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Qasr El Nil Bridge
The song:
This
song is about the Egyptian revolution that started in January 2001 and
was part of a wave of political changes in the Islamic world, the Arab
Spring.
After massive protests of a wide range of groups, from liberals and
women's rights activists to nationalists and islamists, the military
dictator Hosni Mubarak finally resigned in February 2001. The
parliament was dissolved and the military ruled until elections were
held in June. These were won by Islamist Mohamed Morsi. However, Morsi
used his position to grant himself unlimited power, and critics also
feared the rise of a very reactionary form of the Islamic faith. Again
there were mass protests, and in July 2013 Morsi's government was
overthrown by the military. Right now (November 2013) there are mass
protests against the military, and nobody knows where all of this is
heading. Justin Sullivan elaborates on different points in different
interviews:
"I spent a bit of time in Egypt last year (my
sister has lived in Cairo for 12 years) and of course the Arab Spring,
perhaps especially in Egypt, was a remarkable and unexpected thing. Yes
there is a lot going on and everywhere the waters are pretty dirty.
There are so many players - obviously America (the Great Satan to blame
for everything - sometimes fairly and sometimes not so fairly) but also
Israel, Saudi, Iran and perhaps Turkey. There are national interests,
religious divisions and rivalries and bloody oil at the root of a lot
of it."
- Source: Justin Sullivan interview
in November 2012 (when Morsi was still in power) -
"In a way I'm quite pleased when I look at the song,
and it was written two years ago when I was in Egypt in 2011, but there
isn't a line in the song which is wrong, because it's about the people,
not the wrong and right, the goodies and the baddies, it was about
people."
- Source: Justin Sullivan The
Quietus in October 2013 (after Morsi was removed) -
"I spent a lot of time with young people, most of
them musicians who had also demonstrated. We went boating on the
Nile .
. . . Anyway, I wrote down a lot in that time. The song celebrates
the uprising but it also says 'every revolution
devours its children' "
- Source: Justin Sullivan on Corso in September 2013. My
translation back from German -
- Read more: Wikipedia on the 2011 Revolution and the 2013 Coup -
Qasr El Nil Bridge:
A popular bridge
across the Nile in Cairo, Egypt's capital. It is close to the Tahrir
Square and was a site of demonstrations during the 2011 Revolution.
- Read more: Wikipedia
-
Ibrahim:
Ibrahim and Ahmed seem to be
real people, as the names are listed in the "Thank you also to" section
of the Between Dog and Wolf
CD, along with Francesca (Sullivan, the sister mentioned above, who works as
belly dancer Yasmina in Cairo) and Azzedine, her son born in 2002.
- Source: Wikipedia
- Read more: Yasmina's (Francesca
Sullivan's) official site -
Square:
The Tahrir Square in downtown Cairo was a central place in the 2011
Revolution.
- Source: Wikipedia
-
Sahara:
The hottest and third-largest desert in the world. It covers almost the
complete north of Africa. The white
stone figures could be the natural chalk rock formations in the
White Desert north of Farafra.
- Read more: Wikipedia
-
Pawn:
The weakest and most numerous piece in a chess game. The term is used a
a metaphor for insignificance.
- Source: Wikipedia
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Sacrifice their
children:
'The revolution devours its children' is a proverb coined by a
journalist in 1793, during the French Revolution.
- Source: Wikipedia
-
Flame-fire trees:
I couldn't find 'flame-fire
trees' on the internet, but there are several different species of
flame trees, some of which grow in Northern Africa. One of them is the
beautiful 'Delonix Regia', which, like the eucalyptus, is not native to Africa
but apparently can be found in Cairo.
- Source: Wikipedia
-
[ Back to Qasr El Nil Bridge ]
Queen of My Heart
The
song:
A song about Justin's good friend Joolz Denby, the novelist, poet, tattooist and artist who did all of NMA's artwork.
- Source: Joolz Denby @ Facebook, 7th June 2017 -
Thanks to Christian for pointing this out!
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R&R
The song:
[. . .] there was actually a lot of political angst written for Eight.
In the end, though, most of it was compressed into "R&R" - each
verse of that song contains enough ideas and fury for half an album.
- Source: Official
NMA Site -
blissed out:
Be in "a state of perfect happiness, especially so as to be oblivious
of everything else".
- Source: The New Oxford Dictionary of English -
Juggernaut:
Large, powerful and destructive force or institution.
- Source: Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary of Current English
-
4/4:
Time signature in music that is most common in western popular music.
