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General Category => New Model Army => Topic started by: Shush on September 24, 2014, 12:09:05 AM
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My first choice would be my favourite song "Better Than Them". To me it talks about trying to maintain some self respect when you are down on your luck, and faced by others who are not. The song meant a lot to me when I was on the dole in 1989 with little hope of getting off it. Having to watch my friends take their opportunity to go onto higher education while my chance had been taken from me. My parents could not afford it. Didn't help when one of my friends of the time took his opportunity of higher eduction which I would have loved, and then watch him piss it up the wall over the next three years, buts that's another story.
The song I most admire lyrically is "Higher Wall"
Such clever lyrics like a story, the story immigrants desiring to, and trying to get into the U.K. from their viewpoint. While at the same time, we are shown to want to keep, not share the proportional riches we have accumulated for ourselves. The most powerful line in the song " We are your bastard children, all coming home" At first I thought JS was perhaps making a reference to what must be in fact thousands of people across the former British Empire who are indeed illegitimate descendants of British Soldiers or Officials. The more I have listened to it in relation to the rest of the song I think it is more about Commercialism. In Third World Countries we traded and shown from the Western World the day to day luxuries we take for granted, things that most people in the Third Would could never expect to own, or experience very rarely. Mobile phones, cars, computers, light and heating, fast food chains, etc, all of which such people may see in their cities, but perhaps not have themselves. Hence the desire to go to the source of origin, where the wealth started from in the West, acquire such things for themselves, and live the lives they imagine the Tourists they have seen from the West in their country have. That"s my take on it. Either way, a very powerful well written song.
Spoilt for choice I know, but which is your favourite song for JS lyrics
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High for me. It makes life feel less crap. The idea that all the shit that goes on means nothing when in among nature and looking from a high hill of mountain.
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I like the comparison of cancer and political extremism in 'Fat Better Thing'. I like ' Immaculate conceptions in sterilized laboratories' and ' Nothing is as cruel as the righteousness of innocents with automatic weapons and a gospel of truth' Could have been written yesterday. My favourite at the moment is 'They say that the meek shall inherit the earth except that they shan't'
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Wow this is tough one higher wall is a brilliant song I've never heard any other song writer approach the subject in such in way definitely a eye opening song if ever there was one. Imperial day is along similar lines but uses another angle.
High is another excellent choice surely the lyrics all these things you fear so much depend on angles of vision but from high on high on high hill it all looks like nothing are some of the best anyone has written.
For now im going to choose believe it and bury the hatchet two songs with deep personal meaning Always reminds me of past relationship and how my life is in a much better place I've got to mention 'fate' as well especially the lyric loving is the key that unlocks the door but you never know what is waiting behind
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Changes all the time....right now it's "Ghost of your father" as I only listened to it this morning. This is the problem with Justin's lyrics, they all touch you so the last song you've listened to stays in your mind.
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Good question but for me and for many I suspect completely impossible to answer. For me every song has beauty and power and integrity in the lyrics. The opening lines of High are majestic in their beauty. Pure poetry. The lyrics of Prayer Flags portrays a scene full of the other and transports me away. I could go on and on. There's a lot of reference to and obvious love and deep respect in the natural world that shines in many of the songs and I really relate to that. I could possibly just about get it down to one per album just about but doubt I could get it narrow it down further. There's so much. Gavin D says it nicely in the previous post, in that often it's the last one you listened to.
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For me, it's gotta be Modern Times...
It seems strange to write about these things now... but the time has probably come when we should accept whatever is past and gone and never will return.
Looking back to the beginning, I see a flood of painful memories and the bitter hurt and wounded pride that comes with our defeat...
We set out with our heads held high, so sure of our ground, our righteousness, the new Jerusalem to be built with love and guts and truth...
But in the end we surrendered easily, it's no use pretending otherwise... well, most of us had a little something to lose, enough to break our nerve...
Well, some of us made an easy peace and moved into the brave new world... it's hard for the true believers to look back now and realize that for many of the crowd it was just the fashion, the cause of the moment... well we, if anyone, should know that you can look pretty dumb, standing in last year's clothes... and some of us, shell-shocked still, ran for shelter and do the rituals, the same old way pretending that someone out there cares...
And some of us live in the modern world, We give unto Caesar what is due and harbour the bitterness of defeat and daydreams of revenge...
Now, nothing you see out there is real
It matters not what you believe in
It matters less what you say but only what you are
It matters what you are, it matters what you are
It matters what you are
Absolute ******* poetry.
