Blast Against Blackguards (or Some Cautionary Verses Against the Vile Villains Who Would Take Freedom From Its Rightful Owners)
Ewan MacCollLanguage: English
We have always treasured freedom in this country
But there are forces working in our midst today
And they plan to overthrow the system's natural status quo
By agitating, demonstrating, striking, picketing, and so
We feel the time has come to make our declaration
In defense at Freedom, Property and Nation.
Some are free to own the fruits of others' labour.,
Some are free to do a job and toe the line;
Some are free to rig the races, free to deal themselves the aces,
Some are free to soldier-on while others trample on their faces,
It's a matter of survival of the fittest,
And the fittest are the ones who grab the quickest.
Have you ever paused a moment to consider
All the burdens borne by those who own this land?
Each stock market fluctuation complicates the situation,
Keeping track of all that money is a full-time occupation,
For a nation cannot be described as healthy
Unless its wealth belongs to those who're wealthy!
When the Front is busy fronting for the Tories (1)
(And the cops are busy backing up the Front),
You must understand their function is to strike without compunction
All those aliens from Bangladesh, West Brom and Clapham Junction, (2)
And by beating up all those in opposition
They're defending our most glorious tradition.
When a hero rises up and digs his heels in,
Puts the boot in in that good old-fashioned way,
When he starts on union-bashing, you can bet he'll get the backing
Of Keith Joseph and his cronies, no assistance will be lacking (3)
In our hero's personal fight for liberation
Against the malcontents opposing exploitation.
But don't imagine we're opposed to all trade unions!
There are some we look on with a kindly eye;
When a union is controlled by leaders who've been bought and sold
Then it's a treasure beyond measure worth ten times its weight in gold
For they can always be relied on in a crisis
To sell their members out at bargain prices.
When the day arrives that you become redundant
don't get angry with the boss and call him names;
You must try to be objective, get the matter in perspective,
See yourself as a component, just a cog that is defective
And with fortitude accept the situation
That the junkheap is your natural location.
They have always treasured Freedom in this country.
That's providing that the freedom is confined
To the few who bleed the nation, and while preaching moderation
Sit there belching after feeding on the working population -
So when some fat cat talks of Freedom on the telly:
Don't imagine he means YOU - not on your nelly!
But there are forces working in our midst today
And they plan to overthrow the system's natural status quo
By agitating, demonstrating, striking, picketing, and so
We feel the time has come to make our declaration
In defense at Freedom, Property and Nation.
Some are free to own the fruits of others' labour.,
Some are free to do a job and toe the line;
Some are free to rig the races, free to deal themselves the aces,
Some are free to soldier-on while others trample on their faces,
It's a matter of survival of the fittest,
And the fittest are the ones who grab the quickest.
Have you ever paused a moment to consider
All the burdens borne by those who own this land?
Each stock market fluctuation complicates the situation,
Keeping track of all that money is a full-time occupation,
For a nation cannot be described as healthy
Unless its wealth belongs to those who're wealthy!
When the Front is busy fronting for the Tories (1)
(And the cops are busy backing up the Front),
You must understand their function is to strike without compunction
All those aliens from Bangladesh, West Brom and Clapham Junction, (2)
And by beating up all those in opposition
They're defending our most glorious tradition.
When a hero rises up and digs his heels in,
Puts the boot in in that good old-fashioned way,
When he starts on union-bashing, you can bet he'll get the backing
Of Keith Joseph and his cronies, no assistance will be lacking (3)
In our hero's personal fight for liberation
Against the malcontents opposing exploitation.
But don't imagine we're opposed to all trade unions!
There are some we look on with a kindly eye;
When a union is controlled by leaders who've been bought and sold
Then it's a treasure beyond measure worth ten times its weight in gold
For they can always be relied on in a crisis
To sell their members out at bargain prices.
When the day arrives that you become redundant
don't get angry with the boss and call him names;
You must try to be objective, get the matter in perspective,
See yourself as a component, just a cog that is defective
And with fortitude accept the situation
That the junkheap is your natural location.
They have always treasured Freedom in this country.
That's providing that the freedom is confined
To the few who bleed the nation, and while preaching moderation
Sit there belching after feeding on the working population -
So when some fat cat talks of Freedom on the telly:
Don't imagine he means YOU - not on your nelly!
(1) Front: il NF, National Front, partito neofascista inglese.
(2) Con riferimento a quartieri come West Bromwich a Birmingham e Battersea, Wandsworth e altri del sud-ovest di Londra, tradizionali insediamenti delle masse di immigrati da Asia e Africa.
(3) Keith Joseph: “The Right Honourable The Lord Joseph Bt CH PC QC” (1918-1994), uno dei mastini dei Tories e della Thatcher in particolare.
(2) Con riferimento a quartieri come West Bromwich a Birmingham e Battersea, Wandsworth e altri del sud-ovest di Londra, tradizionali insediamenti delle masse di immigrati da Asia e Africa.
(3) Keith Joseph: “The Right Honourable The Lord Joseph Bt CH PC QC” (1918-1994), uno dei mastini dei Tories e della Thatcher in particolare.
Contributed by Bernart Bartleby - 2018/5/3 - 12:50
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Parole e musica di Ewan MacColl
Nell’album “Hot Blast”, con Peggy Seeger
Canzone senz’altro un po’ prolissa (d’altra parte il buon MacColl era già oltre i sessanta…) ma efficace nel descrivere in modo ironico ed amaro il sistema “liberale” britannico, che nel 1978 (l’anno del cosiddetto “Inverno dello Scontento”, con un governo laburista in piena crisi) volgeva ormai verso il conservatorismo thatcheriano e la sua macelleria sociale...