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Bad Harvest
The song:
As the whole Album Today Is a Good
Day was written shortly after the beginning of the 2008 financial crisis, I guess, like Today Is a Good Day and Autumn, this song refers to this event.
Harvest:
Almost the same words reappear in Tomorrow
Came.
La Muerte:
Spanish
for 'Death'. Santa Muerte is a female personification of death that is
worshipped in Mexico, Cuba and by Latin Americans in the USA, and there
is also a Día de Muerto, Day of the Dead, celebrated from 31st October
to 2nd November mainly by Mexicans, when dead family members or friends
are remembered.
- Read more: Wikipedia entries about Santa Muerte and Day of the Dead
-
Burning crosses:
The
image of burning crosses is often associated with the Ku Klux Klan, a
US American racist organisation that since the early 20th century has
burned crosses to intimidate their victims. However, the practice
originated in Scandinavia and Scotland, where it was a call to arms
when war was declared.
- Read more: Wikipedia
-
|
Bad Old World
The song:
'Bad Old World' is based on a true letter.
- Source: NMAFC Newsletter 8 1/2 -
It seemes to me that the song is an answer to one of "these letters that I send / From the valleys of the green and the grey" (Green and Grey). Any thoughts on that?
Laurel:
A Laurel Sullivan is given credits in the booklet of the Love of
Hopeless Causes album, on which this song appears - whatever that means
(maybe she's his sister in law, so the letter would be by Justin's
brother?).
Land:
The place where the people in the song settled is in Scotland.
- Source: Justin Sullivan in Oxford The Venue, 28/5/92 -
|
Ballad
Her:
The Earth's. Although the idea to present
Earth as a female organism is central to the Gaia
hypothesis, I don't think that this theory influenced this song (if
it was around at that time at all).
Scragends:
The inferior end of a neck of mutton.
- Source: The New Oxford Dictionary of English -
Big bang:
Usually the theory that the universe emerged from the explosion of
dense matter about 13.7 billion years ago.
- Read more: Wikipedia
-
I guess here it means that the world will not end in a big explosion or a "blaze of glory", but in a "series of sad and pathetic little fizzles".
Acid rain:
Rainfall made sufficiently acidic by atmospheric pollution that it
causes environmental harm, chiefly to forests and lakes. The main cause
is the industrial burning of coal and other fossil fuels, the waste
gases from which contain sulphur and nitrogen oxides which combine with
atmospheric water to form acids.
- Source: The New Oxford Dictionary of English - Read more:
Wikipedia -
[ Back to Ballad ]
|
Ballad 2
The song:
The song was intended to be recorded again
but something was lost and it never made the final cut.
- Source: Robert Heaton in Chris
Benn's Chinese Whispers - NMA FAQ -
Justin sometimes leaves the titles until the end
and prefers to give them generic names to begin with. This song was
never given a proper name
- Source: Chris
Benn's
Chinese
Whispers - NMA FAQ -
[ Back to Ballad 2 ]
|
Ballad of Bodmin Pill
The song:
'Ballad of Bodmin Pill' was written about a party they had on a
beach just across the sound from where I used to live in Sweden.
- Source: Justin Sullivan at Justin Sullivan and Friends gigs -
Bodmin Pill:
A lagoon of the river Fowey. It is next to a sawmill where they used to
float the logs before floating them out onto the river. The sawmill has
been converted into a studio where some of NMA's and Joolz recordings
have been done. A Pill is Cornish (Celtic) word meaning pond or lake.
- Source: Joolz in Chris
Benn's Chinese Whispers - NMA FAQ -
Bodmin is a small village right in the middle of
Cornwall. East of it there is the Bodmin Moore. There the Fowey has its
source. It runs south west and ends in the English Channel, the part of
the North Sea at the English south coast.
- Read more: Wikipedia
-
Heirs:
Perhaps the "weak" that are "the heirs [. . .] to all the world" is a
reference to the bible's "the meek shall inherit the earth" that is
quoted in Angry Planet.
