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Pipeline Lyrics
Get out the crane
Construction time again
What is it this time
We're laying a pipeline
Let the beads of sweat flow
Until the ends have met through
Could take a long time
Working on the pipeline
Taking from the greedy
Giving to the needy
On this golden day
Work's been sent our way
That could last a lifetime
Working on the pipeline
From the heart of our land
To the mouth of the man
Must reach him sometime
We're laying a pipeline
Taking from the greedy
Giving to the needy
By Fistan Majere
Construction time again
What is it this time
We're laying a pipeline
Until the ends have met through
Could take a long time
Working on the pipeline
Giving to the needy
Work's been sent our way
That could last a lifetime
Working on the pipeline
To the mouth of the man
Must reach him sometime
We're laying a pipeline
Giving to the needy
Song Info
Submitted by
fistan On Dec 05, 2001
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The key part is
"Taking from the greedy Giving to the needy"
That is the only parts which reveals intentions.
"Taking" is redistribution of wealth by other means than consent.
"Greedy" and "needy" is subjective but should realistically mean that does that have less will receive from those who hoard wealth.
"Pipeline" is not to be taken literary. I can be any mean with which you can fulfil the quoted two lines. It can be an organisation, a mean of transport, subversive activity on the Internet or in papers, ethermedia, or why not the sack and the crowbar of the sterotype burglar.
@JASGripen you're right to say 'greedy' and 'needy' is subjective. The issue is building a pipeline might temporarily involve needy workers, but generally speaking, the fruit of the pipeline (the resource that flows through it) benefits the greedy. Lands have been destroyed because of such pipelines.
@JASGripen you're right to say 'greedy' and 'needy' is subjective. The issue is building a pipeline might temporarily involve needy workers, but generally speaking, the fruit of the pipeline (the resource that flows through it) benefits the greedy. Lands have been destroyed because of such pipelines.
Whether this was as much of a talking point in 1983 as it is now is also an interesting thing to think about. I tried to find a history of pipeline disputes and the most I come up with is Standing Rock, which took place 33 years after this song was released.
Whether this was as much of a talking point in 1983 as it is now is also an interesting thing to think about. I tried to find a history of pipeline disputes and the most I come up with is Standing Rock, which took place 33 years after this song was released.
That said, I still...
That said, I still think the pipeline, and whoever ordered its construction, is the antagonist in the song.
There is an idea of equality of the people which speaks through the song. It used to be that every man is equal to the nature, but civilisation deformed these norms giving more to some people and less to the others. That is why we can see multimillionaires who can afford to have anything and on the other hand people who doesn’t have access to any basic goods such as a water. Moreover, the world is going to the situations where the rich people earns money through exploitation of the goods which could help the people who really needs it. The author noticed that the critical moment for the world has come and we have to lead the world to the balance which is presented symbolically as the pipeline – we can take away from the greedy and give to the people who really needs it. It’s not easy, it’s rather impossible and could take more than someone’s life.
This song is SOOOOOOOOOO communist! To me its sort of paraphrasing the ideals of socialism.
Sadly, you say that like it's a bad thing. :(
Sadly, you say that like it's a bad thing. :(
This song is penultimate example of Depeche Mode's experimentation with sampling everyday sounds and constructing them into a viable tune. Some of the sounds heard are kicking a vacuum cleaner (the loud thud that repeats throughout), dragging a piece of metal across a rail, and dropping a ping-pong ball. The group continued to use samples to create their music but in future releases, the sounds would be manipulated and massaged such that the original source is unrecognizable.
I'm not sure, but you'd think that this song is about laying a water pipeline somewhere people are in need of it (like a 3rd world country or something?). But maybe that's just too obvious and they mean something totally else, you can never tell with DM, which is what makes them so great ;)