Swimming Against The Stream
Blameless
Wounded In Action
Model Son
After Maralinga
Dominion
Close This Account
Something Isn't Happening
Race Me Down
It Makes My Heart Stop Speaking
A Slow Waltz For Chile

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The civil rights movement that started in the 1950's in the USA, fought for the economic and political equality of African Americans, especially in the Southern States. There the discrimination was legal and institutionalised. This changed in the 1960's. The Congress, the legislative body of the USA, passed legislation that outlawed formal discrimination. But in truth it still continued. The reforms that the civil rights movement had achieved were undermined in the 1970's and, especially under the presidency of Ronald Reagans, to a large extent clawed back. Today African Americans are economically and socially even more disadvantaged than they were 25 years ago. Before they harvested (in the Southern States) cotton, today they have to work to get their food stamps (a form of social welfare).

The high point of the civil rights movement remains the march on Washington on August 28 1963, which, with 250.000 participants, was the biggest demonstration ever held in the country up to then. During it, Martin Luther King, made his famous 'I have a dream' speech. One of the actions of the Movement were the freedom rides. To break down discrimination in the busses and bus stations, in 1961 a group of black and white demonstrators (mostly from the north) drove together from Washington to New Orleans in a Greyhound bus. The attacks from the opponents of equality culminated in Montgomery, in the State of Alabama, where only the National Guard protected the freedom riders from the violent mob.

In March 1965, in Selma, also in Alabama, a black female demonstrator was murdered by three members of the Ku Klux Klan. In 1987 in Howard's Beach, New York State, a group of young black's suffered a car break down. A gang of white youths chased one of the occupants on to a busy street, where he was hit by a car and killed. This incident was regarded as proof that even in the North racism is still as widespread as before.

Train: Symbol for the road to freedom. Glory hallelujah: a phrase in many black songs that doesn't only express the hope of a solution in Heaven, but also freedom in life; amongst others in the song 'Battle Hymn Of The Republic', also known as 'John Brown's Body'. ... where the rainbow ends: 1. reference to the saying, 'at the end of the rainbow you find gold', transformed by the blacks into, 'you find equality'. 2. allusion to the 'Rainbow Alliance' in which Jesse Jackson, the most popular black politician of the 1980's, tried to organise the disadvantaged minorities. Jackson made several attempts to gain the vice-presidential nomination of the Democratic party, but failed every time. South Side, West Side: Black ghettos in Chicago. Townships: Black ghettos in the industrial cities of South Africa.
 

A song about Judy Garland (1922-1969), real name Frances Gum, a Hollywood star who even in adulthood could only achieve success with child roles. Once forced into the this image, Judy Garland found that she couldn't break the typecasting and was destroyed by it. Her most famous role was that of the girl (Dorothy) in the "Wizard of Oz" (1939, Director: Victor Fleming.) She is carried off into a fantasy world by a whirlwind, where she has all sorts of amazing adventures. On first arriving, she says: "We're not in Kansas anymore". The film used only painted backdrops, which were illuminated from behind when they wanted to simulate daylight.

To be born in the trunk: Metaphor for natural acting talent. Who put the grease in your paint: Who put the unpleasant substance into the makeup? = Who is responsible for your downfall? They put a star on the dressing room door of the lead actor. Was Judy Garland's fame so short lived that her star was only tacked on? What's this long, long lane...: Play on the old proverb: "It's a long long lane that has no turn." Meaning it may be a long time away, but things are going to change for the better. Principal boy: The main role in English pantomime pieces is always played by a girl. The reference here: Judy Garland always had to play the same roles. Ed Sullivan Show: The most popular entertainment programme on US television in the '50's, then still in black and white. Over your shoulder...: Play on "Over my shoulder" (.went one care), the most famous song by Jessie Matthew's, a famous English film star, whose career came to an abrupt end at the beginning of World War Two. Over and out: Phrase used by radio operators to signal the end of the dialogue.
 

MGM: One of the big Hollywood studios. The host swooped from Rebecca: A reference to the novel title 'The Host Of Rebecca' Extra clauses: Both were members of the Labour Party. Here it's meant that he should have found out earlier by which rules she lives. The Last Post: A melody played by a trumpet during the funeral of a soldier.
 

A song about a father-son relationship. The father, Zodiac sign Scorpio, was a sailor.

Captain Kidd, Captain Blood: Legendary pirates. Tramp: Transport ship, which leaves its home port without a set route or schedule. Jacksonville: A city in Florida. Reef, hitch: Two sailing knots; reef (also); a hard to navigate reef, hitch (also): colloquial for problems. By grace: Like in: by the grace of God.
 