The sparks fly up:
It might be pure chance, but in the Book of Job in the bible it says:
"Yet man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward" (i.e.
inevitably, I think)
- Source: The Bible. The Book of Job, 5.7 -
[ Back to Ballad of Bodmin Pill | Back to Prayer Flags]
|
BD3
The song:
"The song is about fanaticised youths in Bradford,
often of Pakistani origin, and is named after their postal area. Tupac
Shakur and Osama Bin Laden are their greatest cultural icons, an unholy
alliance. I quite like some of Tupac's things, but you live by the
sword, you die by the sword. His fate is in line with the macho
fantasies of youths."
- Source: Justin Sullivan in German Online Magazin
Uncle
Sally's; my translation -
BD3:
A British postcode. British postecodes consist of two parts: the first
part is made up of two letters marking the place (e.g. BD for Bradford) and a number marking an area in
that place. The second part is made up of one number and two letters,
meaning god knows what. BD3 is an area north east to the centre of Bradford.
Tupac:
Tupac Amaru Shakur (June 16, 1971 - September 13, 1996),
also known by his stage names 2Pac, Makaveli, or simply as
'Pac, was an American artist renowned for his rap music, movie roles,
poetry, and his social activism . . . Most of Shakur's songs are about
growing up around violence and hardship in ghettos, racism, problems in
society, and sometimes his feuds with fellow rappers. Shakur's work is
known for advocating political, economic, social, and racial equality
as well as his raw descriptions of violence, drug and alcohol abuse,
and conflicts with the law. Many fans, critics, and industry insiders
rank him as the greatest rapper ever . . . On September 7, 1996, Shakur
was shot four times in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas, Nevada, and
died six days later.
- Source: Wikipedia
-
Bin Laden:
Osama bin Laden was a militant Islamist and the leader of the terrorist
group al-Qaeda, which is in all likeliness responsible for the attacks
on the World Trade Center and other targets in the USA on September 11 2001.
Accordingly, bin Laden was America's most wanted criminal. The American
government accused Pakistan of hiding bin Laden; many Pakistanis live
in Bradford, so this may be the connection here. Bin Laden was indeed
found in Pakistan and killed by U.S. military forces on May 2 2011.
(Human rights and international law aside, if you believed a man was
responsible for every past and future terrorist attack on your country,
wouldn't you like to ask him a few questions when you found him)?
- Read more: Wikipedia
-
Home:
In many of his songs Justin Sullivan explores the theme of family or
home, which here he seems to define as the feeling of belonging to a
certain place (Bradford). (cf. Dawn,
Familiy,
Family Life, Home,
Inheritance, March in September, My People, No Mirror, No Shadow and
Twilight Home, to mention just the
most obvious)
Thornton Road:
A long street beginning in the center and leading to the west of
Bradford, ending in Thornton (duh), a village (now incorporated
into Bradford) surrounded by moors and famous as residence of the Brontë-sisters (well-known 19th century
writers). The BT (British Telecom) and Google Map directories list
several garages at Thornton Road, none of them Shell though.
Shell:
A huge multinational oil company of British and Dutch origins with
petrol filling stations all over the world.
Tinker ponies:
Irish Travellers (pejoratively called tinkers, because they worked
repairing tin ware) are a nomadic people of Irish origin living mainly
in Ireland and Great Britain. Many Travellers have now settled down or
move around in motorised caravans, though some still travel with
pony-drawn carts.
- Source: Barnes, Bettina: "Irish Travelling People". In Gypsies,
Tinkers and other Travellers - Read more:
Wikipedia -
[ Back to Ballad of BD3 | Back to Bloodsports | Back to Bluebeat | Back to Masters of War | Back to Water ]
BD7
The
song:
The song was written as a tribute to a famous piece of graffiti that
survived on a wall in Bradford for three
decades. The song was performed only three times live and there is no
studio version.
- Source: Lost Songs booklet -
60s:
The 1960s is a decade associated with many political (e.g. civil rights
movements) and cultural (e.g. youth culture) changes in the Western
world.
- Read more: Wikipedia
-
All
Saints Road:
A street in the BD7 area.
It's a
mean old scene:
The graffiti this song is about.
West-End:
This probably refers to the West End of London, an area of Central
London containing many of the city's major tourist attractions,
businesses, and administrative headquarters as well as most of London's
major theatres. There are other British towns with a West End, though
Bradford ist not one of them.