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For me, it's gotta be Modern Times...
It seems strange to write about these things now... but the time has probably come when we should accept whatever is past and gone and never will return.
Looking back to the beginning, I see a flood of painful memories and the bitter hurt and wounded pride that comes with our defeat...
We set out with our heads held high, so sure of our ground, our righteousness, the new Jerusalem to be built with love and guts and truth...
But in the end we surrendered easily, it's no use pretending otherwise... well, most of us had a little something to lose, enough to break our nerve...
Well, some of us made an easy peace and moved into the brave new world... it's hard for the true believers to look back now and realize that for many of the crowd it was just the fashion, the cause of the moment... well we, if anyone, should know that you can look pretty dumb, standing in last year's clothes... and some of us, shell-shocked still, ran for shelter and do the rituals, the same old way pretending that someone out there cares...
And some of us live in the modern world, We give unto Caesar what is due and harbour the bitterness of defeat and daydreams of revenge...
Now, nothing you see out there is real
It matters not what you believe in
It matters less what you say but only what you are
It matters what you are, it matters what you are
It matters what you are
Absolute ******* poetry.
I agree. I also find it quite interesting that Modern Times and Bittersweet seem to be addressing the same concept (in my mind, anyway), the failure of idealism to realism, yet Bittersweet was written as one of the earliest NMA songs.
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Willard, good call! Haven't listened to 'Bittersweet' in a long while but re-reading those lyrics... MT and BS are like bookends, aren't they? Amazing how a young man, like Mr Sullivan as he was back then, could be so prescient.
Damn, I love this band! :D
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Modern Times would be up there in my top 5 of NMA songs. I know it's an often used term nowadays but those lyrics are the work of true genius. There's not a line in that song that doesn't resonate with such a depth of feeling and intelligence and truth. You just don't get in a lot of other artists work and it's one of the reasons why NMA are still so relevant and so fresh 30+ years on.
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"I'm crying out in fury to the gods of fate come on and get me if you can" from fate, "are you still scared of the future" from bad old world,"quit the job that very day and flew into the sky" from aimless desire and the "you're the one I'll remember" from green and grey(although rob heaton may have written that one, not to sure).All euphoric tingle moments which nma songs are littered with.
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High for me. It makes life feel less crap. The idea that all the shit that goes on means nothing when in among nature and looking from a high hill of mountain.
I like the line "All these things you fear so much depend on angles of vision"...that's so true!!
This is really a beautiful song...when Justin sings "The keening wind it blows through me, it blows through me, my time it must be almost done, almost done" like if he/we is/are dying, i find it strangely incredibly poignant, the way Justin sings it.
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Sometimes i ask myself if the meanings and feelings i feel in Justin's lyrics are the ones he wanted to express or the ones i've brought myself, listening to his songs...sometimes you understand things in the lyrics that the writer didn't think of, or sometimes you feel exactly the things he wanted to say in his songs.
I'm french and not English native so maybe sometimes i don't understand all the meanings, ideas in JS's songs...but at least his voice, and his passionate way of singing are very evocative to me, often very touching.
Others lyrics i like...
"Family" ("Give me some place where i can go, where i don't have to justify myself, swimming alone against this tide...")
"Drummy B" ("...and though you will never forgive me Billy McCann goodbye": the story of a betrayed friendship between Justin and one of his friends??)
"Marry the sea" ("Did you try to marry a man who married the sea?" he looks right through you, to the distant grey..." so poetic!)
"Headlights" ("And the ghosts that you have laid...for all the while the past is close behind": the idea that the past we want to forget in our lives is still there in our present lives, despite our struggle to go ahead)
"Orange tree roads" ("Will you still love me when everything is changed?")
"Someone like Jesus" ("There's always something in the corner of our lives that we cannot quite see...")
"Sentry" ("And only the seasons change..." i feel that this song is about the endless loneliness of the human being)
"Tales of the road" ("We all want what we cannot have!")
"Navigating by the stars" ('i must have been looking in all the wrong places...")
"Peace is only" for the dead and the dying...
"Disappeared" (..."I miss you, i miss you")
"March in September" ("I tried to tell you that you had everything that you need, but you would never believe it" "Aint it always the ones that want to be saved, that do all the saving")
"Did you make it safe?" ('It's a very long way... up to the end of the song/lyrics")
"I need more time" ("As one by one the faces we love, slide away into deep, deep waters...")
