Shakers And Movers Lyrics

Lyric discussion by MaximumDepth 

Cover art for Shakers And Movers lyrics by Midnight Oil

Ah, there is no helpful history of commentary on this song. It's too late to ask Jim. I saw MO for my first and surely last time in their farewell tour in the US, 2022. :-b

For the history books, I was wondering about "a caveman could a saint become in a hospital ward on the Somme." Personally, my only reference to the Somme is the historically awful Battle of the Somme, the murderous battle of brutal trench warfare that killed endless people for so little purpose except to literally kill off more enemy than one lost of one's own side. Little territory was exchanged. So, maybe a wounded warrior who had become a savage "caveman" fighting in that battle could be wounded, then go to the nearby hospital (on the Somme?) and heal (become a saint)? If not, maybe some famous artist of other person had been a pscyh patient there.

[huh, I just checked up on Van Gogh and he had been a patient near a French River, but it was near the Rhone River, not the Somme.]

[Edit: helpful addendum]