The old year goes and the new comes in, but winter stays
Early nights and watery sun and winter days
You say to yourself, the weather won’t last
And try to pretend that the winter is past.
But it’s all happening now,
It’s all happening now!
There’s a headline today, bold and black for all to see
Tommorrow’s news’ll have removed to page two or three
Kicked hither and you like an old football
When the news gets old you never see it at all.
But it’s all happening now,
It’s all happening now!
In February of sixty-five, the marines went in (1)
They had the tanks and the troops and the gas
And the bombs and napalm sent in
Three years later, do you find you can
Still get mad about Vietnam?
But it’s all happening now,
It’s all happening now!
In Greece, the colonels are holding fast and they won’t let go (2)
Rhodesia hangs black civilians, who says “No”? (3)
South Africa, Malaysia, America, Spain
It’ll keep on going till we break the chain.
But it’s all happening now,
It’s all happening now!
If you’re backing Britain, you’re backing Barbara and the P.I.B.
Porton Down, the Powell line, the C.I.D. (4)
And if you can’t get a job and you can’t get a flat
Well, January first just want change that.
But it’s all happening now,
It’s all happening now!
There’s flood and drought, heat and cold, calamity,
Infirmity, age, plague and death, eternally,
Of all the ills since time began
The most and the woarst are made by the man.
But it’s all happening now,
It’s all happening now!
There’s interest, profit and rent: The Holy Trinity,
Recession, inflation, percentages, and monopoly
There’s the coupon clippers and the revenue
They’re still running rings around me and you.
But it’s all happening now,
It’s all happening now!
But the weather is changing and spring is arising everywhere
With the young kids out and the guns at the ready in the morning air
For the system is old, it’s bound to decay
There’s not a thing it can do to keep the summer away.
For it’s all happening now,
It’s all happening now!
Early nights and watery sun and winter days
You say to yourself, the weather won’t last
And try to pretend that the winter is past.
But it’s all happening now,
It’s all happening now!
There’s a headline today, bold and black for all to see
Tommorrow’s news’ll have removed to page two or three
Kicked hither and you like an old football
When the news gets old you never see it at all.
But it’s all happening now,
It’s all happening now!
In February of sixty-five, the marines went in (1)
They had the tanks and the troops and the gas
And the bombs and napalm sent in
Three years later, do you find you can
Still get mad about Vietnam?
But it’s all happening now,
It’s all happening now!
In Greece, the colonels are holding fast and they won’t let go (2)
Rhodesia hangs black civilians, who says “No”? (3)
South Africa, Malaysia, America, Spain
It’ll keep on going till we break the chain.
But it’s all happening now,
It’s all happening now!
If you’re backing Britain, you’re backing Barbara and the P.I.B.
Porton Down, the Powell line, the C.I.D. (4)
And if you can’t get a job and you can’t get a flat
Well, January first just want change that.
But it’s all happening now,
It’s all happening now!
There’s flood and drought, heat and cold, calamity,
Infirmity, age, plague and death, eternally,
Of all the ills since time began
The most and the woarst are made by the man.
But it’s all happening now,
It’s all happening now!
There’s interest, profit and rent: The Holy Trinity,
Recession, inflation, percentages, and monopoly
There’s the coupon clippers and the revenue
They’re still running rings around me and you.
But it’s all happening now,
It’s all happening now!
But the weather is changing and spring is arising everywhere
With the young kids out and the guns at the ready in the morning air
For the system is old, it’s bound to decay
There’s not a thing it can do to keep the summer away.
For it’s all happening now,
It’s all happening now!
Note:
(1) Alla fine di febbraio del 1965, il presidente Lyndon B. Johnson avvia l’escalation militare nel conflitto in Indocina ordinando i bombardamenti a tappeto del Nord Vietnam (operazioni “Flaming Dart”, “ Rolling Thunder” e “Arc Light”).
(2) Il 21 aprile del 1967 un gruppo di ufficiali dell’esercito, appoggiati dalla CIA americana, attuarono un colpo di stato in Grecia. Venne instaurata una Giunta militare fascista che cadde solo nel 1974, dopo il fiasco subito in seguito all’invasione turca di Cipro, un po’ come successe anni dopo alla dittatura in Argentina dopo la sconfitta nella guerra delle Falkland/Malvinas contro gli inglesi…
(3) Rhodesia era il nome dell’attuale Zimbabwe durante il dominio britannico e poi sotto il regime di apartheid del primo ministro Ian Smith, fino alle prime libere elezioni del 1980. Nel frattempo, la guerra civile aveva fatto circa 30.000 morti in 15 anni…
(4) Ignora a chi o cosa si riferisca la Seeger con “Barbara and the P.I.B.” e “the Powell line”…
Porton Down è la sede dei laboratori scientifici militari del Governo inglese.
La sigla C.I.D. credo identifichi il Criminal Investigation Department della polizia britannica.
Cosa la strofa significhi nel suo complesso, non sono riuscito a capirlo…
(1) Alla fine di febbraio del 1965, il presidente Lyndon B. Johnson avvia l’escalation militare nel conflitto in Indocina ordinando i bombardamenti a tappeto del Nord Vietnam (operazioni “Flaming Dart”, “ Rolling Thunder” e “Arc Light”).
(2) Il 21 aprile del 1967 un gruppo di ufficiali dell’esercito, appoggiati dalla CIA americana, attuarono un colpo di stato in Grecia. Venne instaurata una Giunta militare fascista che cadde solo nel 1974, dopo il fiasco subito in seguito all’invasione turca di Cipro, un po’ come successe anni dopo alla dittatura in Argentina dopo la sconfitta nella guerra delle Falkland/Malvinas contro gli inglesi…
(3) Rhodesia era il nome dell’attuale Zimbabwe durante il dominio britannico e poi sotto il regime di apartheid del primo ministro Ian Smith, fino alle prime libere elezioni del 1980. Nel frattempo, la guerra civile aveva fatto circa 30.000 morti in 15 anni…
(4) Ignora a chi o cosa si riferisca la Seeger con “Barbara and the P.I.B.” e “the Powell line”…
Porton Down è la sede dei laboratori scientifici militari del Governo inglese.
La sigla C.I.D. credo identifichi il Criminal Investigation Department della polizia britannica.
Cosa la strofa significhi nel suo complesso, non sono riuscito a capirlo…
envoyé par Alessandro - 22/7/2009 - 15:09
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Testo pubblicato su Broadside Magazine n.97 della primavera 1969.