What do you think mean the lyrics of "Home" and "Falling", two songs and lyrics i both like very much?
I understand in "Home" that Justin talks about a person he knew that was ill ("Chris you were gone, out of the edge...these things that destroy, are inside our heads") and "Falling" is about the family links, the way sons try to have their own way in their lifes, despite the past and their fears ("This fear you carry with you is not of your own making")
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Another of my favourite songs for lyrics, "Grandmothers footsteps".
I imagine at the time of its writing in the 1980s, for JS this was about American Foreign Policy, a bit like the Monty Python sketch - Buy American defence.
Like many of JS song lyrics, you can make your own interpretation of what it means, and what it says to you. For me at the time, the song referring to powerful nations dominating other Countries with the façade of "for your defence", it was about the USSR in Eastern Europe. Maybe people in the now British Commonwealth can imagine it refers to Great Britain.
Great lyrics. Still one of my most favourite songs of all time.
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The intro of "grandmother's footsteps" is especially great!
I like Stuart's bass at the beginning, and the "tick tock tick tock" like sound of the intro...
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Just listened to 'Fireworks Night' for the first time in a while... another contender for 'Best NMA lyrics'...
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Favourite NMA lyric. Is that even possible?
Someone like Jesus has always been a favourite of mine. Far better thing would be another one.
States Radio is great too. 'and the scientists shake their heads' is one of my favourite lines.
And probably another 100 more...
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What do you think mean the lyrics of "Home" and "Falling" "Falling" is about the family links, the way sons try to have their own way in their lifes, despite the past and their fears ("This fear you carry with you is not of your own making")
Falling is one of my favourite ever NMA songs. For very personal reasons. One of which is, I vividly remember driving down the M20 back towards the sanctuary of me Mum & Dad's whilst in the midst of splitting up with my ex, a 4 year old son and all that. This song blaring out in the outside lane at 100+ while I cried my eyes out. This song may well have stopped a high speed accident ::)
Some of what fucks us up is self-inflicted, an awful lot of it is what other people give us. intentionally or not. To me, this song is telling all of us that a lot of what we carry is bollox that other people put there. Accidently or not. Nature, nurture, genetics- whatever. Either way it's not our fault we feel the way we do sometimes and when we do our own heads in we need to remember it's not down to us and to let it go. A very valuable set of words.
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What do you think of the lyrics of "Devil's bargain", the new song? ;)
Justin said about it:
"Devil's Bargain' is written about a particular person."
Some of what fucks us up is self-inflicted, an awful lot of it is what other people give us. intentionally or not. To me, this song is telling all of us that a lot of what we carry is bollox that other people put there. Accidently or not. Nature, nurture, genetics- whatever. Either way it's not our fault we feel the way we do sometimes and when we do our own heads in we need to remember it's not down to us and to let it go. A very valuable set of words.
Very true, Anna Woman O Kent.
I think that what you are saying is mostly the meaning of "Falling", and in this way i can somewhat relate to this very personal song, the song speaks to me.
The NMA's song i've thought about the most these last few years ex aequo with "Falling" was probably "High"...when you are in bad moods and up and downs in your life, the line "All these things you fear so much depend on angles of vision" is so true...
I ask myself about the lyrics of "Home", it feels like a very personal song too..:
"The chemical wind burned you to the bone and when you came back, you were not the same (...)
Chris you were gone, out on the edge, these things that destroy are inside of ourselves"
I remember Justin saying in a french interview that "Dawn" was a very very personal song for him, it was about one of his friends who tried to commit suicide when the friend's girlfriend left him alone...and finally Justin's friend choose to stay alive, at the last moment, when he saw the sun rising, one morning...a sad and beautiful story.
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What do you think
Oh Guillaume – you poor deluded boy. What have you done? :o What on earth possessed you to come back and ask me questions about words? I just heard the whole board groan. :'( But you asked a lot of questions so I'm sorry everyone (he did ask and now I've got an excuse to go !!! - and I wish there was an evil grin emoticon to put in here).
Now's the time to hit back button because......
