| The Clash | kupcho1 | Washington Bullets
The Clash · Sandinista! (Remastered) · Song · 1980
open.spotify.com
|
Washington Bullets is the 1st song I've selected from 1980's Sandinista!
This is the Clash with politics. Revisiting a
post from my friend
@rockaction in the round 3 thread...
I'm not asking them to be apolitical, really. I don't expect that from a band that reveled in being "the only band that matters" or whatever the tagline was. They earned the reputation. My problem is aligning one's self with the Sandinistas, who wound up a typically repressive regime in the Marxist-Leninist Central (Latin) American tradition of junta rule and all that ****.
In Washington Bullets the US is put on blast, and rightly so
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 Víctor Jara in the Santiago stadium
Es verdad, those Washington bullets again
I think this helps explain the "alignment" with the Sandinistas in Nicaragua. They just seemed to appreciate that the US didn't interfere (or at least weren't successful in doing so).
For the very first time ever
When they had a revolution in Nicaragua
There was no interference from America
Human rights in America
The people fought the leader and up he flew
With no Washington bullets what else could he do?
Don't worry, though, it isn't just the US that gets name-checked
An' 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
An' check the British bullets in his armory
Anyway, hope you enjoyed the music if the lyrics didn't land.
Heh. That’s funny. Eager to hear more of your countdown. The first three songs have been excellent and in my head. About the lyrics—I don’t know. I’m a big Dillinger Four fan. They have lyrics that . . . well, an example.
Think of a story my father told me
About a fella he knew in the army
The Pentagon traded him checks for both his legs
“**** the States,” was the last thing my father heard he had said
Still it’s said that this war was won
Well I refuse to be just another dead nation’s ******* son
I have eyes that see, I have a mind that thinks
I have a mouth that speaks and ******* it will
Because I’ve had enough of all this **** about
Making do and playing ball the way things are
and dealing with it
Mix my pop with politics
They ask me what the use is
I’m not into making excuses
And I’ll die the day I find I’m ****ing useless
(Cut to old school choir recording)
Day is done
Gone the sun
From the lake from the hill from the sky
All is well safely rest
God is nigh
- "The Great American Going Out Of Business Sale"
Pretty far left and no problem from me. Used to listen to it on Memorial Day for those that suffered the ultimate sacrifice for country and those that they left behind in their wakes, often resulting in the destruction of the families that they were taken from as young, dead soldiers. It is a sobering thought during that part of May. It is a beautiful time of year and an incredibly difficult weekend for so many. I cannot fathom what they’ve given.
I used to be a part of what one would call the human rights center-left and then the paradoxical human rights right-wing, so you won’t catch me apologizing for the U.S. supporting Pinochet; nor will you see me apologize for our treatment of Central and South American countries over the past century. Not going to get much of a defense from me over here.
But the absence of empire does not make the local cause that the Clash were supporting or celebrating righteous in any way. And politics as reductive and as simplistic as to cheer the absence of empire so that juntas might thrive in their stead deserve to be mocked as mere visceral reactions that approach the stamping of a toddler’s feet. And if I criticize, it’s because people as smart as Joe Strummer ought to know better. It’s akin to the otherwise smart, temperate people that have a visceral reaction to our politics today and find comfort and laughter in reductive insults and jokes about the other “side.”
Not my bag. Guess it doesn’t land.
This was not written in anger, by the way. It couldn’t be more dispassionate. It’s just . . . honestly what I think.
The Clash can write some wonderful lyrics. “Lost In The Supermarket” is a great song about consumerist alienation. “Koka Kola” is another brilliant one. “Elevator goin’ up!” But when they start dealing with foreign wars and macro politics, I find their lyrics reductive and lacking. Crazy as it sounds, the Dead Kennedys were about twice as prescient about the United States’ excursions and dealings with foreign dictatorships, and they were far more left-wing (in my estimation) than The Clash. Or maybe The Clash were uniquely British and had real empire guilt on their hands, so there’s a differing view of empire. Whatever it is, these lyrics don’t really do it for me, so yeah, I can enjoy the music and skip the topical stylings.
) and have to say, this Ryan Star fella really brings it with I Will Survive. Added to 