Wake me in a
thousand years:
Is it just me, or does the "Sleeping Beauty" motif of many fairy tales
generally come to mind? A very well known version, for instance, (at
least in Germany) is that of the 'Little Briar-Rose', a beautiful
princess who has been cursed to fall asleep for 100 years when she
pricks herself with a spindle. This happens, many princes die at the
attempt of rescuing her, and when the 100 years are over one handsome
prince finally wakes her up with a kiss and marries her (which is a bit
unfair, I think, as the 100 years were over and she would have woken up
by herself anyway).
- Source: Brothers Grimm, 'Little Briar-Rose' - Read more: Folklore and
Mythology Electronic Texts -
A modern variation of this motif - don't you think? - is the type of films where people get deepfrozen and wake up after a long while, e.g. 'Forever Young' with Mel Gibson as sleeping beauty (hysteric giggle).
4 billion:
I believe, the number of people living in "third world countries".
Prozac:
Trademark. One of the most recently developed antidepressants. Unlike
other antidepressants it does not calm you down (which would be more
appropriate in this song, I think), but causes nervousness.
[ Back to R&R ]
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R.I.P.
The song:
This was a very personal song. We didn't handle our brief early
encounter with 'fame' and 'pressure' any better than anyone else,
probably worse than most. It left a very bitter taste. In November 1985
we found ourselves marooned in a London cellar trying to come to terms
with what we'd messed up. At the end of the song Robert throws his
sticks down in a gesture of utter frustration.
- Source: B-Sides and Abandoned Tracks booklet -
Lust For Power is about a similar topic.
R.I.P.:
Latin: Requiescat In Pace; Rest In Peace; frequently written on
tombstones.
Thunder
in our hearts:
It occured to Sonja that this might refer to Kate
Bush's "Running Up that Hill". The song is not remotely similar in
subject
matter,
but it was released three months earlier than R.I.P., and Justin has
mentioned repeatedly that he admires Kate Bush.
"If I only could, I'd be running up that hill.
If I only could, I'd be running up that hill."
It doesn't hurt me.
Do you want to feel how it feels?
Do you want to know that it doesn't hurt me?
Do you want to hear about the deal that I'm making?
You, it's you and me.
And if I only could,
I'd make a deal with God,
And I'd get him to swap our places,
Be running up that road,
Be running up that hill,
Be running up that building.
If I only could, oh...
You don't want to hurt me,
But see how deep the bullet lies.
Unaware I'm tearing you asunder.
Ooh, there is thunder in our hearts.
Is there so much hate for the ones we love?
Tell me, we both matter, don't we?
You, it's you and me.
It's you and me won't be unhappy.
And if I only could,
I'd make a deal with God,
And I'd get him to swap our places,
Be running up that road,
Be running up that hill,
Be running up that building,
Say, if I only could, oh...
You,
It's you and me,
It's you and me won't be unhappy.
"C'mon, baby, c'mon darling,
Let me steal this moment from you now.
C'mon, angel, c'mon, c'mon, darling,
Let's exchange the experience, oh..."
And if I only could,
I'd make a deal with God,
And I'd get him to swap our places,
Be running up that road,
Be running up that hill,
With no problems.
If I only could
Be running up that hill
With no problems...
"If I only could, I'd be running up that hill.
If I only could, I'd be running up that hill."
Bite the hand that
feeds you:
English proverb meaning to "deliberately hurt or offend a benefactor".
- Source: The New Oxford Dictionary of English -
Spoonfeed:
Figuratively to "provide someone with so much help or information that
they do not need to think for themselves".
- Source: The New Oxford Dictionary of English -
[ Back to R.I.P. ]
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Rasputin
Rasputin:
1872 (?) - 1916; real name: Grigory
Yefimovich Novykh. Siberian peasant and mystic. His reputation for
licentiousness earned him the surname Rasputin, Russian for "debauched
one." His ability to heal their son made him an influential
favourite at the court of Emperor Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra,
even though he openly carried on his promiscuous life style. He finally
became the victim of conspirators who wanted to save the monarchy from
further scandal; he was poisoned, shot twice and then drowned.
- Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica - Read more:
Wikipedia -
Wunderbar:
German for: wonderful.
Wheeler-dealer:
"A person who engages in commercial or political scheeming".
- Source: The New Oxford Dictionary of English -
[ Back to Rasputin ]
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Red Earth
The song:
"Typically for [New Model Army], at the very moment where everybody
gets sentimental because of the G8 conference and Live 8, to write the most politically incorrect song
about Africa. Last year we played a few concerts in South Africa, and
the whole situation we found there was - to put it in a friendly way -
difficult".
- Source: Justin Sullivan interview with
Westzeit
in October 2005; my translation -
G8:
The Group of Eight (G8) is an international
forum for the governments of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan,
Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States. The group's
activities include year-round conferences and policy research,
culminating with an annual meeting attended by the heads of government
of the member states. The conference Justin mentions took place in
Scotland from 6-8 July 2005.