A general point first: you said “i can somewhat relate to this very personal song, the song speaks to me.”. This is the genius of Mr Sullivan's lyrics. To me, you don't have to be able to identify with the literal interpretation of the story being told. The vitality and quality of the words lets you FEEL the emotions and thoughts, and if you can feel it then you can remember things in our own life that made you feel that way and so you can relate. Obviously the full power of NMA is the marriage of words and music but we're talking lyrics so I've set the music aside. Finally on this point I wouldn't presume to have a clue what the genesis behind the words are – all this old crap is just my wordy IBS. :-[
High – A reminder to keep a sense of perspective and place in the world. Getting a bit “over-wrought”? Getting a bit wrapped up in your woes? Well climb a hill look out and remember that actually we're just pissy little atoms on a rock spinning around in a universe far bigger than we can truly get our heads round. We ain't that important. From down at the bottom of the hill where we live our lives we don't get to see all the other “angles of vision”. For every angle there's another 359 at least. Get over yourself.
Home – Barring 2 songs I don't often listen to NBTS. Not because I don't like it – I love it, it's special. But to appreciate it I have in be in the right frame of mind and the right place to....... sort of sink into it, for me it's not music to wash up to if you get what I mean? So I haven't listened to Home for a while but I'm about to (4.59 minute pause), so: well that bears out my point entirely. Listen alone, in peace and quiet and it's very heart-wrenching but there is hope. From outside of ourselves, somewhere in the chaos we live in someone cared. Enough to take “Chris” in. Maybe the true value in what we do is when we do a random kindness to a stranger. That's what I just took.
Dawn – Faith, hope, love, triumph. In the blackest of black places somewhere there is a light and if you find it and can hold on to it during the night you'll see the sun come up. Seems that Children were the light for the person these words were about. This is the only direct personal experience in this post I think – the only thing that stopped me was my Son. Dawn - the most gorgeous wonderful thing this world has to offer. Seeing the sun rise. Perfect. :) :) :) :)
I'll finish this with a back at ya' – Changing Of The Light. One of my top 3. What do you take from that song?
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Changing of light - Here is my attempt at a meaning.
Its about a couple who have been in a long term relationship and who have had kids who are now grown up and moved away. The relationship is now over though one of them hopes it can be rekindled.
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I relate strongly to the lyrics in "Ghosts"
I think JS was referring to his memories of Robert Heaton. I lost a close friend about 10 years ago. That song always makes me think of him. To me it just makes sense. His ghost is part of me. He is still alive in my fond memories of him. Also, people we have known and lost are part of us. The times and experiences we have had together with them in the past has shaped the people we are today.
love that song. All the better for following "Summer Moors" on the album.
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I relate strongly to the lyrics in "Ghosts"
I think JS was referring to his memories of Robert Heaton.
love that song. All the better for following "Summer Moors" on the album.
I agree. I'm thinking that it may refer to the band's studio, with maybe a picture of Rob hanging on the wall. I guess it can be applied to many situations which makes it so relatable.
One of my favourite tracks from BDAW.
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I guess that's one of the hardest questions to answer, 'cause Justin's lyrics are what makes their songs so special to me...
At this moment I'd go for The Charge, because of the "...no one needs morality when there isn't enough to eat..." line,
then I'd go for Green & Grey for "... is it true that the world has always got to be something that seems to happen somewhere else..."
and then there's Spirit of the Falklands: "...'Cause it's no surprise that young men are heroes
It's no surprise that young men are strong
It's no surprise that young men are foolish
We've known that all along..."
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I'll finish this with a back at ya' – Changing Of The Light. One of my top 3. What do you take from that song?
What you have beautifully written about "Dawn" also sums up nicely the meaning(s) of "Changing of the light", i think ;)
Dawn – Faith, hope, love, triumph. In the blackest of black places somewhere there is a light and if you find it and can hold on to it during the night you'll see the sun come up.
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Family - Turn Away - Dawn
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As others have said before there are so many to choose and it changes daily. At the moment the song's lyrics that really resonate with me are Turn Away and One Bullet. If we are looking at individual lines however then "Saw which was the winning side still I joined the other" and "I don't give a damn that I never will be worthy" have always had a deep-felt meaning for me and probably the most beautiful line I've heard is "If I could only choose one moment to last forever I would be here with you."
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At the moment the song's lyrics that really resonate with me are One Bullet.
What do you think is/are the topics/meaning(s) of "One bullet"?
It's a great song, moving i think, and it seems that it is about various characters, or maybe the same character at different times of his life..
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One for the current state of the board
Brothers Sister pay no heed to the unfaithful messagingers (spelling) lol
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The Attack
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Another Imperial Day. So many simple but great lyrics in that song.....xxxx are free to move but not people (repeated), where do any of us come from, its pretty hard to say.
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Very hard to choose just one, but Here Comes the War would easily spring to mind.
Not one of their finest in musical terms, but the meaning couldn't really be put across to the same effect otherwise.
