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From: ed@ISM780.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.music
Subject: Re: Hate songs
Message-ID: <3@ISM780.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 29-Nov-84 00:18:01 EST
Article-I.D.: ISM780.3
Posted: Thu Nov 29 00:18:01 1984
Date-Received: Fri, 30-Nov-84 07:48:42 EST
Lines: 57
Nf-ID: #R:ihuxm:-113100:ISM780:20500052:000:2571
Nf-From: ISM780!ed    Nov 21 09:10:00 1984


---------
> Does anyone remember a song that got some air play this summer, called,
> "If I Had a Rocket Launcher"?

This is *NOT* a hate song, by any means.  It's by Bruce Cockburn, from his
latest album entitled 'Stealing Fire'.  Although the song expresses rage,
it is neither wanton (like most hate songs) nor unwarranted.

Like other songs on this album, it is inspired by his Oxfam sponsored
trip to Central America.  This song in particular expresses his rage at
the frequent helicopter attacks carried out by the Guatemalan army on the
refugee camps just this side of the Mexican/Guatemalan border.  The people
in these camps were forced from their homes, and fled to these camps
leaving behind slain family and friends.  These camps have almost no food,
and literally boil the leaves off the trees to feed their kids.  As if
their plight were not enough, the Guatemalan army continually carries out
attacks on these camps, with no purpose but for the `sport'.

Bruce Cockburn stayed for a week at one of these camps, and witnessed
first-hand the affliction of these people.  He heard the (gruesome) stories
they had to tell.  When he saw the choppers coming, two or three times a day,
he found himself very angry and willing to retaliate if he had the chance.
I just saw him perform here in LA this weekend, and he gave a 5 minute
introduction to this song, explaining why he wrote this song and the emotions
behind it.  "This is NOT a call to arms!!", he pleaded.  "I felt that,
given the chance, I would strike back, because at some point they stopped
being human."

Here are the lyrics to that song:

	"If I Had a Rocket Launcher", by Bruce Cockburn, 1983


	here comes the helicopter - second time today
	everybody scatters and hopes it goes away
	how many kids they've murdered, only god can say
	if i had a rocket launcher ... i'd make somebody pay

	i don't believe in guarded borders and i don't believe in hate
	i don't believe in generals or their stinking torture states
	and when i talk with the survivors of things to sickening to relate
	if i had a rocket launcher ... i would retaliate

	on the rio lacuntun one hundred thousand wait
	to fall down from starvation - or some less humane fate
	cry for guatemala, with a corspe in every gate
	if i had a rocket launcher ... i would not hesitate

	i want to raise every voice - at least i've got to try
	every time i think about it water rises to my eyes
	situation desparate echoes of the victims cry
	if i had a rocket launcher ... some sonofabitch would die.

Ed Lycklama
decvax!cca!ima!ism780!ed