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Hand Back the Air
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A plea for flight to be used for peaceful means and not for bombing raids.
folk steffan hannigan ber
A bright light in these dark times
The Magic Ox Band were a spin off of the Magic Ox Theatre Group - a zany bunch of performers who used to do wild things at the old Albion Fayres. Although the Band split up long ago, I feel the songs we did back then still deserve a listening today. Folk never goes out of fashion - it just matures nicely :-)
Song Info
Genre
Acoustic • Acoustic Folk
Charts
Peak #212
Peak in subgenre #43
Author
Berni Armstrong
Rights
Berni Armstrong (1983)
Uploaded
November 15, 2003
Track Files
MP3
MP3 3.7 MB • 128 kbps • 0:00
Story behind the song
This song was written to be sung at the peace camps that proliferated around the UK when Reagan introduced Cruise Missiles in to the country. (More specifically, it was written to sing at the Mildenhall Air show in 1983) I was involved with one at Lakenheath, but supported a few others. It was weird singing this one to sentries on guard duty at the gates to bases as the black shadow of a stealth bomber slid away into its hangar across the field.
Lyrics
Hand Back the Air We sought to fly to raise our spirits high, To share the freedom only the birds know. To hear the clouds sing, we longed to take wing, Not to rain death on our fellows below. CHORUS Hand back the air – to those whose hearts Fly upward with hope for one another. The wonder of flight has been stolen by the might Of those who only wish to kill each other. Up above the clouds, the quality of light Is enough to take your breath away. Yet down here I stand firmly rooted to the land While the death machines are flying every day. CHORUS Pilots are pilots, because they have to fly. Whether jets or canvas string or wood. But is that spark so wild, which first hit them as a child, Worth the boiling of a million people’s blood. CHORUS If we took back all the wealth we pay in tax, To keep the bombers roaming through the sky, We could provide for every need, the world’s hungry we could feed And with the change still buy a micro-light and fly. CHORUS
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