- Read more: Wikipedia
-
Scrap
metal in a rusting town:
Justin uses similar words in the live version of the spoken verse in
Here Comes the War.
BD7:
The British postcode for an area southwest to the centre of Bradford.
Twenty-nine
years:
According the Lost Songs booklet the song was written in 1995, so the
graffiti first appeared in 1966.
[ Back to BD7 ]
|
The Beautiful Game
The song:
The
song was recorded for the charity "Spirit of Football", that educates
and supports children and youths with the help of a football travelling
from London to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
- Read more: Spirit of
Football official site -
The origin of the term "Beautiful game"
for football is not quite clear. It became popular, however, after
Brasilian football legend Pelé used it for his autobiography in 1977.
The original Portugese expression is "o jogo bonito".
- Read more: Wikipedia
-
[ Back to The Beautiful Game ]
Before I Get Old
The
song:
This song contradicts the people who "hope they die before they get
old", a phrase originating, I think, from The Who's song "My Generation".
Live
too fast:
A rejection of the saying "live fast, die young".
Northern
Lights:
An aurora is a luminous phenomenon of the upper atmosphere that occurs
primarily in high latitudes of both hemispheres; auroras in the
Northern Hemisphere are called aurora borealis, or northern lights; in
the Southern Hemisphere, aurora australis, or southern lights.Auroras
are caused by the interaction of energetic particles (electrons and
protons) from outside the atmosphere with atoms of the upper
atmosphere. They take many forms, including luminous curtains, arcs,
bands, and patches.
- Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica - Read more:
Wikipedia
-
Southern
Cross:
Also called Crux (Latin: "Cross"). Constellation lying at about 12
hours 30 minutes right ascension (the coordinate on the celestial
sphere analogous to longitude on the Earth) and 60º south declination
(angular distance south of the celestial equator), now visible only
from south of about 30º north latitude (i.e., the latitude of North
Africa and Florida). The constellation has five bright stars, one badly
placed from the viewpoint of symmetry so that the shape of the cross
formed by the stars is somewhat irregular.
- Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica - Read more:
Wikipedia -
Beginning
The
song:
Played right after Headlights,
which was announced as the first of a couple of songs about the weight
we carry around from our past.
- Source: Justin Sullivan at solo gigs in the UK in October 14 -
I'm very proud of "The beginning",
what you hear is what happenend in the studio. Sometimes we found it
difficult to let go in the studio. The machines are running, the red
light's on, it's difficult to let go. But on "Beginning", we let go.
And it was very exciting, we can feel the excitement on the record. It
doesn't happen very often.
- Source: Justin Sullivan in an interview with French Magazine ZicAZic on 15/9/16 -
She faded away:
I
wrote this line about my mother. Dementia . . . The memory is wiped out
going back from the present to the past. A subject which people of my
generation are concerned with: we're getting older, as are our parents.
At the beginning of dementia you can't remember what happened or was
said 30 seconds ago. And then it progresses, you can't remember who the
person is you're talking to, and on it goes. In the end my mother could
only remember her childhood but nothing after that: not her family, her
children, her husband. My mother died two years ago.
- Source: Justin Sullivan Interview with Ox-Fanzine Oct/Nov 2016; my
translation -
Thread:
Ariadne's thread. In Greek mythology Minotaur, a creature with a human
body and a bull's head, was imprisoned in the centre of a labyrinth by
his step father Minos, the king of Crete. After a war between Crete and
Athens, Athens was required to sacrifice seven young men and seven
young women to Minotaur every seven years. One year, Theseus
volunteered to be in the sacrificial party and kill Minotaur. Minos'
daughter Ariadne fell in love with Theseus and gave him a ball of
thread. He tied one end of the thread to the entrance of the labyrinth,
killed Minotaur with a sword and followed the thread back out of the
labyrinth.
- Read more: Wikipedia
-
Believe It
The
song:
In this song there someone's looking back on their life and saying "I
can't believe it. What went wrong."
- Source: Justin Sullivan in an interview with German Nonkonform
Magazine in July 1996 -
|
Belisha Beacon and the Accidents
Belisha Beacon:
"An
amber-coloured globe lamp atop a tall black and white pole, marking
pedestrian crossings of roads in the United Kingdom." Accordingly, Claire probably dyes her hair amber, a bright orange.
