I don’t want to send your good thread in a different direction, deb2world, so I started this one. Yes, I have been tearing up too while singing the National Anthem.
But I’m fighting mad, and this morning I was singing (screaming?) along with my stereo and venting some fury. By coincidence, I received yesterday my new CD, “Queen - Greatest Hits,” and the first song in the lineup is “We Will Rock You”. As cliched as this song is, and despite the numberless times I’ve heard it at sporting events, I felt like I was hearing it for the first time – especially the non-chorus lyrics. It was quite cathartic to kick some walls and fist some doors, especially with the volume up to “11”:
Aah
Buddy you’re a boy make a big noise
Playin’ in the street gonna be a big man some day
You got mud on yo’ face
You big disgrace
Kickin’ your can all over the place
Singin’
WE WILL WE WILL ROCK YOU
WE WILL WE WILL ROCK YOU
If this isn’t a good battle song I don’t know what is.
“New York Minute”
Lying here in the darkness
I hear the sirens wail
Somebody’s goin’ to emergency
Somebody’s goin’ to jail
If you find somebody to love in this world
you’d better hang on tooth and nail
The wolf is always at the door
In a New York minute…everything can change
In a New York minute, things can get a little strange
And in these days when darkness falls early
and people rush home to the ones they love
you’d better take a fool’s advice and take care of your own
'cause one day they’re here, next day they’re gone…in a New York minute
I must've dreamed a thousand dreams
Been haunted by a million screams
I can hear the marching feet
They're moving into the street.
Now did you read the news today
They say the danger's gone away
But I can see the fire's still alight
Burning into the night.
Too many men
Too many people
Making too many problems
And not much love to go round
Can't you see
This is a land of confusion.
This is the world we live in
And these are the hands we're given
Use them and let's start trying
To make it a place worth living in.
Superman where are you now
Everything's gone wrong somehow
The men of steel, men of power
Are losing control by the hour.
This is the time
This is the place
So we look for the future
But there's not much love to go round
Tell me why, this is a land of confusion.
This is the world we live in
And these are the hands we're given
Use them and let's start trying
To make it a place worth living in.
I remember long ago -
When the sun was shining
The stars were bright
All through the night
And the sound of your laughter
As I held you tight
So long ago -
I won't be coming home tonight
My generation will put it right
We're not just making promises
That we know, we'll never keep.
Too many men
Too many people
Making too many problems
And not much love to go round
Can't you see
This is a land of confusion.
This is the world we live in
And these are the hands we're given
Use them and let's start trying
To make it a place worth fighting for.
This is the world we live in
And these are the names we're given
Stand up and let's start showing
Just where our lives are going to.
Though I am glad to say that I have seen quite a bit of love so around.
By all means, what music I’ve been huming is no battle cry, just opposite. Pink Floyd’s “Final Cut”. The whole thing is truly the sadest I know of. It cuts very deeply. Of course, it’s a concept album about war and politics.
We are the champions, my friend
And we’ll keep on fighting till the end
We are the champions
We are the champions
No time for losers
Cause we are the champions
Of the world
“From The Sound up in Long Island
Out to San Francisco Bay
And everthing that’s in between them Is our own
And we may have done a little bit
Of fightin’ amongst ourselves
But you outside people best leave us alone
‘Cause we’ll all stick together
And you can take that to the bank
That’s the cowboys and the hippies
And the rebels and and the yanks
You just go and lay your hand
On a Pittsburgh Steelers’ fan
And I think you’re gonna finally understand”
Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA” is also a good one.
No man, no maddess, though their sad power may prevail,
Can possess, conquer my country’s heart. They rise to fail.
She is eternal, long before nation’s lines were drawn.
When no flags flew, when no armies stood, my land was born.
And you ask me why I love her though wars,death and despair.
She is the constant, we who don’t care.
And you wonder would I leave her, but how?
I cross over borders but I’m still there now.
How can I leave her? Where would I start?
Let man’s petty nations turn themselves apart.
My land’s only borders lie around my heart.
I can’t convey the power of the music or of Tommy Korberg’s singing it. I did e-mail Tim to thank him for the lyrics.
We were watching the movie “Buena Vista Social Club” tonight, and enjoying the brilliant Cuban music. The old musicians were flown to New York to perform at Carnegie Hall, and after show date, a couple of them were looking at Manhattan’s skyline from some building to the north – and there, beautiful in the sunset, were the twin towers. The men were exclaiming at how beautiful the view was, they having never seen New York before. I wonder how they feel about this bombing, if they are still alive?