Kind friends, I want to warn you
Because I love us all,
No doubt you read your papers,
But the half can never be told.
Politicians they try and fool you
And get you to agree
To blow this world to glory
An end humanity.
But there’s better things to do
Then blow this world in two;
You could live into your old age
And your kid’sll be normal too.
There’s better things for you
That all on earth must do:
Gotta pledge you feet on the road to peace
And see your journey through.
Now some folks think that danger
Can’t reach this peaceful shore,
They must see planes and soldiers
Before they call it war.
Kind friends, I will remind you,
The atom’s very small.
It’ll blow you all to glory
And you can’t see it at all.
But there’s better things to do
Then blow this world in two;
You could live into your old age
And your kid’sll be normal too.
There’s better things for you
That all on earth must do:
Gotta pledge you feet on the road to peace
And see your journey through.
Now some folks they are holy,
In the Bible it is told
That judgement comes tomorrow
So today pray for your soul.
But that is no sufficient
Tomorrow is today
They’ll blow you all to glory
While we just sit and pray.
But there’s better things to do
Then blow this world in two;
You could live into your old age
And your kid’sll be normal too.
There’s better things for you
That all on earth must do:
Gotta pledge you feet on the road to peace
And see your journey through.
Because I love us all,
No doubt you read your papers,
But the half can never be told.
Politicians they try and fool you
And get you to agree
To blow this world to glory
An end humanity.
But there’s better things to do
Then blow this world in two;
You could live into your old age
And your kid’sll be normal too.
There’s better things for you
That all on earth must do:
Gotta pledge you feet on the road to peace
And see your journey through.
Now some folks think that danger
Can’t reach this peaceful shore,
They must see planes and soldiers
Before they call it war.
Kind friends, I will remind you,
The atom’s very small.
It’ll blow you all to glory
And you can’t see it at all.
But there’s better things to do
Then blow this world in two;
You could live into your old age
And your kid’sll be normal too.
There’s better things for you
That all on earth must do:
Gotta pledge you feet on the road to peace
And see your journey through.
Now some folks they are holy,
In the Bible it is told
That judgement comes tomorrow
So today pray for your soul.
But that is no sufficient
Tomorrow is today
They’ll blow you all to glory
While we just sit and pray.
But there’s better things to do
Then blow this world in two;
You could live into your old age
And your kid’sll be normal too.
There’s better things for you
That all on earth must do:
Gotta pledge you feet on the road to peace
And see your journey through.
inviata da Alessandro - 26/1/2010 - 11:10
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In Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger, “New Briton Gazette, Vol. 1”, Folkways Records.
Words by Peggy Seeger
Melody: the gospel song “There’s Better Things”
“Written in 1958 as a marching song for the first Aldermaston march against di H bomb”
Aldermaston è un villaggio rurale nel Berkshire inglese sede dell’Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE), l’agenzia governativa – ma gestita dai privati Jacobs Engineering Group, Lockheed Martin UK e Serco – che custodisce l’arsenale nucleare britannico. Tra la fine degli anni 50 e l’inizio dei 60 la cittadina fu teatro di grandi manifestazioni pacifiste.
Quella del 1958, alla quale si riferisce la canzone della Seeger, fu pure filmata da Lindsay Anderson, grande regista iconoclasta esponente del Free Cinema britannico (quello di “If…”, “This Sporting Life” e “Look Back in Anger”), che realizzò poi un documentario intitolato “March to Aldermaston”. I suoi assistenti alla regia erano niente popò di meno che Karel Reisz (quello di “Morgan: A Suitable Case For Treatment “ e di “Who'll Stop The Rain?”) e Chris Menges (l’autore delle riprese in film come “The Killing Fields” e “The Mission” di Joffé, di “Michael Collins” di Neil Jordan e regista del bellissimo “A World Apart”)