot in the middle east. That "Arabia, Arabia," chant kinda makes me think, by the way, IF Mr. Johnson was musically inspired by a certain angel-faced ans angel-voiced gentleman from Brixton
@CuteSparkina Bowie?
@CuteSparkina Bowie?
Oooops, Typo. Plus, wanted to add something.
War. Matthew J is singing about war. Pure and simple. A fighter pilot in the middle east realizing how just plain STUPID and pointless war is. That "Arabia, Arabia," chant kinda makes me think, by the way, IF maybe Mr. Johnson was musically inspired by a certain angel-faced and angel-voiced gentleman from Brixton
And it was about the bombing of Libya by Reagan, with Maggie Thatcher as complicit helper.
"Operation El Dorado Canyon, comprised the joint United States Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps... air-strikes against Libya on April 15, 1986. The attack was carried out in response to the 1986 Berlin discotheque bombing. If the song were about this bombing, than why are they above the Gulf of Arabia????????????? Maybe I need a geography lesson, but I don't think so.
"Operation El Dorado Canyon, comprised the joint United States Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps... air-strikes against Libya on April 15, 1986. The attack was carried out in response to the 1986 Berlin discotheque bombing. If the song were about this bombing, than why are they above the Gulf of Arabia????????????? Maybe I need a geography lesson, but I don't think so.
LOL...Maybe Libya shouldn't have killed innocent civilians and NOT expect reprisal. Man, you need to do some research on Libya's president's leadership before you spout off...
LOL...Maybe Libya shouldn't have killed innocent civilians and NOT expect reprisal. Man, you need to do some research on Libya's president's leadership before you spout off...
The Gulf of Arabia is indeed another name for the Pursian Gulf (Iraq area), so the song is NOT about the bombing of Libya!!!! You, Sir, were complicit on giving a bad interpretation for apparant personal propaganda gain :D
The Gulf of Arabia is indeed another name for the Pursian Gulf (Iraq area), so the song is NOT about the bombing of Libya!!!! You, Sir, were complicit on giving a bad interpretation for apparant personal propaganda gain :D
@NooContact\r\nChill dude
@NooContact\r\nChill dude
@NooContact\r\nChill dude
@NooContact\r\nChill dude
@NooContact\r\nChill dude
@NooContact\r\nChill dude
@NooContact\r\nChill dude
@NooContact\r\nChill dude
@TheSteelGeneral Apologies, something went wrong with the reply and it multiplied by accident.
@TheSteelGeneral Apologies, something went wrong with the reply and it multiplied by accident.
@TheSteelGeneral You need to listen to the song again, that sample is actually saying "Hussein Hussein Hussein". "Jose Jose Jose" makes no sense.
@TheSteelGeneral You need to listen to the song again, that sample is actually saying "Hussein Hussein Hussein". "Jose Jose Jose" makes no sense.