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Navigating by the Stars
747:
Boeing 747, a large passenger aircraft.
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1984
The song:
After much consideration I came to the conclusion that this must be
about the British Miners' strike in
1984. I'm probably the last person in the world who has noticed this.
Anyway, The Charge is also about that
strike.
Meden bridge:
Apparently there is a river Meden in the west of the county
Nottinghamshire, near Mansfield, where a big miners' demonstration took
place during the strike.
War:
By calling the striking miners "the enemy within" Margaret Thatcher
used war terminology, and so it is only appropriate for Justin here to
call the confrontations between miners and police "battle" and "war". A
major event during the strike was a violent confrontation between 3,000
police officers and 10,000 miners near Sheffield which came to be known
as the Battle of Orgreave.
- Read more: Wikipedia -
Green and pleasant
land:
A phrase often used for England. I think it is based on William Blake's
poem 'Jerusalem' (1809):
And did those feet in ancient time
Walk upon England's mountains green?
And was the holy Lamb of God
On England's pleasant pastures seen?
And did the Countenance Divine
Shine forth upon our clouded hills?
And was Jerusalem builded here
Among this dark Satanic Mills?
Bring me my Bow of burning gold:
Bring me my Arrows of desire:
Bring me my spear: O clouds unfold!
Bring me my Chariot of fire.
I will not cease from Mental Fight,
Nor shall my Sword sleep in my hand
Till we have built Jerusalem
In England's green and pleasant land.
1984:
1984 is a quite symbolic year, as it is the title of George Orwell's
dystopic novel Nineteen Eighty-Four (written in 1948): In 1984
(duh) Great Britain is the centre of Oceania, one of three world powers
that are constantly at war with each other. The people of Oceania are
controlled by a small elite around a mysterious 'Big Brother'. By means
of constant surveillance and spying, poor living conditions, a
simplified and manipulative language, propaganda, openly falsified
history and news, and torture, the ruling party controls not only
people's actions, but even their thoughts and feelings.
- Read more:
Wikipedia -
Two nations:
In his novel Sybil, or The Two Nations (1845) Victorian
politician and writer Benjamin Disraeli describes England as divided
into two nations: the rich and the poor. As the root of all problems he
sees the selfishness of factory and land owners, his solution, however,
is not the abolition of the Capitalist order, but a return to Christian
values.
- Read more: Wikipedia
-
[ Back to 1984 | Back to The Charge | Back to Modern Times ]
|
No Greater Love
While kings are in
their counting houses:
Reference to the English nursery rhyme "Sing a Song of Sixpence":
Sing a song of sixpence,
A pocket full of rye.
Four and twenty blackbirds,
Baked in a pie.
When the pie was opened,
The birds began to sing.
Now, wasn't that a dainty dish
To set before the king?
The king was in his counting house,
Counting out his money.
The queen was in the parlour,
Eating bread and honey.
The maid was in the garden,
Hanging out the clothes,
When down came a blackbird
and pecked off her nose!
- Read more: Wikipedia -
[ Back to No Greater Love | Back to Bad Harvest ]
|
No Man's Land
No man's land:
The phrase originates from the Great War (1914-1918) and was used to
describe the narrow ribbon of muddy, bloody land that lay between the
German and British trenches. Since that time, the phrase has been used
as a vivid and lyrical metaphor by many different writers.
- Source: NMAFC Newsletter 3 -
[ Back to No Man's Land
| Back to Guessing
]
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No Mirror, No Shadow
The song:
"I don't have any interest in the past
things, what is gone is gone. There is a song (No Mirror, No Shadow) on
the record that says : 'I meant what I said by the time that I said
it'. I think everybody thinks that. It's like when you have a row or an
argument with your lover or something and they say: 'but last week you
said that'. We all think, you know, last week I meant that but now I
feel different. Everything changes, people must change. The saddest
thing in life is when you find people that refuse to change".
- Source: Justin Sullivan interview with Rock-Interviews.com -
At the Between Wine and Blood tour in 2014 Justin
introduced the song saying he felt sorry for the young people of today,
because every mistake, every foolish thing they ever did was now on
record for ever.
Priest:
In the Roman Catholic and Anglican Churches people may confess their
sins to and have them absolved by priests. Priests are obliged to keep
the confessions a secret under any circumstance.
This
family thicker than blood:
Blood is thicker than water is an English
proverb meaning bonds between family members are stronger than other
relationships. Apparently, here bonds between members of a chosen group
are even stronger. Other songs about family are BD3, Dawn,
Familiy,
Family Life, Home,
Inheritance, March in September, My People and
Twilight Home.
[ Back to No Mirror, No Shadow ]
No Pain
Nails
and cross:
Perhaps a reference to Jesus Christ who
died nailed to a cross.
Abraham:
Another twisted version of a biblical story. This is how it really
goes: Abraham and his wife Sarah had remained childless until they were
very, very old. Then God told them that Sarah was pregnant with a son,
and when the boy was born they called him Isaac and were really
happy and grateful for this miracle. But God wanted to test Abraham's
loyalty and asked him to sacrifice Issac: "[3] And Abraham rose up
early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young
men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt
offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told
him. [4] Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the
place afar off. [5] And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here
with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come
again to you, [6] And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and
laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a
knife; and they went both of them together. [7] And Isaac spake unto
Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my
son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb
for a burnt offering? [8] And Abraham said, My son, God will provide
himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them
together. [9] And they came to the place which God had told him of; and
Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound
Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood. [10] And
Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.
[11] And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said,
Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I. [12] And he said, Lay not
thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I
know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son,
thine only son from me."
- Source: The Bible. Genesis, 22.312 - Read more:
King
James Bible -
[ Back to No Pain ]
No Rest
No
rest for the wicked:
In the bible it says: "But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when
it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt".
- Source: The Bible. Isaiah, 57.20 -
[ Back to No Rest | Back to Eleven Years ]
|
No Sense
The song:
"We recorded this at Jam Studios and then broke into Wessex in the
middle of the night to use their Hammond organ. Originally it had the
biggest, weirdest drum sound ever, but we were told that it couldn't be
cut into vinyl so unfortunately we had to change it."
-Source: B-Sides and Abandoned
Tracks booklet -
[ Back to No Sense ]
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North Star
The song:
" 'North star' was written after Tommy died, for Tommy, about Tommy.
Everything else [the songs on Today
is a Good Day] was written in October."
- Source: Justin Sullivan interview with Altsounds
-
Tommy Tee
started as New Model Army's tour manager and later became the band's
manager and close friend. He died unexpectedly on 23rd December 2008.
- Read more: Official
New Model Army Site -
The song uses seafaring imagery, which links it to
songs like Happy to
be Here, Marry the
Sea, Ocean Rising,
Southwest, Wipeout,
Big Blue,
Sun On Water, and
Twilight Home.
Helmsman:
A person who steers a ship or boat.
- Source: The New Oxford Dictionary of
English -
North
Star:
Polaris, the brightest star in the Ursa Minor constellation. It is very
close to the north celestial pole. It is also called Guiding star.
- Read more: Wikipedia
-
Sennen
Cove:
A tiny village at the coast of Cornwall, an area in the south east of
the UK that Justin Sullivan loves.
- Read more: Wikipedia
-
Godspeed:
An expression of good wishes to a person starting a journey. It
comes from Middle English 'God speed you', meaning 'May God help you
prosper'.
- Source: The New Oxford Dictionary of
English -
White-out:
A weather condition in which visibility and contrast are reduced
by snow or sand.
- Source: Wikipedia
-
Notice Me
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16/11/14; last update 17/06/17