- Source: Wikipedia
-
Sex Pistols:
A
legendary British punk band. However, Justin states in a 1984
interview: "Out of all the bands of that period, we were never
particularly influenced by bands like the Sex Pistols [. . . .] Much
more [. . .] the musical end of punk, not the thrash end".
- Source: This is For the Fans Not the Militia Bootleg LP and State of
Mind Bootleg CD - Read more: Wikipedia -
Stuart:
Possibly
Stuart Morrow, NMA's first bass player. The band was founded by Justin
Sullivan, Stuart Morrow and drummer Phil Tompkins after the "threesome
had already been together for a couple of years in a number of Bradford
bands with other musicians and singers." So this song could be about
one of those other bands.
- Source: NMA
Biography -
[ Back to Belisha Beacon and the Accidents ]
Betcha
Betcha:
A non-standard contraction of 'bet you', used in representing informal
speech.
- Source: The New Oxford Dictionary of English -
[ Back to Betcha ]
Better Than Them
The
song:
"A guiding light for those who question and refuse to follow the pack."
- Source: Adrian Portas in Anthology
booklet -
Divided
we fall:
'United
we stand, divided we fall' is a phrase that originated in Ancient
Greece and has been used in mottos and songs many times. It means
unless people are united it is easy to destroy them, and is a counter
to the maxim 'divide and rule' (if you divide people it is easier to
rule them).
- Source: Wikipedia
-
The first known use in modern times is in John Dickinson's 'Liberty Song', an American Revolutionary War song published in 1768. I include the lyrics here, because the line 'Divided we were born . . .' seems to echo its refrain.
Come, join hand in hand, brave
Americans all,
And rouse your bold hearts at fair Liberty's call;
No tyrannous acts shall suppress your just claim,
Or stain with dishonor America's name.
Ch:
In Freedom we're born and in Freedom
we'll live.
Our purses are ready. Steady, friends, steady;
Not as slaves, but as Freemen our money we'll give.
Our
worthy forefathers, let's give them a cheer,
To climates unknown did courageously steer;
Thro' oceans to deserts for Freedom they came,
And dying, bequeath'd us their freedom and fame.
Ch
Their generous bosoms all dangers
despis'd,
So highly, so wisely, their Birthrights they priz'd;
We'll keep what they gave, we will piously keep,
Nor frustrate their toils on the land and the deep.
Ch
The tree their own hands had to
Liberty rear'd;
They lived to behold growing strong and revered;
With transport they cried, "Now our wishes we gain,
For our children shall gather the fruits of our pain."
Ch
Swarms of placemen and pensioners
soon will appear
Like locusts deforming the charms of the year;
Suns vainly will rise, showers vainly descend,
If we are to drudge for what others shall defend.
Ch
Then join hand in hand, brave
Americans all,
By uniting we stand, by dividing we
fall;
In so righteous a cause let us hope to succeed,
For heaven approves of each generous deed.
Ch
All ages shall speak with amaze and
applause,
Of the courage we'll show in support of our Laws;
To die we can bear, but to serve we disdain.
For shame is to Freedom more dreadful than pain.
Ch
This bumper I crown for our
Sovereign's health,
And this for Britannia's glory and wealth;
That wealth and that glory immortal may be,
If She is but Just, and if we are but Free.
Ch
- Source: Wikipedia
-
[ Back to Better Than Them | Back to My Country ]
Between Dog and Wolf
Between
dog and Wolf:
A
"medieval French expression for dusk - when it's hard to distinguish
between dog and wolf, friend or foe. That sense of contradiction
represents the band very well and there's something of this sense of
transformation in the album. It has been a stormy four years since the
release of the last album. With the sudden death of our manager, the
loss of our studio in the fire, subsequent theft of remaining equipment
and our old bass player Nelson's departure, we in essence lost
everything. We used this to make a new beginning and part of the change
was effected with the arrival of Ceri and the refreshing energy and
musical influences he brought."
