Timeless poetry such as this has many levels of meaning. Laid out before us by the artist so succinctly, yet so sublime. All of us can see the reference to the nature of war, its cruelty, and futility. However, I believe there is a more primal meaning to these words. Its more about human nature, rather than the nature of war. The “Us and Them” verse refers to how groups (tribes) of humans can be cruel to one another, but as individuals we like to think we would not act this way. The “Black and Blue” verse refers to how, from the beginning of time and until its end, individuals are drawn to congregate and called to war. We like to think that as individuals we are called to war by our dehumanized leaders with their wicked words. The “Down and Out” verse is the clincher that exposes one cruel aspect of human nature, greed. The greed of nations cause war and we cant deny that is what the fighting is all about. Yet, in our personal lives, our greed can blind us to the suffering of the needy within our own society with people dying for the price of tea and a slice. I believe the lyrics examines how we like to think of ourselves as individuals and how we truly act on a personal level. Us And Them Us and Them And after all were only ordinary men Me, and you God only knows its not what we would choose to do Forward he cried from the rear and the front rank died And the General sat, as the lines on the map moved from side to side Black and Blue And who knows which is which and who is who Up and Down And in the end its only round and round and round Havent you heard its a battle of words the poster bearer cried Listen son, said the man with the gun Theres room for you inside Down and Out It cant be helped but theres a lot of it about With, without And wholl deny thats what the fightings all about Get out of the way, its a busy day And Ive got things on my mind For want of the price of tea and a slice The old man died ....
Posted on: Sat, 29 Nov 2014 00:30:15 +0000
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