In the 1950's in Maralinga, in Australia, the British Government carried out nuclear tests. The safety precautions for the soldiers involved and the local population (in this part of the country mostly Aborigines) was grotesquely inadequate. 130 cases of severe health effects on British soldiers are recorded. This song was written before the Government had declared itself prepared to pay them compensation. In the language of the Aborigines 'Maralinga' means 'thunder'. At the end of the song a Didgeridoo, a wind instrument of the Aborigines, is played.

The Crown's affairs: Area of responsibilities of the British crown. Out-back: Adjective for the sparsely populated areas of Australia, especially the interior, where predominately Aborigines live. Song-men: Aborigine singers, who keep and pass along the history of their people in their songs. Half-life: The time taken for half the atoms in a sample of a radioactive isotope to decay. Down-under: Colloquial expression for Australia. The moving finger: Symbol for fate, used for the first time in a novel by Omar Khayam, an allegedly Arabic writer (who however turned out to be a European). The expression has taken hold in everyday speech. Treasury: The UK Ministry responsible for the management of the economy.
 

Out of greed for profits animals are hunted and exterminated wholesale. They are used as exotic delicacies and as exclusive fashion items. Some species, like the Lemur (a rare species of primate) and the rhinoceros are in danger of extinction. The felling of the tropical rainforests means that the habitat of those who survive the hunters is drastically reduced. The hunters aren't to blame - they need the work to survive - but rather the dealers and end consumers. Scientific studies remain without practical consequences.

Ramadan: The month of fasting in Islam. During Ramadan, a Muslim is forbidden to eat or drink from sunrise to sunset, therefore he can't work very hard. Man's dominion: Reference to the Biblical creation story: 1st book of Moses, Chapter 1, Verse 28. Belem: A city in Brazil, capital of the Amazon region whose rainforests have been systematically felled. Cheetah: The Indian leopard, the fastest animal on land For those who don't know: A reference to Oscar Wilde's definition of a cynic: "A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing". Geelong: A small town near Melbourne, Australia. Raise to the power ten: A metaphor meaning that only a small portion of the animals that are killed by humans actually reach the consumers. To get to the number of animals that are victims of the hunt, you have to multiply the number of those that arrive here (dead or alive) ten times by themselves. (The calculation is only understandable pictorially)
 

A song about pornographic videos. The faces of the children and the Vietnamese (representative for Asians), who appear in the videos seem to express that they don't understand what is being done to them. In Amsterdam many videos are offered in which animals are also included.
 

A song about the move to the right under Reagan and Thatcher. Nothing is happening to resist them.

Bible Belt: Description for the South and parts of the Mid-West of the USA, where, especially in recent years, conservatism and religion go hand in hand. Weimar: Short for the Weimar republic, here meant as a short democratic transition phase between Monarchy and the rule of fascism.
 

Felipe is a Mexican immigrant in Los Angeles. His hopes have been shattered; he couldn't make it out of the "Barrio", the Latino Ghetto. The population of the Barrios lead a wretched life: the windows of the shops have been smashed, but hardly anyone can afford the goods on display anyhow. Only the advertising slogans are free. The meat from the hamburgers you can buy there are full of bits of gristle that you have to spit out. Comfort can be had from relatively cheap drugs. Felipe's brother, who dealt in them, sits in jail. He couldn't afford to pay the protection money to keep up his business.

Felipe shows a curious white tourist the Barrio, but they stay there too long, until after sunset. It gets too dangerous in the streets then, especially for an outsider. There's a literal curfew in force. Now the two of them are forced to rely on each other, but nothing connects them.

Dust of angels, angel dust: A drug that induces feelings of being all-powerful. Originally developed as a sedative for animals. To crack in two: a wordplay with the drug crack.
 

A skeptical song about Latin Quarter themselves. With 'anthems for the people', the band wanted to contribute towards a fairer world. But their songs were ineffective. You can't buy food or clothes with a song. Instead, society seems to have moved in the opposite direction; selfishness and greed are more and more in first place, even at the cost of others. The underprivileged, on the other hand, are as badly off as before. Ideals and utopias are no longer called for. Reality is more complicated than the lyrics of a political song portray. But one shouldn't despair, but decide between the love of power and the power of love.

Underclass: Sociological term for that part of the population that has been locked out of the process of production and who don't represent an attractive target market of consumers: The long-term unemployed, people on social assistance and slum dwellers. Three little words: Play on "three little words means I love you".
 

A song about the work of the solidarity campaigns for Chile, first for the Socialist Government of Allende, and then, from 1973, against the dictatorship of Pinochet.

To consolidate we must advance: was the catchword of the radical Left before the putsch in September 1973, whereas the temperate Left pleaded for an alliance with other political currents, that Allende also strived for. Quick step: A fast dance, here used as a contrast to the slow waltz.