Now, the natural part of a Nazarene man
is the life he'll give for his own blood-band;
but there's nothing left over for the Philistines, too,
not the land they lost, nor the life they knew.
And the Prophet's peace of a thousand years
meant nothing but blood, means nothing but tears.
Yes, she's probably gone now, don't you know:
Alice tried to live in Jericho.
Didn't care about Hebrews' promised lands,
she said, "I get by as best I can."
When you get a bad mix in a tiny land,
every few damned years, it seems, it gets out of hand;
between bandit princes and their holy wars,
spilling blood in His name is a righteous chore.
Alice is innocent in a Levantine town,
and that's the first kind the heroes cut down.
Yes, she's probably gone now, don't you know:
Alice tried to live in Jericho.
Didn't care about Hebrews' promised lands,
she said, "I get by as best I can."
Now, I don't know if she's really gone,
but I'm thinking of the range of an average bomb,
or maybe the knife, in a righteous hand,
shortened her life in the Holy Land.
Or what I hope for her, as best of all:
that she only got shaken in the great downfall.
Yes, she's probably gone now, don't you know:
Alice tried to live in Jericho.
Didn't care about Hebrews' promised lands,
she said, "I get by as best I can."
is the life he'll give for his own blood-band;
but there's nothing left over for the Philistines, too,
not the land they lost, nor the life they knew.
And the Prophet's peace of a thousand years
meant nothing but blood, means nothing but tears.
Yes, she's probably gone now, don't you know:
Alice tried to live in Jericho.
Didn't care about Hebrews' promised lands,
she said, "I get by as best I can."
When you get a bad mix in a tiny land,
every few damned years, it seems, it gets out of hand;
between bandit princes and their holy wars,
spilling blood in His name is a righteous chore.
Alice is innocent in a Levantine town,
and that's the first kind the heroes cut down.
Yes, she's probably gone now, don't you know:
Alice tried to live in Jericho.
Didn't care about Hebrews' promised lands,
she said, "I get by as best I can."
Now, I don't know if she's really gone,
but I'm thinking of the range of an average bomb,
or maybe the knife, in a righteous hand,
shortened her life in the Holy Land.
Or what I hope for her, as best of all:
that she only got shaken in the great downfall.
Yes, she's probably gone now, don't you know:
Alice tried to live in Jericho.
Didn't care about Hebrews' promised lands,
she said, "I get by as best I can."
Contributed by Piersante Sestini - 2023/8/15 - 02:43
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Scritta nel 1977, nel pieno della guerra civile libanese. Alice è/era una giovane siriana di discendenza circassa che lavorava a Beirut per la famiglia di Thom Moore come cuoca e domestica dal 1956 al 1961, quando rientrarono negli Stati Uniti.
Il Libano è nel pieno della guerra civile e Moore, ormai lontano, la pensa.
Jericho nel titolo della canzone è una metafora per ogni città levantina distrutta da invasori israeliti o dalle liti interne da essi fomentate. La conclusione è sempre la stessa, morte e distruzione
Pubblicata nel 1977 nell’album “Midnight well” e incisa anche da Rita Connolly nel 1992