What a horrible lyric.
So, Chumbawamba has an anti-war song out called "Jacob's Ladder (Not In My Name)". Listening to it now, it is closer to bad than to good, but I think Gigwise is spot on when they say it's a tad bit annoying.
The song was originally released on Jun 18th, 2002 on their "Readymades" album, then rereleased in December of 2002 with new lyrics and a decidedly anti-war bent. As Chumbawamba themsleves explain, the original was about how Winston Churchill "let 1591 ordinary sailors drown after their ships were sunk off the coast of Norway in WW2 by German battle cruisers [as] Churchill thought a rescue attempt might have alerted the Germans to the evacuation of the Norwegian royal family. [He] so ordered ships in the area to abandon the drowning men." While I've yet to research this extensively, quick Googling turned up no results that describe this scene, and in fact the first three results for "Churchill 1591 drown" are Chumbawamba links. Hmm.
The new version confusingly uses the exact same title. The instrumentation is the same, only the lyrics have changed. Oil, murder, brimstone, and 9/11 get mentions. Worst change: the line
A thousand lifetimes /
Left standing at the docks /
In the bar down in Whitewall /
They’re sure the boat won’t rock
is changed to
A million lifetimes /
Left lying in the sun /
In the streets down in Whitewall /
Dogs picking at the bones
Oh, Cumbawamba, bravo. The former actually makes sense, the latter is simply alarmist. No soldiers are going to die on British soil, and now that they don't have any of that pesky history to get in the way, Chumbawamba has no problem bumping it up to a "million". Here, guys, let me pen the lyrics for you for when you rewrite the song next time:
A hundred kajillion records /
Buyers won't spend a pound /
In the alleys down in Whitewall /
Chumbawamba sleeps on the ground
Most disquieting of all, though is why Sonic Youth is hosting a copy of the song. I can't explain it. I thought SY hated them.
Inspired by Metafilter, Pop Culture vs. War.
Posted by complex at April 2, 2003 09:16 AM | TrackBack