You can hear the song here (embedding was disabled for that video otherwise I'd put it here). Here are the lyrics for the song along with my specific reasons why it refers to Churchill:
History recalls how great the fall can be
While everybody's sleeping, the boats put out to sea [1]
Borne on the wings of time
It seemed the answers were so easy to find [2]
Too late, the prophets cry
The island's sinking, let's take to the sky [3]
Called the man a fool, stripped him of his pride
Everyone was laughing up until the day he died [4]
And though the wound went deep
Still he's calling us out of our sleep [5]
My friends, we're not alone
He waits in silence to lead us all home [6]
So you tell me that you find it hard to grow
Well I know, I know, I know
And you tell me that you've many seeds to sow
Well I know, I know, I know [7]
Can you hear what I'm saying?
Can you see the parts that I'm playing?
Holy man, rocker man, come-on queenie,
Joker man, spider man, blue-eyed meanie [8]
So you found your solution
What will be your last contribution?
Live it up, rip it up, why so lazy?
Give it out, dish it out, let's go crazy! [9]
Yeah!
__________________________
[1] Refers to Francis Drake's night time attacks to fend off the Spanish Armada in 1588.
[2] Refers to the British Empire's subsequent historical momentum and a sense of entitlement.
[3] I've no idea who the "prophets" were of the time but their message was to abandon the ship of state.
[4] Refers to the replacement of Churchill by the Labour Party and the subsequent decades-long deconstruction of his legacy (note that this song was written in 1977, prior to the ascendency of Thatcher).
[5] & [6] Here is where the allusion to a force from beyond (ostensibly the memory of Churchill) may have caused that Althouse commenter to remark that he thought the song was about Jesus.
[7] Here the songwriter is answering the unspoken retort from British youth--that maturity is hard, that the legacy is too hard to live up to.
[8] Refers to the spectrum of people present in the 1970s Britain: religious, culture, celebrity, social, misfit--each one is a character.
[9] Refers to the state of anarchy amongst the mid 1970's youth in Britain.
12 comments:
You still get a chill* when he says, "THIS was their finest hour".
* and that's in your heart, in your soul, as opposed to your leg.
Imagine what life would be like if there was no Churchill.
The World Figure Championships are in Boston.
I just purchased my ticket-$1200.
Go USA!
April Apple said...
Imagine what life would be like if there was no Churchill
Sieg Heil?
Whether you like the Patriots or not... You got to hand it to coach Belichick... That Mona Lisa Vito reference may have taken the air out of the deflated footballs controversy.
Talk about a diversion... He sort of feminized the controversy.
Churchill became PM at age 66 -- 12 years older than the average age of accession for US Presidents which is 54 years).
AprilApple/
In the 1960s Time-Life published a commemorative boxed two volume set about Churchill's life that contains some unique source material. In between the two volumes in a special seelve they included a 78rpm record of all his great speeches. My parents gave it to me for Christmas when I was in HS and I still listen to those speeches to this day. That set is a rare treasure. (I can't find it on Amazon or by Googling, Perhaps a rare book store in your area would know or you could call the Library of Congress. You will know it if you stumble across it as the leather face of the box is embossed with the US Army Division patches of the units that fought in WW II. I'm currently not at home so can't look up title or pub and memory fails.)
April/
Found it on ebay! Life Series: The Second World War by Winston S. Churchill 2-vol Collection (Has a pic of the cover of which I spoke)
I highly recommend!
(1) Sometimes I'm really glad I manage to resist the urge to type something out to the internet.
(2) To me, Churchill is an historical figure. Nothing more. Nothing less.
I listened to a lecture series on classical mythology and the professor talked about the theory that conceives of mythology as long mis-remembered history. She used the stories about George Washington as an example. She might well have used Winston Churchill to a different audience, I should imagine.
(3) There's a brewpub in Downingtown, PA called Victory Brewing Company. Displayed on a wall is a British propaganda poster from WWII. It's a portrait of Churchill giving the "victory" sign with the caption: "You Deserve Victory!" I think that's in bad taste, but sometimes I can be a bit of a stuffed shirt.
(4) It's not Churchill's fault that too many people take delight in dropping that anecdote about how Churchill informed the lady that he'll be sober in the morning.
In all fairness, it's a pretty good anecdote. The problem is that too many people fail to read their audience to assess the probability that anecdote has been heard dozens of times before, in various permutations.
Churchill defended simple decency. That's what kills our so-called elites...and Schmendrik.
Hey Titus, don't go all Sonja Henie on us.
Thanks Virgil - I'll check it out. Bummer- I don't have a turn table.
$1200 to watch people skate is immoral. Paying it to see what is viewed better on TV is dumb, and driven by the lies that narcissism and elitism tell you.
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