Language   

Alice in Jericho

Midnight Well
Language: English


Midnight Well

Related Songs

The Mighty Turk
(Midnight Well)
Batallon San Patricio
(Thom Moore)


Pubblicato nel 1977 nell’album eponimo “Midnight well”
Midnight well

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
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."

Contributed by Piersante Sestini - 2023/8/15 - 02:43




Main Page

Please report any error in lyrics or commentaries to antiwarsongs@gmail.com

Note for non-Italian users: Sorry, though the interface of this website is translated into English, most commentaries and biographies are in Italian and/or in other languages like French, German, Spanish, Russian etc.




hosted by inventati.org