- Source: Justin Sullivan on the official NMA site -
The "title track which in a way is
about love and passion, it also represents the band rather well - no
one really knows what we are. I mean I look around the band and
everybody is basically a nice person but none of them are tame. And I
think that is true of people generally. Underneath it all we are pretty
driven, however clever we are, by pretty primal forces - just the same
as we ever were."
- Source: Justin Sullivan in The Yorkshire Times -
Water
and wine:
As there are many religious images in NMA's lyrics, one interpretation
might be that this refers to a miracle Jesus
Christ performs according to the bible: At the Marriage at Cana,
when the wine runs out, he turns water into wine.
- Read more: Wikipedia
-
Wine
and blood:
Again a Christian interpretation is possible, a reference to another
kind of transformation Jesus Christ
performed: At the last supper he held with his disciples before he was
crucified, he gave them bread and wine and told them it was his body
and blood. Different Christian groups interpret this more or less
literally.
- Read more:
Wikipedia
-
Resurrection
garden:
I googled this and almost all references I found are to the
resurrection of Jesus
after his crucifixion. Apparently, some people recreate the scene of
the empty grave in a cave in gardens (or at home in flower pots).
- Read more: Example
for a resurrection garden -
Silver tongue:
A tendency to be eloquent and persuasive in speaking.
- Source: The New Oxford Dictionary of English -
[ Back to Between Dog and Wolf ]
Big Blue
The song:
When played live, Justin Sullivan announces this as "redemption song".
The sea is one of his favourite subjects (cf. Happy
to be Here, Marry the Sea,
Southwest and Wipeout (which, like Big Blue, are about
surfing), North Star, Ocean Rising,
Sun On Water, and
Twilight Home).
[ Back to Big Blue ]
Billy
The song:
As the song shares a person's name and several lines with Drummy B it is most likely about the same
thing.
[ Back to Billy ]
Bittersweet
Once upon a time:
A common beginning of fairy tales.
Western:
An (North American) fiction genre about cowboys or North America's
west, often set in the 19th century. A western hero is often a tough
lonely man who fights criminals or vicous Indians.
- Read more: Wikipedia
-
Bloodsports
The song:
[A]n anti-war song – after all, as we’re constantly being told that
we are involved in a 'War on Terror' while we are actually involved in
an Imperial style oil-grabbing occupation, it would be almost
impossible for me not to vent my feelings about this at least once.
- Source: Justin
Sullivan interview with Babble and Beat -
A song "about Iraq [. . .] although actually
it’s written more
about Bradford than Iraq, really."
- Source: Allan
MacInnis: "New Model Army: Tribal Warfare and Western Civilization.
Telephone interview on May 18th, 2008 -
Justin Sullivan refers to the Iraq war (or America's "war on terrorism" in Afghanistan and Iraq), that also inspired him to cover Masters of War. One of the Chosen also deals with religious fundamentalism. Other songs on terrorist acts are All of This, The Attack, Breathing, Far Better Thing and Flying through the Smoke.
Into the fire and
the blood red sun:
Probably the rising sun in the East, in Afghanistan and Iraq. (In
contrast to the former expansion to the West. Compare All Consuming Fire for the ideas of decline and
violence connected to the colour of the sunset).
Hometown:
There are many people from Pakistan living in
Justin's hometown Bradford. They might
be eyed with distrust because in Pakistan terrorists are trained and
Osama bin Laden is believed to hide there.
He says:
This verse describes a suicide bomber who has an explosive belt hidden
beneath his clothes and approaches a checkpoint, probably
of American soldiers in Iraq, to kill them - and die himself, which
suicide bombers consider as sacrifice that secures them a
place in Paradise.
Blood-sports:
Sport or entertainment which is believed to be cruel, involving
needless animal or human suffering, such as bullfighting, cockfighting,
dog fighting, fox hunting or gladiatoral spectacles.
- Read more: Wikipedia
-
Bluebeat
The
song:
"It's different from the rest of Carnival
because it is the most cheerful song - at least at the beginning.
Towards the end it gets a spooky atmosphere. I like such strange
combinations. The song is like a big orchestra, that plays several
different things - cheerful first, than spooky - overall weird. [. . .
.] Rock is often too conventional for me, I like to break down
bounderies."
