This song seemingly tackles the methods of deception those who manipulate others use to get victims to follow their demands, as well as diverting attention away from important issues. They'll also use it as a means to convince people to hate or kill others by pretending acts of terrorism were committed by the enemy when the acts themselves were done by the masters of control to promote discrimination and hate. It also reinforces the idea that these manipulative forces operate in various locations, infiltrating everyday life without detection, and propagate any and everywhere.
In general, it highlights the danger of hidden agendas, manipulation, and distraction, serving as a critique of those who exploit chaos and confusion to control and gain power, depicting a cautionary tale against falling into their traps. It encourages us to question the narratives presented to us and remain vigilant against manipulation in various parts of society.
Oh! Mama, Mama look there!
Your children are playing in that street again
Don't you know what happened down there?
A youth of fourteen got shot down there
The Kokane guns of Jamdown Town
The killing clowns, the blood money men
Are shooting those Washington bullets again
As every cell in Chile will tell
The cries of the tortured men
Remember Allende, and the days before,
Before the army came
Please remember Victor Jara,
In the Santiago Stadium,
Es verdad - those Washington Bullets again
And in the Bay of Pigs in 1961,
Havana fought the playboy in the Cuban sun,
For Castro is a color,
Is a redder than red,
Those Washington bullets want Castro dead
For Castro is the color...
...That will earn you a spray of lead
For the very first time ever,
When they had a revolution in Nicaragua,
There was no interference from America
Human rights in America
Well the people fought the leader,
And up he flew...
With no Washington bullets what else could he do?
'N' if you can find a Afghan rebel
That the Moscow bullets missed
Ask him what he thinks of voting Communist...
...Ask the Dalai Lama in the hills of Tibet,
How many monks did the Chinese get?
In a war-torn swamp stop any mercenary,
'N' check the British bullets in his armory
Que?
Sandinista!
Your children are playing in that street again
Don't you know what happened down there?
A youth of fourteen got shot down there
The Kokane guns of Jamdown Town
The killing clowns, the blood money men
Are shooting those Washington bullets again
As every cell in Chile will tell
The cries of the tortured men
Remember Allende, and the days before,
Before the army came
Please remember Victor Jara,
In the Santiago Stadium,
Es verdad - those Washington Bullets again
And in the Bay of Pigs in 1961,
Havana fought the playboy in the Cuban sun,
For Castro is a color,
Is a redder than red,
Those Washington bullets want Castro dead
For Castro is the color...
...That will earn you a spray of lead
For the very first time ever,
When they had a revolution in Nicaragua,
There was no interference from America
Human rights in America
Well the people fought the leader,
And up he flew...
With no Washington bullets what else could he do?
'N' if you can find a Afghan rebel
That the Moscow bullets missed
Ask him what he thinks of voting Communist...
...Ask the Dalai Lama in the hills of Tibet,
How many monks did the Chinese get?
In a war-torn swamp stop any mercenary,
'N' check the British bullets in his armory
Que?
Sandinista!
Add your thoughts
Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.
Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!
More Featured Meanings
Son Şansın - Şarkı Sözleri
Hayalperest
Hayalperest
Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction vocalist Perry Farrell gives Adam Reader some heartfelt insight into Jane’s Addiction's hard rock manifesto "Mountain Song", which was the second single from their revolutionary album Nothing's Shocking. Mountain song was first recorded in 1986 and appeared on the soundtrack to the film Dudes starring Jon Cryer. The version on Nothing's Shocking was re-recorded in 1988.
"'Mountain Song' was actually about... I hate to say it but... drugs. Climbing this mountain and getting as high as you can, and then coming down that mountain," reveals Farrell. "What it feels to descend from the mountain top... not easy at all. The ascension is tough but exhilarating. Getting down is... it's a real bummer. Drugs is not for everybody obviously. For me, I wanted to experience the heights, and the lows come along with it."
"There's a part - 'Cash in now honey, cash in Miss Smith.' Miss Smith is my Mother; our last name was Smith. Cashing in when she cashed in her life. So... she decided that, to her... at that time, she was desperate. Life wasn't worth it for her, that was her opinion. Some people think, never take your life, and some people find that their life isn't worth living. She was in love with my Dad, and my Dad was not faithful to her, and it broke her heart. She was very desperate and she did something that I know she regrets."
Gentle Hour
Yo La Tengo
Yo La Tengo
This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
No Surprises
Radiohead
Radiohead
Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
Amazing
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran tells a story of unsuccessfully trying to feel “Amazing.” This track is about the being weighed down by emotional stress despite valiant attempts to find some positivity in the situation. This track was written by Ed Sheeran from the perspective of his friend. From the track, we see this person fall deeper into the negative thoughts and slide further down the path of mental torment with every lyric.
Basically it's a critique of American foreign policy, particularly the habit of the US government in supporting anybody who was anti-communist, including fascist regimes such as that of Pinochet in Chile. Of course, US support for the Mojahadeen in Afghanistan is part of the reason the world is in the mess it's in right now. The lyrics are remarkably prescient.
However, the genius of the song is that it doesn't just attack America, it attacks the USSR for invading Afghanistan and China for invading Tibet. Strummer was against both sides in the cold war, against all human rights abuses, whoever committed them.
