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10-04-2010, 12:26 AM | #231 (permalink) | ||
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Location: Where people kill 30 million pigs per year
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"Pyre" lyrics
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* * * In my previous post I said that my next one would include lyrics that give a vegan's indignant perspective on book-burning vs. animal-killing, which includes human-killing, by the way. So here they are. This song, "Pyre," was partly inspired by MusicBanter because I was surprised how many people in the Quran-burning thread felt the minister was "abusing his rights" (to freedom of expression) by burning a "holy" book. A book! A book for which people will kill. All the ironies surrounding the whole business of book-burning were just too great for me to ignore. ************************************** "Pyre" by Erica Some people say don’t burn a book, though they barbecue flesh on the grill. They give you a dirty look while they stoke the fire, unperturbed by the fact they kill a thousand hearts, two thousand eyes. They value paper more than lives. Where is their godly mercy? Only in books they think are holy. Some people say to show respect don’t tread on anyone’s belief. Regardless of the sect don’t criticize or cause believers grief, but a million hearts, two million eyes, a million minds, a million lives, they’ll end with cruelty. I guess only peace on paper is holy. Rip the cover off, shred the pages, throw a book on the flames and it won’t mind, but slash or kill or cook a sentient being, now that’s unkind! Yet believers cry, “These written words are the words of God. Dishonor them and face the rod. Cut throats and babies with a blade so holy covenants are made. And if you don’t believe that is God’s will and this our Promised Land, then He will smite you down and we’ll be His right hand.” Some people say you must revere religious writings that inspire, so don’t destroy what some hold dear. Yet look whom they throw on the pyre! A billion hearts, two billion eyes, a billion minds, a billion lives. Why isn’t killing blasphemy? I guess only paper mercy is holy. I guess only peace on paper is holy. I guess only paper love is holy. **************************************
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Last edited by VEGANGELICA; 10-04-2010 at 02:29 AM. Reason: I forgot to capitalize "His." Sacrilege! |
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10-25-2010, 08:00 PM | #232 (permalink) | |
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Location: Where people kill 30 million pigs per year
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Anti-circumcision song lyrics
Hello MBers,
Since my last song condemned opponents of book burning who don't flinch at all over killing and roasting animals, I decided to post the lyrics for another condemnation song about a favorite topic of mine: circumcision. This song, "Shock," criticizes genital cutting (circumcision) for being what it is: sexual abuse of children. ******************************* "Shock" by Erica You think you know your son, believing you’ve done right by him, and yet you had him cut. You made your child your victim. His wound is now a scar. You think his pain has gone away. Well, think again, because here’s what your little boy may say: You say you love me but my body tells me otherwise. You had them hurt me in my childhood, ignoring my cries. You let them strap me down and cut me though there was no need. You should have known it’s wrong to make a child’s genitals bleed. You were my parents and you should have been protecting me. Instead you had them slice and violate my body. You shouldn’t torture little children’s sexuality. You had no right to harm the most private part of me. Shock, shock, shock to my system. You should have never cut me, making me your victim. Shock, shock, shock to your system. You were my parents, so where was your wisdom?! You never bothered learning what this part of me was for: protection, delicate sensation, and so much more. I’ll never know now how I was supposed to be, because you mutilated what belonged to me. You treated me as if I were your possession. You damaged me due to sexual obsession. Your doctor and your holy men were your accomplices. You all are perpetrators of cruel injustices. Mutilating genitals of little girls is wrong, you cry, but when it is a little boy, you turn your blind eye. You had no right to make your violent incision. What happens to my body should be my decision! Shock, shock, shock to my system. You should have never cut me, making me your victim. Shock, shock, shock to your system. You were my parents, so where was your wisdom?! (INTERLUDE) You are the emperor who thinks he’s wise but wears no clothes. I am the little child who sees you standing naked and knows. I see right through you and your flimsy excuses. You are abusers, defending your abuses. You pinned a little child down. You cut his penis by force. Yet you acknowledge no wrongdoing. You feel no remorse. You violated his genital integrity. You had no right to harm a helpless baby. Fondle little children and you’ll spend your life in jail. Why can you cut their foreskin off if they are male?! There is no rationale, no justification. You perpetrated genital mutilation. You think his pain has gone away. Well, think again, because that’s what your little boy may say! *******************************
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10-26-2010, 11:51 PM | #233 (permalink) |
The Omniscient
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Reno, Nevada, USA
Posts: 998
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I can't believe it's been over a day and no one's commented on "Shock".
A song about circumcision can so easily turn from serious to ridiculous and you did a fantastic job of preventing that from happening. As with many topics you cover in your writing, I'm mostly in agreement with you on this one. I say mostly because it is wrong on many levels and violates the rights of the children, but you seem to think that the parents and doctors do it for sexual pleasure. It's usually for fear of sinning against their god, not to get themselves off! You probably don't think that, but that's what it seems like. Anyway, great job.
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10-27-2010, 11:32 AM | #234 (permalink) | ||
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I actually didn't mean to say that people circumicize their children to achieve direct sexual satisfaction from the handling, crushing, and cutting of helpless individuals' genitals. The practice, when religious, symbolizes more of a religious sexual obsession with constraining human sexuality and using violence as a way to create group cohesion. However, it IS true that one reason women in the U.S. say they want to have their baby boys circumcized is that the mothers feel a circumcised penis is sexier (since that's what THEY are used to), and so there IS a sexual component to having your son circumcised. People are treating infants like someone else's sex toys. I'm really very pleased you felt I did a good job with this one, because the song these lyrics are for is one of my favorites, probably because in it I let out quite a flare of my anger. It's nice to hear I'm not completely out of tune with what at least one other person thinks makes lyrics "good."