- Source: Powermetal
Interview with Justin Sullivan - Translated back into English by me -
Blue Beat was the name of a British Record lable that
released Jamaican rhythm and blues and ska music. The term bluebeat
became generic for that kind of Jamaican music. Justin cites early 60s
Jamaican bluebeat as music he listens to.
- Source: Wikipedia
- Official
NMA Site -
Preston Street:
A street west of Bradford's centre, off Thornton Road.
Belt of Orion:
Orion or "the Hunter" is a constellation of stars which in the northern
hemisphere is visible in winter; the Belt of Orion consists of three
stars within the constellation.
- Read more:
Wikipedia -
[ Back to Bluebeat ]
Blue Ship
Isaac:
Probably the biblical Isaac, only son of Abraham,
who was ready to kill him in obedience to God (but ultimately did not
have to). In old age, Isaac became completely blind.
- Read more: Wikipedia
-
Milton:
John Milton (1608-1674) was an English Poet and polemicist. He is best
known for his epic poem Paradise Lost, which tells the story of
Adam's and Eve's expulsion from the Garden of Eden.
Like Isaac, Milton became completely blind.
- Read more: Wikipedia
-
Born Feral
The
song:
From
my early childhood onwards I've had a recurring nightmare. Whenever I
have a fever I dream of a tree and a telegraph pole and I'm extremely
tense. The song "Born Feral" with its falling and rising sounds comes
very close to this dream.
- Source: Justin Sullivan interview with German Newspaper Frankenpost on 27/9/16; republished
in Mittelbayerische;
my translation -
Brave New World
The
song:
1985 was the height of yuppy culture - a truly
disgusting period. Meanwhile, our own flirtation with conventional
'success' had ended and we found ourselves in London totally alienated
in every way from our surroundings.
- Source: B-Sides and Abandoned Tracks booklet -
Brave
new world:
This is originally a quote from Shakespeare's The Tempest.
Prospero, banned Duke of Milan, lives on an uninhabited island with his
daughter, Miranda. He raises as storm, which makes the usurpers and
some Italian noblemen strand on his island; when Miranda sees the men
for the first time in her life, she exclaims "How beauteous mankind is!
O brave new world / That has such people in't!"
- Source: Shakespeare, William, The Tempest. Act V, scene 1 -
Read more:
Project
Gutenberg -
Aldous Huxley uses this quote
ironically for his dystopia of the same name (1932). He depicts a
future world which is, on the surface, stable and happy. However,
it is really based on mass production and ultimate control;
people have become uniform and they have lost their liberty and
individual values such as truth, beauty or love.
- Read more: Wikipedia
-
[ Back to Brave New World | Back to Modern Times | Back to New Model Army ]
Brave New World 2
The
song:
Like many of our best songs, we recorded this as an afterthought. We
were driving endlessly round London in the middle of the night trying
to borrow an old piano and to beg a couple of hours of cheap studio
time . . .
- Source: B-Sides and Abandoned Tracks booklet -
|
Breathing
The song:
"The
song [. . .] is written about [. . .] someone who was very close to the
band, that was on the next door carriage to one of the ones that was
blown up on the subway in London two years ago. 'Breathing' was pretty
much word-for-word what she told me when I asked her."
- Source: Justin Sullivan interview
with Allan MacInnis in May 2008 -
On the 7th July 2005 four Islamist terrorists
detonated four bombs in London underground trains and a double-decker
bus. 52 other people were killed and more than 700 injured. These were
the first suicide attacks on British soil. Three of the bombers were
born in England, the fourth had moved there at the age of five. The
attacks were preceded by three and a half years of 'war against terror'
by mainly American and British troops against Muslim countries.
- Read more: Wikipedia
-
Other songs about terrorist attacks are All of This, The Attack, Far Better Thing, Flying through the Smoke, and Bloodsports.
|
Brother
The
song:
We were in a German hotel room before performing at a festival [in
Luebeck, 04/09/1993 or Rendsburg 11/06/1995?] when rioting in Bradford
suddenly appeared on the TV screen. It was a bad and tense summer
throughout the city and the song was born out of an incident at the end
of Justin's street.
- Source: Lost Songs booklet -
Bradford has been the location of several riots as result of tensions between ethnic groups and fascists.
