After watching the evening news and despairing of anything other than news commentaries to watch, I put on a video of John Denver at The Wildlife Concert. One particular song on this video always makes me stop and think "What are we doing to this wonderful planet, especially to the Wildlife and Environment, of which we are supposed to be the custodians?" Will humanity change before it is too late? Whilst it's already too late for some species, let's hope we can all make a difference in some small way. The words of this song may upset a few people - perhaps with good reason. I wish I could include the melody, too.
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YOU SAY THAT THE BATTLE IS OVER
And you think that the battle is over
Finally the war is all done
Go tell it to those with the wind in their nose
Who run from the sound of a gun
And write it on the sides of the great whaling ships
Or on ice floes where conscience is tossed
With the wild in their eyes it is they who must die
And we who must measure the loss
And you say that the battle is over
Finally the world is at peace
You mean no-one is dying
And mothers don’t weep
Or it’s not in the papers, at least
There are those who would deal in the darkness of life
There are those who would tear down the sun
And most men are ruthless but some will still weep
When the gifts we were given are gone
For the blame cannot rest on the heads of the few
It’s become such a part of the race
It’s eternally tragic, that which is magic
Be killed at the end of the glorious chase
From young seals to great whales
From waters to wood
They will fall just like weeds in the wind
But perfume and fur coats and trophies on walls
What a hell of a race to call men
And you think that the battle is over
Finally that war is all done
Go tell it to those with the wind in their nose
Who run from the sound of a gun
And write it on the sides of the great whaling ships
Or on ice floes where conscience is tossed
With the wild in their eyes it is they who must die
And we who must measure the loss
With the wild in their eyes it is they who must die
And we who will measure the cost.
YOU SAY THAT THE BATTLE IS OVER
And you think that the battle is over
Finally the war is all done
Go tell it to those with the wind in their nose
Who run from the sound of a gun
And write it on the sides of the great whaling ships
Or on ice floes where conscience is tossed
With the wild in their eyes it is they who must die
And we who must measure the loss
And you say that the battle is over
Finally the world is at peace
You mean no-one is dying
And mothers don’t weep
Or it’s not in the papers, at least
There are those who would deal in the darkness of life
There are those who would tear down the sun
And most men are ruthless but some will still weep
When the gifts we were given are gone
For the blame cannot rest on the heads of the few
It’s become such a part of the race
It’s eternally tragic, that which is magic
Be killed at the end of the glorious chase
From young seals to great whales
From waters to wood
They will fall just like weeds in the wind
But perfume and fur coats and trophies on walls
What a hell of a race to call men
And you think that the battle is over
Finally that war is all done
Go tell it to those with the wind in their nose
Who run from the sound of a gun
And write it on the sides of the great whaling ships
Or on ice floes where conscience is tossed
With the wild in their eyes it is they who must die
And we who must measure the loss
With the wild in their eyes it is they who must die
And we who will measure the cost.
3 comments:
those words definitely make me stop and think.
Just found your blog...couldn't agree with you more about the environment. I love that CD pack by Denver too and listen to it often.
peace,
Emily
Thanks for your comment, Emily. Whenever I hear or play a John Denver song, I mourn for all the wonderful music he hadn't yet written at the time of his death. Thankfully, he did give us much to think about with his songs.
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