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10-29-2010, 01:38 AM | #235 (permalink) | ||
The Omniscient
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Would you mind reading my new lyrics? I'd like it if you left a comment, but you certianly shouldn't feel obligated to. Keep writing, Erica.
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10-30-2010, 08:29 PM | #236 (permalink) | |
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^ Thank you, Sljslj, for noticing and appreciating that I say exactly what feels right to me, even if it may not be an opinion with which many people agree.
I'd be very happy to read your new lyrics. Thanks for asking. No worries about me feeling obligated to comment, either, because MB time is my free time and I don't do anything here out of a feeling of obligation but because I want to. And I especially like reading and thinking about other people's creative writing!
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11-01-2010, 01:27 PM | #237 (permalink) |
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I always enjoy your lyrics, Vegangelica (even if I don't always comment on them), but I felt Shock was very preachy and not very tactful when it came to making your point. I understand forcefulness and putting power behind something, but with a subject as offbeat as circumcision, I felt more like I was being yelled at and told I'm wrong. I've never enjoyed lyrics like that, I can't even listen to Public Enemy's "Fight the Power" for the lines
"Elvis was a hero to most / But he never meant **** to me / Straight-up racist that sucker was / Simple and plain." Because it assumes complete authority over the subject and shuts out any room for retaliation. It's like trying to have a discussion with someone who after making a point says "I'm right. And that's the end of it." Which I find very frustrating. I'd like the lyrics to more or less "state their case" and leave it at that, or if it is a powerful condemnation song then at least layer themselves in wit or satire. As always I enjoyed the mechanics and the writing itself, you're probably the most competent songwriter on the forum. Last edited by someonecompletelyrandom; 11-01-2010 at 01:32 PM. |
11-02-2010, 04:49 PM | #238 (permalink) | |||||
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I actually do shout some of the lyrics (at the very end)...so your feeling that the song is shouting at you is exactly what I was going after. Quote:
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I'm glad you mentioned your concerns about the "Shock" lyrics, because I am actually at the start of another song about circumcision that provides counter-arguments to specific medical and cultural reasons some people give in support of circumcision, and I've been unsure of what angle to take with the song. I wanted this second circumcision song to be less confrontational...and your mention of using satire and wit makes me think of a possible angle that might work for the song. So, thank you. Quote:
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Last edited by VEGANGELICA; 11-02-2010 at 04:59 PM. |
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11-04-2010, 12:17 AM | #239 (permalink) | |
"Hermione-Lite"
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: New York.
Posts: 3,084
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I like when you say you don't like the rules because I know a lot of people who have been in the military and who have hated some of the rules they were forced to follow. It pertains to a lot of situations, also, because there are always going to be rules that we don't like. I'm not sure I really like the parts that use words like "tyranny" and "hierarchy." I feel like that's not really what people who hate war and are fighting it are thinking. I feel like they're thinking about the simple aspects of it, what is it really doing to me? Who are the people I'm hurting right now? Is this really going to solve anything? When you introduced the song as anti-war, I was really skeptical. I feel like that's such a strong opinion and I feel like the song could have been a lot different if I didn't have that "I hate war" feeling from reading your introduction. |
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11-10-2010, 10:49 AM | #240 (permalink) | |||
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Ms. Amandria AwwSugar 4U MusicBanter Lane Artists Corner, MB 12345 Dear Ms. Sugar: Thank you very much for taking the time to read my soldier song and give me useful feedback! I apologize that I have taken so long to reply. The tardiness of my reply in no way reflects the value I place upon your post. Unfortunately, I have been awaiting the arrival of a new modem after my previous model died a sad and sudden death on Thursday last. Had this misfortune not befallen my elderly modem then I would have replied promptly, as I always appreciate when you take time from rugby and other activities to comment on my lyrics. Most of the lyrics were taken directly from Crash Override's and Freebase's descriptions of military life, so I hope at least the parts that don't talk about tyranny ring true. I'd be curious what someone who is actually in the military would think of the lyrics. You make the good point that my song may not accurately reflect how real soldiers think. Perhaps they don't think of the military as being an example of hierarchy in which leaders unwisely wielding power expect the soldiers to do their bidding without questioning, whether it is to attack the Twin Towers with airplanes, killing several thousand people, or attack a whole nation, Iraq, in an unprovoked assault leading to approximately 1 million refugees and the deaths of 100,000 people currently (Iraq Body Count). I am surprised that you don't like anti-war songs, Amandria. I don't hear enough songs faulting the U.S. for its attack on Iraq. I feel as if the U.S. has gotten away with murder, literally. I feel the U.S. and in particular its former leader, Bush, are guilty of an indefensible and unforgiveable assault on humanity. Also, if the U.S. public hadn't been so gullible and patriotic, then soldiers wouldn't have followed the request of the leaders to attack Iraq based on the incorrect belief that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. If the U.S. were not a war-mongering country, then the majority of people would have felt it was unethical to attack another country even if that country *had* possessed weapons of mass destruction. The U.S. is happy to assault others and rationalize away the actions and the mistakes as somehow good. I suspect that if the public were polled today, most would *still* say that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction: Quote:
If anything, I feel my song wasn't a strong enough condemnation of the U.S. Thank you again for your feedback, Amandria. Based on your feedback, I made a few changes in the lyrics to try to emphasize that I am one of the soldiers and am complaining about the military leadership, although I don't want to take away from soldiers their responsibility for their own actions. I do feel that a military can do great good...when it isn't actually engaged in war! Sincerely, Erica V. ev Enclosures (3) 1 - Love 2 - Hugs 3 - A kiss on the nose! cc MusicBanter
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Last edited by VEGANGELICA; 11-10-2010 at 10:55 AM. |
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