Foreign Accents

Dal libretto dell'album:
konnichiwa = hello
arigato = thank you

Hiroshima/Nagasaki
August 6th 1945, the first atomic bomb was dropped by the USA on Hiroshima. On August 9th, a more powerful weapon was dropped on Nagasaki. Needless to say, they caused Mass Destruction.

Survivors accounts describe scenes from hell, no surprise to those that know about atomic weapons and what they do. But none of the victims had any idea of what it was that had hit them. One survivor wondered "how such extensive damage could have been dealt out of a silent sky". Almost no-one heard the bomb. They experienced a silent flash, "a sheet of sun". And those who were looking in the direction of this "sheet of sun" saw nothing else again. "Their melted eyes had run down their cheeks". Pumpinks were roasted on the vine, potatoes baked under the earth. The extraordinary testimonies of six survivors were recorded by John Hersey in 'Hiroshima', published by Penguin in 1946.

Mordechai Vanunu
In 1986, Israeli scientist Mordechai Vanunu, revealed to a British newspaper that Israel had secretly produced a large number of nuclear weapons. He was kidnapped by the Israeli secret police, taken to Israel, and convicted of treason and esplonage. Sentenced to 18 years, he spent the first eleven and a half years in solitary confinement. He is currently (2003) awaiting a much delayed parole hearing.

More info from:
'Campaign to free Vanunu and for a nuclear free Middle East'. campaign@vanunu.co.uk

Mohammad Mossadegh
In 1953, after two falled coup attempts, the British and American secret services succeeded in ousting Mohammad Mossadegh, the elected nationalist prime minister of Iran and his government. Within three days, the Shah of Iran was installed for twenty five years of pro-western dictatorship. Mossadegh's "crime" had been to nationalise Iranian oil. He was imprisoned for three years and spent the rest of his life under house arrest.

In sintesi, per facilitare la lettura:

Mordechai Vanunu: scienziato israeliano condannato a 18 anni di carcere per tradimento dopo aver rivelato l'esistenza di testate nucleari segrete in Israele.

Mohammad Mossadegh: primo ministro iraniano deposto nel 1953 da un colpo di stato militare favorito dai servizi segreti americani e inglesi per il gravissimo crimine di avere nazionalizzato il petrolio.

Wyatt nel libretto riferendosi a Hiroshima e Nagasaki definisce "distruzione di massa" l'effetto delle bombe. All'epoca della registrazione del disco "distruzione di massa" era una espressione frequentemente utilizzata da Bush e Blair come giustificazione dell'imminente invasione dell'Iraq. La guerra scoppiò esattamente il giorno in cui terminarono le registrazioni di Cuckooland,che significa all'incirca Paese della Cuccagna, una specie di Alice nel Paese delle Meraviglie, un mondo dei sogni ma per contro la maggior parte dei brani è ispirata a fatti reali nazionali o internazionali.