The reference to a 'playboy' in the Cuba verse is of course to JFK, who ordered the Bay of Pigs fiasco.
america's crimes against humanity, committed in the name of stopping communism
Sandinista were the communist rebels on Nicuragua(dunno if thats spelt right). The afgan rebels in this song that America funded during the USSR's war in afganistan later became Al Kaeda who america now hate.
O dear God, I've just gotta correct Punker Ken on this one. Salvador Allende was a democratically elected leader of Chile whom the U.S. decided was too left wing (he was a socialist) As a consequence the U.S. gov't (as they have done many times) backes a right wing, military coup to illegally overthrow the democratically elected government of a foreign nation. This by the way, happened in 1973 - not all that long ago. Allende(once again - democratically elected) was summarily shot. Also killed by the U.S. supported military dictator, Pinochet (you may have heard of him) were Pablo Neruda, the brilliant poet and PEACE ACTIVIST and Victor Jara, a folk singer and peace activist. Jara's death id particularly sad - he was imprisoned with thousands of other men in the Santiago football stadium and when he sang and palyed to comfort his fellow prisoners, he was tortured! They broke all of his fingers, beat him for three days and then shot him ' FOR SINGING SONGS! This song is as passionate an indictment of Western foreign policy as I have ever heard. Thank god for the Clash "the only band that matterd"
Thank u very much i had assumed that the aformentioned were officers in the overthrow of batista like Che because the names sounded familiar i didnt check and the green beret killed many of the revolutionaries in that group
not sarcastic thank u for correcting me i really like this song as it points out many failings in the government and is a very good song in general thanx
Oh! Mama, Mama look there! Your children are playing in that street again Don't you know what happened down there? A youth of fourteen got shot down there The Kokane guns of Jamdown Town The killing clowns, the blood money men Are shooting those Washington bullets again
Talks about young casualties of gunfire between U.S. funded contrarevolucionaries and communist sandinist rebels (good Guys are sandinista) The contra were where the money from the iran contra affair was goin they were started after the sandinista march on somoza grounds by reagan (b@stard) and somozas second son (also b@stard) jamdown town is a big city in nicaragua coke drglords are also involved in this fight apparently
As every cell in Chile will tell The cries of the tortured men Remember Allende, and the days before, Before the army came Please remember Victor Jara, In the Santiago Stadium, Es verdad - those Washington Bullets again
not sure on allendas first name but he and jara were south american rebels helping multiple countries both assassinated by green beret snpers (more b@stards) ?the spanish dicator till lessee... '89 had multiple torture chambers but not in chille possible ref.? more later
Salvador Allende, the 1st Comunist President in the world by the population choosen, here, in Chile by the 1970 - 1973. He was a doctor and assumed as a President in his 4th intent to. He commit suicide when the Government Palace was destroyed by military strikes.<br /> <br /> Victor Jara was a musician, singer/songwriter and theater director who had a paceful struggle against the militar regime and the Dictator way of Pinochet. The reference of 'Santiago Stadium' may be originally the Chile Stadium and was renamed as a Victor Jara Stadium after the tortured and assassination of Jara in 1973 by the hands of the Military forces.<br /> <br /> Many sources states that CIA and other northamerican governmental groups was the responsible for the Strike State in Chile, helping the Chilean Military with Intelligence and support from the north. I do think that is the truth. I'm from Chile so this song is one of the best I think Strummer wrote. It's just a common concpet between the punk ideology and rastafarism/reggae that made The Clash so unique.
And in the Bay of Pigs in 1961, Havana fought the playboy in the Cuban sun, For Castro is a colour, Is a redder than red, Those Washington bullets want Castro dead For Castro is the colour... ...That will earn you a spray of lead
just about the u.s. trying to kill castro pretty straightforward
For the very first time ever, When they had a revolution in Nicaragua, There was no interference from America Human rights in America
im pretty sure about the fsln revoulution in 1979 as we took some time to mess it up
Well the people fought the leader, And up he flew... With no Washington bullets what else could he do?
one of the last successful peoples revolts somoza was exiled
'N' if you can find a Afghan rebel That the Moscow bullets missed Ask him what he thinks of voting Communist... ...Ask the Dalai Lama in the hills of Tibet, How many monks did the Chinese get? In a war-torn swamp stop any mercenary, 'N' check the British bullets in his armoury Que? Sandinista!
talking about the afghani russia conflicts and the chinese dictatorship and slaughter of some practicing buddhists rest is self explanatory my favorite song thankmagpi for the corrections
This song is brilliant. Probably the best song the Clash made lyrically. One of their most underrated.
A fantastic song with as much relevence today, I only regret it took me so long to find it.
One of my favorite songs lyrically of all time. And a great tune as well. I remember picking up the Sandanista album in the used bin and seeing the title "Washington Bullets" it made me think of the Washington DC NBA basketball franchise (now the Wizards).
Incredibly powerful song, makes me wish the Bullets never changed their name so that future generations would have stumbled upon this song accidently wondering what the Clash was doing singing about the NBA, only to uncover the scary truths of American foreign policy that I learned that day.