According to You is also a fine piece which is easily understood with age.
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One I love but forget to mention sometimes is from Brave New World
We live with so few troubles, but with so many many lies
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I also love this set from from The Charge
The massacre now is over and the order new enshrined
While a quarter of the nation are abandoned far behind
Their leaders offer the cliche words, so righteous in defeat
But no one needs morality when there isn't enough to eat
The unity bond is broken and the loyalty songs are fake
I'll screw my only brother for even a glimpse at a piece of the cake
We only cry in private here behind the shuttered glass
When we think of the charge of this brigade, the severing of the past
Also from Lust for Power
I catch myself sometimes these days and all I can do is laugh
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What do you think is/are the meaning(s) of songs like "Happy to be here", "Someone like Jesus" and, again, "Devil's bargain"?
The lyrics in these songs are intriguing..
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I was travelling with Laurel way up on the North Coast. She's got family living up here in a nearby town, we found a piece of land that looks out towards the North Sea islands across the bay, the sun is shining on the water tonight as I look out of my front door.....
if ever anyone painted a simple story so picturesque. Beautiful
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I'm with DrummyB on this one...
BAD OLD WORLD ... Absolutely nails it
TXP
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Bad Old World reminds me of a close pal who got out of the rat-race in search of something better...
It is a truly excellent tune...
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when I saw the thread title I immediately thought of "better than them" so was not too surprised when the first post mentioned it.
Thing is you could ask me the same question tomorrow or in a hour and it could change.
After another boring week at work and the thought of the city tonight full of dickheads doing the same thing week in week out I am now thinking of "smalltown england" even if I do live in Ireland
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Island sounds very good at the moment.
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As an American, I always liked the lyrics to "51st State." So many bands across the pond sing hateful diatribes aganist my country, so it was nice to hear a song in which the singer was happy to be a part of America.
(Yes, I know JS didn't write the lyrics, but he did sing them.)
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I think you dont get the meaning of the song then
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I think you dont get the meaning of the song then
Huh?
Uhh, I have been listening to "51st State" since the day it was released. As I said, it was a breath of fresh air after hearing so many "I'm So Bored With The USA"-type songs coming out of England. I remember the first time I heard "51st State" and saying to myself, "Yes, finally a foreigner expressing some appreciation and love for what my country has done for the world."
Dude, no offense, but have you ever listened to the lyrics? "We're proud American sons." That's a wonderful way of expressing the strong bond of kinship we have with our English cousins. That's always been my favorite line in the song. There are others. Maybe you should give the song a listen.
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Never sure if your taking the piss or not space.
The words are ironic, do you think they are driving past the American military bases in the uk thinking oh look at all these lovely shiny weapons of mass destruction here in our country.
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I imagine all the people conquered by the English feel the same when going past their military bases. Both countries are of equal evils. Both imperialists and murderers.
51st state was about England being Americanized. Though if we get literal. Puerto Rico is the 51st state. In fact I can legally move there.
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Nothing touches . . nothing ever touches....
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Guess you have a good point Amanda. Technically you should blame the British and not just the English
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do you think they are driving past the American military bases in the uk thinking oh look at all these lovely shiny weapons of mass destruction here in our country.
Uhh, yeah. It's called protection. I don't know if you were around in the '80s, but there was something called Russia and a Cold War. Those military bases were lifesavers for all the UK and Europe.
I don't know what's going on here. Maybe you lot are all "taking the piss." How can you hear "51st State" and not think it is a tribute to America? Just listen to the way Justin sings "Yeah, we're the..." That's joy. Maybe I have a demo version or soemthing on my "Ghost Of Cain" album, but that song is a proud declaration of our (US/UK) alliance. Remember WWII? You think the Brits were singing songs about hating USA? Well, you think during the Cold War Brits were really hating us?
NMA were always great because they didn't give you the standard obvious stuff. "I believe in getting the bastard" sure is a lot different than "all you need is love" and all that other hippy/lefty stuff. "51st Stae" is great because it didn't do the obvious we-hate-America stuff. But somehow people here think it is the obvious we-hate-America stuff. You all know NMA pretty well. Don't you think Justin and NMA are a lot better than just regurgitating the obvious?
Sorry, folks, some here sure haven't been listening to "51st State" very well.
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Wow, so that was the straw that broke the camel's back then...
Space won't be joining us for a while so please do not bother to post a reply to this attempt to cause another argument.
