For a while, I forgot who I was,
Just purely and simply because
I'd had taken from me, very deviously,
Opportunities outside of Oz.
Back when ASIO started my file,
A move that was utterly vile,
All I'd done was complain that all war was insane,
Vietnam in particular style.
A mistake, as it turned out to be,
Attested to by history.
With the countless lives lost at a mind-boggling cost,
A sad lesson in futility.
I was for Aboriginal rights
Which, of course, only shed further light
On the subversive ways I just spent all my days
Undermining Australia's might.
To nuclear disarmament, too,
I felt my allegiance was due.
Such a traitorous move only went on to prove
That I should be kept under review.
Then some faceless backroom boys agreed
A communist I had to be.
Just another bad red, out from under the bed,
And deserving of no sympathy.
I was sacked from a job on TV,
Blacklisted in my industry.
My career overseas got chopped off at the knees,
Surreptitiously, slanderously.
It went into a spiralling dive,
Counteracted by those who contrive
Just to brand whom they like with whatever they like,
Under licence to plot and connive.
Now the truth is I never belonged
To any political throng.
I just celebrated, as conscience dictated,
Good causes I could help with a song.
Later on, I recalled who I was,
The singer-songwriter from Oz.
I got on with the show and continued to grow,
Which I had to do, simply because.
Just purely and simply because
I'd had taken from me, very deviously,
Opportunities outside of Oz.
Back when ASIO started my file,
A move that was utterly vile,
All I'd done was complain that all war was insane,
Vietnam in particular style.
A mistake, as it turned out to be,
Attested to by history.
With the countless lives lost at a mind-boggling cost,
A sad lesson in futility.
I was for Aboriginal rights
Which, of course, only shed further light
On the subversive ways I just spent all my days
Undermining Australia's might.
To nuclear disarmament, too,
I felt my allegiance was due.
Such a traitorous move only went on to prove
That I should be kept under review.
Then some faceless backroom boys agreed
A communist I had to be.
Just another bad red, out from under the bed,
And deserving of no sympathy.
I was sacked from a job on TV,
Blacklisted in my industry.
My career overseas got chopped off at the knees,
Surreptitiously, slanderously.
It went into a spiralling dive,
Counteracted by those who contrive
Just to brand whom they like with whatever they like,
Under licence to plot and connive.
Now the truth is I never belonged
To any political throng.
I just celebrated, as conscience dictated,
Good causes I could help with a song.
Later on, I recalled who I was,
The singer-songwriter from Oz.
I got on with the show and continued to grow,
Which I had to do, simply because.
Contributed by Bernart Bartleby - 2016/2/17 - 09:33
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Parole e musica di Gary Shearston (1939-2013), cantautore australiano.
Nell’album intitolato “Renegade”
Testo trovato sul sito dell’autore
Gary Shearston è morto nel 2013, ma ha avuto ancora tempo di realizzare quattro album dopo questo “Renegade”, dove il rinnegato è lui stesso che fa un bilancio della sua vita, un’esistenza piuttosto movimentata. Essere cantautore negli anni 60 – in Australia, come negli USA, come in Italia – significava spesso dare voce a delle istanze politiche, e anche Gary Shearston lo fece, schierandosi apertamente contro la guerra in Vietnam e la partecipazione dell’Australia a quell’aggressione americana, partecipando alle campagne in difese dei diritti degli aborigeni, prendendo posizione in favore del disarmo nucleare… Per queste sue posizioni Gary Shearston – che oltre tutto non aveva a difenderlo la notorietà di un John Lennon – pagò un prezzo piuttosto alto: perse il lavoro in una rete televisiva, vide rallentata e minacciata la sua carriera musicale, non riuscì nemmeno, come avrebbe voluto, a proporsi sulla scena americana – assai più viva di quella australiana - perché il suo visto d’ingresso non fu rilasciato per molto tempo e poi, dopo poco, non venne rinnovato. Questo perché Gary Shearston negli anni 60 e 70 era nella blacklist dell’ASIO, l’Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, come agitatore e comunista…
Ciò nonostante, nella sua lunga carriera Gary Shearston ha composto centinaia di canzoni, raccolte in una ventina di album... Negli ultimi dieci anni della sua vita, dopo aver scoperto una vocazione religiosa tardiva, Gary Shearston è stato anche ministro della Chiesa Anglicana d’Australia.