- Read more: Wikipedia -
Live 8:
A series of concurrent benefit concerts that took
place on 2 July 2005, in the G8 states and in South Africa.
- Read more: Wikipedia
-
Armies that grow out
of the earth:
Perhaps a reference to Greek mythology, according to which a dragon's
teeth sown into earth would grow into fully armed warriors.
- Read more:
Wikipedia -
Give back what was taken:
[. . .] the situation in Africa where white farmers are driven away by black people.
- Source: Powermetal
Interview with Justin Sullivan - Translated back into English by me -
Several African countries executed land reforms where the
farm land held by the descendants of the white colonia rulers was given
back to native Africans, often with little or no compensation.
- Read more: Wikipedia -
AKs:
Short for Automatic Kalashnikov, a famous Russian rifle.
- Read more: Wikipedia
-
Deliverance
from evil:
Quotation from the Lord's Prayer, the most important Christian prayer:
"And lead us not into temptation; But deliver us from evil."
- Read more: Wikipedia -
[ Back to Red Earth | Back to Sentry ]
Refugee
The
song:
Other songs dealing with refugees or immigration are
Another Imperial Day, Die Trying,
Higher Wall, and Part the Waters.
[ Back to Refugee ]
Rivers
The
song:
A song about getting old which - take it from me - is OK . . .
- Source: Justin Sullivan live -
[ Back to Rivers ]
Rockin' in the Free World
Red,
white and blue:
Colours of the US American national flag.
Satan:
Another name for the devil in Christian mythology.
Hit:
Here: "a dose of a narcotic drug".
- Source: The New Oxford Dictionary of English -
A thousand points of light:
Quotation
from a speech by George Bush, accepting his presidential nomination at
the Republican National Convention on 18th August 1988 (Bush later
became the 41st President of the USA, from 1989-1993). With "a thousand points of light in a broad and peaceful sky" he refered to citizens who did volunteer work and turned America into "a kinder, gentler nation". Neil Young ironically contrasts these quotes with the unpleasant realities of homelessness and gun violence.
- Source: Wikiquote -
Ozone
layer:
Region in the upper Earth atmosphere. It absorbs solar energy and this
way prevents the earth from getting too hot. It also blocks solar
radiation, which would injure or kill most living things, from reaching
the Earth's surface. The amount of ozone in the atmosphere is
significantly reduced by chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), widely employed as
propellants in aerosol spray cans and also used in the production of
styrofoam. (Protecting the ozon layer also was one of the aims of the
Kyoto treaties of 2001, which the USA in their never-ceasing care about
the state of the world refused to sign).
- Read more: Wikipedia
-
[ Back to Rockin' in the Free World ]
Rumour and Rapture
The song:
This song was written for the live performance of Rev Hammer's concept
album "Freeborn John" at the Beautiful Days Festival from 19-21 August
2005. The album tells the story of John Lilburne, called Freeborn
John, a famous agitator during the English Civil War
1642-1650 between Oliver Cromwell's Parliamentarians and supporters of King
Charles I (the period that New Model Army and the Levellers got their
names from). On the album (as well as at the festival) Rev is joint by
a host of musicians who take over different roles. Justin Sullivan
appears as Nehemiah Wharton, a parliament soldier. "Rumour and Rapture"
is played after John Lilburne has been put on trial by Oliver Cromwell.
According to the "Freeborn John" booklet "the country is a hotbed of
misinformation and hearsay as John Lilburne mounts his greatest defence
yet. He is found 'Not Guilty' of any crime worthy of death. The crowds
are ecstatic and London celebrates. It was his last great stand".
- Read more: Wikipedia entries on John Lilburne
and
English Civil
War -
General Ireton:
Henry Ireton (1611-1651) was a General of the Parliament Army during
the English Civil War.
- Read more: Wikipedia
-
Putney:
A district of south-west London, site of the Putney Debates in 1647
about the constitutional future of England.
- Read more: Wikipedia
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Assembly of Saints:
Perhaps Barebone's Parliament that came into being in 1653 and was the
last attempt of establishing a parliament before Oliver Cromwell became
England's Lord Protector (i.e. dictator).
- Read more:
Wikipedia -
[ Back to Rumour & Rapture | Back to Still Here ]
Running in the Rain
The
song:
Just a love song, a relationship song.
- Source: Sonic Abuse interview with Justin Sullivan -
[ Back to Running in the Rain ]
[ Q/R | Introduction | Song Index | Updates ]
15/12/13; last update 17/06/17