I thought it would be interesting to create a context to where my writing has always taken me - which is that it’s always had a political edge to it. My view remains that all writing, all music, all art, is in its very essence political - it speaks of the human condition, it speaks on behalf of those who have no voice, it rails against the oppression of human rights. This is relevant.
Some months ago, Marina Florance, whom I occasionally write lyrics for and with (well, as often as I can and I’m asked, in truth), and I met up and started discussing a possible song. If I remember the conversation correctly, it went something in the vein of Where Have All The Flowers Gone apportioning blame for war and death to the wrong people in parts, and that we might try to write something that played on the song whilst being more up to date about who actually is responsible for wars and the deaths they cause. I’m sure Marina will correct me if I’m wrong. And we also wanted to get something in there about the Universal Soldier who, again, gets so much blame that’s wrongly apportioned.
So I started scribbling, and then we discarded it, because Marina felt she couldn’t find the right tune, and the words didn’t quite seem to hit the mark. Just to be clear, I’m quite happy with discarded words - I don’t spend my time desperately hoping for stuff I scribble to be used; lyrics are like raw materials that either fir their purpose or get made into something else or just evaporate. Writing like this is a good exercise for my mind, and being precious about it would be ridiculous.
And then we started work on another one, and that one bit the dust, too, but it sort of led us back to the first one, and Marina went off to try to make the words fit and change some so they did fit (which is exactly how this song-writing process is meant to work, especially for me, because I don’t have the first idea about musical structures and vocal phrasing and all that wonderful stuff - I wish I did).
Some day last week, Marina sent me a phone demo of the song, and I finally listened to it on Sunday morning, twice over, and I was thinking, while reflecting on the lyrics and the sound of it, how appropriate it was for this time in history, this very moment, with Far Right riots on the streets and violence everywhere. And Marina messaged me asking if the words could be misinterpreted exactly because of these times, and I told her what I’ve just written in the previous sentence.
It doesn’t really do to explain poems, but I just wanted to explain what this song/poem now says to me. I may be the only creative on here who doesn’t necessarily know what they mean when they write a poem or a lyric, and only realise afterwards that it’s actually hit on a universal truth (no pun intended). For me, now, and probably when I’d done a few edits on it, it means that right-wing and Far Right politicians have always had the tendency of blaming everyone but themselves for the violence they have actually incited, that they always push the blame the way of The Other, that those of us whom they call woke (a compliment, actually, if there ever was one) are to blame for all the hatred they are sowing. And this is a song for those people - and you know who they are.
Were they really golden years As we drifted through our joy Whatever happened to our smiles, The peace we took for granted? Don't blame the flowers, Don't blame the girls, Don't blame the colours, Don't blame the universal soldier; He marched away without goodbyes. Don't blame him for your lies. Not because the past was best Or that the grass was greener then. It's because what we really need Is something yet to be seen. Don't blame the flowers, Don't blame the girls, Don't blame the colours, Don't blame the universal soldiers; They marched away without goodbyes. Don't blame them for your lies We did not see the warning signs As we held our eyes closed, The bombs, the blood, the loss of meaning, The hate, the deaths, the grieving. Don't blame the flowers, Don't blame the girls, Don't blame the colours; Don't blame the universal soldiers; We marched away without goodbyes Don't blame us for your lies.