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Not a reply, but as the person who started this topic, I would like to remind all of the title --
Favourite NMA song for JS lyrics ?
( Space, he didn't write the lyrics to 51st State ::) )
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Don't know if I'm meant to reply but here goes.
Firstly I'm not saying that the uk or nma hated the usa. I'm definitely saying that what Maggie Thatcher and Ronnie Regan were doing to the country back then was despised by many people at the time. Yes i was very much around in the 80s and remember the cold war. Many people including myself didn't want any nuclear weapons in our country. CND had a massive support at the time. This as we all should know was the the political background when the song was written.
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--- by Ashley Cartwright of The Shakes.
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Following up of my mention of Island.... It's not a song that many people claim as their fave but from the beginning it captures you. I love how JS begins the song very softly and then it gets faster. I don't know how to describe what he does with the lyrics but anyone who listens will know what I mean. He seems to start by painting a lyrical picture. Often beginning with nature or the whether and then it builds up from there.
I may also add Qasar el nil Bridge or however the spelling is. And Another imperial Day. I just love the message and the flow of the words.
I wish we had a heart emoticon to display love for a song so this will have to do <B
Sorry, Pol. I often get English and British mixed up. It's a typical yank mistake, I think. If I am correct all of the U.K. is Britain and England is just part. If I am wrong places correct me. :)
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not exactly
England, Scotland and Wales make up Great Britain.
The United Kingdom is Great Britain AND Northern Ireland, hence the official title of United Kingdom of Great Britain & Northern Ireland.
The loyalists in Northern Ireland are not British, contrary to what they would have you believe.
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I have just been to the Republic of Ireland and they consider Northern Ireland to be part of Ireland. They said it's really no difference to them. They just drive into Northern Ireland and they see it is just Ireland. I also hear that the borders are like they are because Donegal is very catholic and would never be part of a protestant area. Of course this is coming from Irish people who consider the IRA no worse than the English army. The English Army seemed to have open fire on innocent people watching a football match for no reason. Then at a peace demonstration.
I can not understand why their would be loyalist anywhere on the Island that is Ireland after what horrible things they have done. I may be biased though because I only heard the Irish side of the story. and I have wandered far off topic into passionate rant again.....
Sorry to the original poster.
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The English Army seemed to have open fire on innocent people watching a football match for no reason.
Are you sure about this ?
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Is it possible that this is getting mixed up with 'Bloody Sunday'?
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Ireland is a complex situation. Yes the British army certainly made mistakes does that equal the atrocities committed by the ira i certainly don't think so. I'm going to admit I'm biased in my brother done a tour of duty in northern Ireland in the last 70s / early 80s when the troubles were very high n yet i come from catholic background. I think your stay in Ireland may have given you a slightly biased opinion maybe you should look into the horrific acts committed by the ira as well
Just my opinion Amanda
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With only a shred of irony I've changed from BOW to SPACE!
It was one of my favourites anyway.
I'll meet you there high above it all...
TXP
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Ireland is a complex situation. Yes the British army certainly made mistakes does that equal the atrocities committed by the ira i certainly don't think so. I'm going to admit I'm biased in my brother done a tour of duty in northern Ireland in the last 70s / early 80s when the troubles were very high n yet i come from catholic background. I think your stay in Ireland may have given you a slightly biased opinion maybe you should look into the horrific acts committed by the ira as well
Just my opinion Amanda
As a republican in belief, my own personal opinion is both sides did wrong.
The British soldiers killed, tortured and terrorised Irish people, not just catholics, as not all catholics were republican, many a protestant was, in fact some of the greatest republicans in Irish history were scottish and english protestants.
Many people believed the soldiers were legitimate targets and were an invading army, and they had zero right to be on our soil.
But it works both ways, the IRA killing british innocent people in their country was wrong and no decent person regardless or religion or nationality should make allowances for murder.
Thankfully the terrible episode seems over, all be it too late for so many families on both sides of the Irish sea.
As for song lyrics....fairly apt song is " Bury the Hatchet"
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As long as 51st state is a topic, what part of the song can I attribute to Ashley Cartwright and the Shakes, and what part to NMA?
I sourced a video of the Shakes performing it, and it seemed like the NMA version is a pretty straight cover. Can someone point me to what NMA added to earn co-writing credits?
I'm not trying to be anything other than curious, by the by. The video of the Shakes was not of the best quality, so I can't say for sure that my investigation was all that thorough.
