De mooiste song van PJ Harvey’s indrukwekkende album Let England Shake. Klassiek voorbeeld van contrastwerking: de schitterende melodie en in echo gedrenkte instrumentatie versterken het effect van de apocalyptische oorlogsbeelden. Gebaseerd op Niney’s Blood & Fire, dat al bijna net zo mooi (en dreigend) is: Judgement has come and mercy has gone/All weak heart shall lick up and spit up.
People throwing dinars at the belly-dancers
In a sad circus by a trench of burning oil
People throw belongings; a lifetime’s earnings
Amongst the scattered rubbish and suitcases on the sidewalk
Take palms and orange and tangerine trees
With eyes that’re crying for everything
(Let it burn! Let it burn, burn, burn)
So I talked to an old man by the generator
He was standing on the gravel by the fetid river
He turned to me and answered, “Baby, see.”
Said, “War is here in our beloved city”
So I jumped in the river and tried to swim away
Through tons of sewage; they had written on their foreheads
Take palms and orange and tangerine trees
With eyes that’re crying for everything
Let it burn, let it burn!
Let it burn, let it burn!
Let it burn, let it burn!
Let it burn, let it burn!
Uitgelichte afbeelding: By The U.S. Army – Flickr: iraq, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=17130200
