The wheelbarrow's fallen
Look at my hands
They've found some surplus, cheaper hands
Rubbing palms and pick and choose,
who will they choose? Here is the news.
Look at that building, look at this man
Haloed and whitewashed
Gone to find a cheaper hand
he'll offer a pound, offer a pound.
Green grow the rushes go
Green grow the rushes go
Green grow the rushes go
The compass points the workers home
Pay for your freedom, find another gate
Guilt by associate, the rushes wilted a long time ago
Guilty as you go
Stay off that highway, word is it's not so safe
The grasses that hide the greenback
The amber waves of gain again
The amber waves of gain
Green grow the rushes go
Green grow the rushes go
Green grow the rushes go
The compass points the workers home
Look at my hands
They've found some surplus, cheaper hands
Rubbing palms and pick and choose,
who will they choose? Here is the news.
Look at that building, look at this man
Haloed and whitewashed
Gone to find a cheaper hand
he'll offer a pound, offer a pound.
Green grow the rushes go
Green grow the rushes go
Green grow the rushes go
The compass points the workers home
Pay for your freedom, find another gate
Guilt by associate, the rushes wilted a long time ago
Guilty as you go
Stay off that highway, word is it's not so safe
The grasses that hide the greenback
The amber waves of gain again
The amber waves of gain
Green grow the rushes go
Green grow the rushes go
Green grow the rushes go
The compass points the workers home
envoyé par Alessandro - 19/2/2010 - 13:07
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Album "Fables of the Reconstruction"
Una canzone che con Flowers of Guatemala e Welcome To The Occupation costituisce una sorta di trilogia sulla politica statunitense verso i paesi del centro e sud America negli anni 80, in particolare rispetto alla questione dell'immigrazione, solo apparentemente contrastata con la forza (e con grande spargimento di sangue) ma tollerata, quando non incentivata, a seconda delle esigenze del mercato, che sempre predilige la manodopera a basso costo ("some surplus, cheaper hands") - in maggioranza clandestini ("Pay for your freedom, find another gate") sfruttati, ricattati, minacciati - per massimizzare i propri profitti ("The amber waves of gain")...
Il titolo si riferisce probabilmente alla canzone popolare religiosa di origine ebraica "Green Grow The Rushes, Ho", un brano molto noto nel mondo anglofono. Alcune fonti ritengono che gli immigrati in America dalle isole britanniche cantassero spesso questa canzone, sicchè la gente di lingua spagnola finì con chiamarli "greengrows", appellativo da cui sarebbe poi derivato il dispregiativo "gringos".