Tuesday, March 28, 2006

Songs About the Middle East

I've heard a few songs that I haven't heard in a while and it made me think that the issues we're witnessing right now in Iraq have been happening for a long time. It seems like 20-year stretches between conflicts, but it seems like it never changes.

One song was Rat Patrol by Naked Raygun with the lyrics: "Machine guns blaring/an Arab staring/wondering why/the westerners are here". This came out in the early 80's.

Another one from that era was Bombs Away by the Police with the lyrics: "The President looks in the mirror and speaks/His shirts are clean but his country reeks/Unpaid bills/In Afghanistan hills/Bombs away/But we're O.K./Bombs away/In old Bombay".

I had thought of four or five more but now that I'm actually writing this I'm blanking. Anybody have any other examples?

Posted by Chris B. at 7:13 AM

3 comments:

DC Liar,  8:54 AM  

I'm usually the one that springs in with the obscure Naked Raygun pick, so now I'm tasked with the dance-pop clean-up:

Cure - Killing an Arab
The Clash - Rock the Casbah

DC Liar,  9:08 AM  

Actually, now that I think of it there were tons of others. I don't remember all of the names, but I remember songs about the Middle East conflicts by:

Bad Religion
Screeching Weasel
Dead Kennedys
Husker Du
The Minutemen
Reagan Youth
Crass/Conflict
Exploited
Business
Cocksparrer
Angelic Upstarts
Adicts
Toy Dolls
and a shit-load more.

Chris B.,  11:36 AM  

Hey, I just uncovered my Sub Pop 100 compilation LP (first one, methinks) with the super-obscure "Bananacuda" by Naked Raygun.

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