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The good mr shush post a link to the song about a year ago when i asked a question about the song. Now I'm only going on what i can remember. I think that only the chorus was the same. It was done in a rockabilly style.
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Its basically a cover version
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lm40IRhr6iQ
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I do like that.
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Right, thanks. Sounds like the music changed a fair bit, lyrics not too much. The Shakes version is definitely due its credit!
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Looked a little more into this. Found this
http://web.archive.org/web/19990824174128/www.bd7.net/faq/index.asp?Major=3&Mid=4&Minor=2
As far as I know (happy to corrected if wrong) its the only NMA song recorded with lyrics by someone else ( other than live material )
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Right, of course the third verse (not the same as the first) is not in the Shakes version we see in the video.
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I got bored and got to thinking............
I don't think I have a favourite song for lyrics, or music come to think of it. Doesn't it depend on how you are feeling at any given time? After all unless there is something wrong with you, you don't live out your life in a single frame of mind. So, one day Bloodsports might perfectly encapsulate how I'm feeling and what I want to hear coming out the speakers but on a totally different day I might need to hear the empathy of Dawn, another day I could just be totally with See You In Hell. After 35 years it's like having an emotional jukebox at your fingertips.
Having gone off on a bit of a pontification, it has to be said that Vengeance never fails to hit the spot.
Anyway, back to the current conversation - I'm quite pleased that I have caused 51st State to play at the Western (Wailing) Wall - it appeals to the spiky gobby b*itch in me.
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The English Army seemed to have open fire on innocent people watching a football match for no reason.
Are you sure about this ?
This happened in Dublin in 1920 at Croke Park, at a Gaelic football match.
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https://www.crokepark.ie/gaa-museum/gaa-archive/gaa-museum-irish-times-articles/bloody-sunday,-1920
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Thought I'd BUMP this one after seeing it played in Chester... so valid after recent hysterical headlines about immigrants in newspapers...
You could be there - on a dark October night
Waiting for the moment to be swimming across the freezing river
Holding a plastic bag of belongings just out of the water
Climbing up the banks on the other side, hiding in the trees
So cold that you hardly show as a target
On the heat seeking gear of the Border Control
But you made it, you're another one over
Sleeping on a bench in a railway station in the heart of Europe
Haven't eaten anything for two days straight
But where theres a will, there's always going to be a way
And every door is guarded and every guard costs money
So the women are bought and kept and raped and sold as slaves
Because the family borrowed from The Man
And The Man has always got to be repaid
For the deals of the borders and the fake IDs
And the stolen passports all locked away
While the women are working and gagging down on their knees
And somewhere in the back of Terminal Three
In the clogged-up corridors of the Immigration Authorities
Whole families with the wrong bits of paper
Are waiting to be sent back to where they came from,
Escorted by officials out across the tarmac
With their wrists bound tight with cable-ties behind their backs
It's dawn and there's fog in Rotterdam harbour
And the guard's on his break and the dogs are chained by the wire
Three figures come out from behind the cranes
And make it across the train tracks
Clamber aboard a Panamanian freighter headed for the Isle of Grain
Find a place to hide in a stack of containers - another payload of World Trade
Because goods are free to move but not people
Oil is free to move but not people
Jobs are free to move but not people
Money is free to move but not people
And today they got a man hauled off a truck in the Port of Calais
We watch them in silence as they lead him away clutching his battered suitcase
But his face betrays him - lost and scared and defeated
Sitting in the back of the white Port Authority van
Well, where do any of us come from? It's pretty hard to say
While high in the sky above us tonight
The bombers are heading the other way - south and east
Into the blood red crimson sunrise of another Imperial day
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Wow. That one is REALLY hard but I'm going with Fireworks Night but my mind could change tomorrow. His lyrics are so good that the best ones are whichever ones I'm listening to at the moment but I'm trying not to be lazy
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Still Here, has some interesting lyrics. Kind of gives a Witch's response and defiance in the face of real life Witch hunters in the 1600's. There was an informative documentary on T.V. recently about Matthew Hopkins. He was on a profitable racket. Paid for each Witch he killed, and gave himself the title "Witch Finder General". Very superstitious population at the time, anyone out of the ordinary may be suspected of being a Witch. When a town or village new he was on his way, they basically started to pick out potential Witch's, usually someone who jut did not fit in or was disliked. Hopkins happy to oblige and then charge the town a hefty fee for his work.
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These rules do not agree
They're only sophistry
They don't apply to me
I was taught not to cry
I do not need to cry
I can hold myself inside
States Radio is also the most painfully accurate vision of modern America that I've ever heard in a song. To say Justin nailed it is understatement.