[ Back to Brother | Back to Carlisle Road | Back to You Weren't There ]
Burn the Castle
The
song:
In 2008, when the financial system collapsed,
we really had the chance to change something. Everybody knew that the
system was screwed, but nobody knew how to fix it. So people pretended
that the system could be fixed, that everything was OK - and everybody
knows it isn't. And now we begin to feel the consequences. And there's
more to come: when half the population is left behind this half will
rise and, damn it, lynch everything that moves. [. . . .] These are
dangerous times, I'm scared, I'm fucking scared.
- Source: Justin Sullivan interview with Neue Presse; my translation -
[I wrote the song] long before Brexit.
But its message is still up to date: fuck it! Smash everything, without
a thought about the future. We live in very dangerous times. Everybody
who says they were surprised about the result of the referendum didn't
pay much attention to what's happening in England. To me the result was
totally predictable. [. . . .] For 40 years the neoconservatives have
allowed the super rich to become even richer with the promise that
everybody would profit. But for many people this experiment has turned
into
a desaster. [. . . .] The present is far more dangerous [than the Thatcher era]. Margaret Thatcher started
this neocon experiment, and nobody knows how it's going to end. The
song Winter is about this fear of the
future.
- Source: Justin Sullivan
interview with German Newspaper Frankenpost
on 27/9/16; republished
in Mittelbayerische;
my translation -
Brexit combines "British" and "exit" and
refers to Britain's leaving of
the European Union (EU) that a majority of the British people voted for
on 23rd June 2016. Because many Britons and many members of the
Conservative Party are sceptical of the EU, Conservative Prime Minister
David Cameron had agreed to have a referendum
about Britain's EU-membership. He expected a majority to vote in favour
of remaining in the EU. Most political parties, economics experts,
health system officials, charities and many artists and celebrities
supported the remain campaign. However, a majority of almost 52% voted
for leave, although (or because?) the leave campaigners used blatant
lies (famously a slogan on a bus suggested that all the money spent on
the EU would be used to fund the health system) and xenophobic
scaremongering. During the campaigning, Labour MP (Member of
Parliament) Jo Cox was murdered by a nationalist for her pro-EU
stance. The number of reported hate crimes, especially violence against
Muslims and Polish nationals, has massively increased in the aftermath
of the referendum. David Cameron resigned from his post and was
followed by Theresa May.
- Read more: Wikipedia on the Referendum
and Brexit -
Winter
has a similar theme.
Bedlam:
A
scene of uproar and confusion [. . . .] late Middle English: early form
of Bethlehem, referring to the hospital of St Mary of Bethlehem in
London, used as an asylum for the insane.
- Source: The New Oxford Dictionary
of English -
Burning Season
The
song:
The mid nineties were an empty drifting time in Britain as the Tory
monolith that had ruled the country for so long began to break up. This
was a song of impatience.
- Source: Lost Songs booklet -
Swathe:
Swathe means bandage, but here the term is probably used as alternative
spelling for "swath", meaning track or trace.
Deconstruction:
A method of critical analysis of philosophical and literary language
which emphasizes the internal workings of language and conceptual
systems, the relational quality of meaning, and the assumptions
implicit in forms of expression.
- Source: The New Oxford Dictionary of English - Read more:
Wikipedia -
The highway's
jammed up with disinformation:
The internet is sometimes called information (super)highway.
Bury the Hatchet
The
song:
Robert: It is hard to have someone as enemy just as it is hard to be in
love.
Justin: After a while you think it is not worth the effort. Call it
compromise if you want, it's the hopeful element of the song. After all
there are many other things to spend your time with than fighting.
- Source: NMA in an interview with German magazine Zillo 10/90;
my translation -
Bury the hatchet:
Make peace. Native Americans used to bury their weapons at the end of
hostilities.
Punk:
Possibly a pun, because besides the obvious meanings of punk rocker and
worthless person it also means tinder.
Stole your thunder:
Colloquial expression: to win praise for oneself by pre-empting someone
else's attempt to impress.
- Source: The New Oxford Dictionary of English -
[ B | Introduction | Song Index | Updates ]
17/11/14; last update 23/07/17