Van Dyke Parks is vooral bekend door zijn samenwerking met de Beach Boys en Brian Wilson op het legendarische album Smile, maar hij heeft ook een aantal fraaie en hoogst originele solo-albums op zijn naam staan. Clang of the Yankee Reaper is de titeltrack van zijn derde album. Parks’ teksten zijn over het algemeen nogal duister – reden waarom Mike Love de pest aan hem had – en Clang of the Yankee Reaper vormt daarop geen uitzondering.
The Shah of Iran bought the plan/Seen with the Queen he was all smiles/He just bailed out the British Isles verwijst naar de coup waarmee de CIA in 1953 op aandringen van MI6 en de Anglo-Persian Oil Company de Iraanse premier Mohammad Mossadegh ten val bracht. Mossadegh had tot grote woede van de Britse oliegigant de Iraanse olie-industrie genationaliseerd. Op 19 augustus 1953 werd hij afgezet in een staatsgreep georganiseerd en uitgevoerd door de CIA. Hij verdween voor drie jaar achter de tralies en werd daarna tot zijn dood onder huisarrest geplaatst. Uiteraard draaide zijn door de CIA gekozen opvolger de nationalisatie terug.
The sun never set on the empire
Prince Albert came in a can
If you expire before you retire
And finish an “also-ran”
It’s fine time to drink tea from China
Do drop a line
Let me know I am fineSun in the moonlight, in the moonlight
Gone, just like I said
The good old days are dead
(Better get it through your head)
As you harken to
The clang of The Yankee Reaper
It’s like I said
The good old days are dead
As you harken to
The clang of the Yankee ReaperOut in the rude wild abandon
The Shah of Iran bought the plan
Seen with the Queen he was all smiles
He just bailed out the British Isles
It’s time to drink tea from fine china
Just think of him when your light
Starts to dim
Prince Albert came in a can
If you expire before you retire
And finish an “also-ran”
It’s fine time to drink tea from China
Do drop a line
Let me know I am fineSun in the moonlight, in the moonlight
Gone, just like I said
The good old days are dead
(Better get it through your head)
As you harken to
The clang of The Yankee Reaper
It’s like I said
The good old days are dead
As you harken to
The clang of the Yankee ReaperOut in the rude wild abandon
The Shah of Iran bought the plan
Seen with the Queen he was all smiles
He just bailed out the British Isles
It’s time to drink tea from fine china
Just think of him when your light
Starts to dim
Sun in the moonlight, in the moonlight
Gone, just like I said
The good old days are dead
(Better get it through your head)
As you harken to
The clang of The Yankee Reaper
It’s like I said
The good old days are dead
As you harken to
The clang of the Yankee ReaperHarken to the clang of the Yankee Reaper
The good old days are dead
As you harken to the clang …
Gone, just like I said
The good old days are dead
(Better get it through your head)
As you harken to
The clang of The Yankee Reaper
It’s like I said
The good old days are dead
As you harken to
The clang of the Yankee ReaperHarken to the clang of the Yankee Reaper
The good old days are dead
As you harken to the clang …