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Which are your favourite lyrics on the last album "Winter"?
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When the motorbikes rolled out of the woods, I just stood there smiling...
Beautiful song. Reminds me of my hitch hiking days.
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Which are your favourite lyrics on the last album "Winter"?
i take the opportunity to remind most of you about this:
http://board.newmodelarmy.org/index.php?topic=9198.0
;-)
think about that winter is so special in regards to lyrics, because three songs, three storys expressed poetically have been transformed to pictures. a very unique thing this.
one of my favourite lyrics is from devil:
They took me down to the Tree of Knowledge and said that I must resist
And all I could think was – what kind of stupid joke is this?
Not to want to know and feel everything that exists
Behind the curtain drawn by self-appointed control freaks and their apologists
but also winter as a whole is beautiful, eyes got used to the darkness is powerful, weak and strong is lovely and burn the castle is a burner!
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They're all good!
Wordplay...
Pax Americana reigns and rains from two miles in the sky ...
Rhythm...
M6 southbound roadside cafe on a wild wet and windy night...
Imagery..
Some live by the bloody sword and die by the bloody sword, some by beauty and desire
I live in the shadow of the great volcano, I live by the good soil and the fire...
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And what about the best lyrics of the last album FROM HERE?
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And what about the best lyrics of the last album FROM HERE?
“Now all the sense of scale is gone and the splinters think they’re trees
And the stones believe they’re mountains and the rivers think they’re seas
And we all gaze down like little gods, our feathers think they’re wings
And the glass believes it’s diamond and the courtiers think they’re kings
And the more of this we onboard, the stupider we become
The rose and glow of approaching fire mistaken for the rising sun
So let’s all go home now, look ourselves in the mirror
Throw our heads back and laugh”
Painfully true these times...
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It would have to be The Charge for me. I'm not from a mining family but I was brought up in the coalfields of South Yorkshire and saw the horrors wrought by the stinking tory filth. Every time I hear it filled with righteous anger.
Red Earth also has a similar effect.
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And what about the best lyrics of the last album FROM HERE?
“Now all the sense of scale is gone and the splinters think they’re trees
And the stones believe they’re mountains and the rivers think they’re seas
And we all gaze down like little gods, our feathers think they’re wings
And the glass believes it’s diamond and the courtiers think they’re kings
And the more of this we onboard, the stupider we become
The rose and glow of approaching fire mistaken for the rising sun
So let’s all go home now, look ourselves in the mirror
Throw our heads back and laugh”
Painfully true these times...
yes great lyrics in this song, also the lyrics of "Passing through", "The weather", "Conversation"...as usual great words from JS!
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And what about the best lyrics of the last album FROM HERE?
I have to agree with marius and go for From Here...
But, Passing Through... makes me tearful every time. Every. Damn. Time. I just tested it, just to make sure. :'(
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And what about the best lyrics of the last album FROM HERE?
I have to agree with marius and go for From Here...
But, Passing Through... makes me tearful every time. Every. Damn. Time. I just tested it, just to make sure. :'(
Passing Through is fantastic. I'm partial to this portion
Winds will change direction, grace and light will again shine on you
It will be over soon
It will be over soon
I find great peace in this.
I also like this lyric from End of Days
The expression on your face says that you've been cheated
well yes you've been cheated, but not in the way that you think
I think these two lyrics actually go together quite well.
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Today these lines haunted me...
You only get a moment in the eye of the storm
You can catch your breath before stumbling on
I can feel the air, I can feel my pulse
And everything burning up on everything else
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...not sure to which topic to post, but today I found myself listening to Winter. Without paying much attention to the fact, I ended up listening to the whole album, but in reverse song order. Damn, works bloody well!!! :o :)
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...not sure to which topic to post, but today I found myself listening to Winter. Without paying much attention to the fact, I ended up listening to the whole album, but in reverse song order. Damn, works bloody well!!! :o :)
Whatever order you play it in, it's certainly one of NMA's finest. Deffo top five.
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...not sure to which topic to post, but today I found myself listening to Winter. Without paying much attention to the fact, I ended up listening to the whole album, but in reverse song order. Damn, works bloody well!!! :o :)
Whatever order you play it in, it's certainly one of NMA's finest. Deffo top five.
Damn right! Also, maybe my favourite album art ever... Stunningly beautiful and haunting.
And talking about some favourite lyrics... Devil.