Song picture
MC 05 Interesting Times
Like
Playlist
Comment Share
Free download
a kind of ska-ish protest song...
chaos war cuba protest nuclear trump brexit arms race cold war
Artist picture
Singer-songwriter, arranger and producer: acoustic contemporary folk but ranging into rock/blues/country/jazz/humour...all very eclectic, I'm afraid!
Martin Stirrup Singer/songwriter An old folkie who got back into it... These days I sing and play guitar(s) and other stringed instruments, then score and orchestrate where appropriate. My taste becomes increasingly eclectic ranging from finger-picked folk through country to soft rock mixed in with a few more alternative and eccentric numbers, including the odd novelty foxtrot...
Song Info
Genre
Acoustic • Acoustic General
Charts
Peak #25
Peak in subgenre #8
Author
martin stirrup
Rights
martin stirrup
Uploaded
May 11, 2017
Track Files
MP3
MP3 4.3 MB • 128 kbps • 4:42
Story behind the song
A new song on Youtube! Interesting Times owes its origins to Castro and the Cuban Missile Crisis, so quite apposite to have its release just as he dies... It’s a kind-of ska-ish protest song… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=td-2HzHhZoY&t=29s Written after visiting Bunker 42 in Moscow, the nuclear bunker where the Soviet Generals were holed-up during the Cuban missile crisis.. It got me thinking how 'simple' life was back then and how chaotic and random it has become since the end of the cold war...It's initial title was Handcart to Hell. It then gained a coda after Brexit/trump and was retitled Interesting Times (after the Chinese curse...via Pratchett)
Lyrics
Interesting Times (Recorded Version) Am (C)E (C ) Am When I was young everything was clear Am G CGB B7 Nuclear Annihilation was all we had to fear (C)E (C ) Am All through the cold war we were taught our place Am G C G Am By the iron curtain and crazy arms race D A E A So we all cheered as the east broke free G E A blow for freedom and democracy D A E A But who’d have thought as the Berlin Wall fell BmE The world’d go sliding in a handcart to hell Confidently the west turned its wrath On those dictators cut from a different cloth And in the name of freedom and democracy We set about destroying their stability Absolute power corrupts all who wield And those who hold it are unwilling to yield We all cheered when those despots fell But now we’re all sliding in a handcart to hell Now everywhere it seems that chaos reigns Loss of faith in politics just fans the flames What works for us don’t seem to work for you Changing too quickly makes a dangerous brew We all cheered when the masses broke free A blow for freedom and democracy But who’d have thought as the old order fell The world’d go sliding in a handcart to hell Coda G Am But then we got Brexit – and now we’ve got Trump Am G C G Am If you’d have bet against me on that I’d have called you a chump G E7 But now it seems to me that for a way down the line Am G C G B B7 We’ll all be living in interesting times Intro as outro to fade – becoming increasingly discordant
Comments
Please sign up or log in to post a comment.