Friday 29 August 2014

Time For Some Peace Songs.

We have some wonderful sunsets looking over Bantry Bay.   I recently saw Suzanne Vega in Warsaw.  I had spent the day visiting second world monuments, the Soviet (Red Army) and the Jewish cemetery and the Warsaw Uprising museum.  Suzanne Vega sang a song that got the goose pimples, hairs on the spine moving.  She wrote the song Horizon: "There is a road." about her old friend and writer Vaclav Havel.  When the former Czech leader was in prison he would look through the bars in the window and look for the horizon.  He believed when he saw the horizon, he saw God.

The world seems in a such an awful state at the moment with all the conflicts and hatred.  I could never be an atheist. I haven't got that much faith to believe that God doesn't exist.  Hope this song inspires and moves you.

What's your favourite peace songs?  I have quite a few.  Every so often I will play a few for you.


6 comments:

  1. Dave,
    To be an atheist requires neither faith nor belief, for those ideas are an antithesis to people such as me.

    Quite frankly singing peace songs does nothing towards actually creating peace, other than perhaps creating awareness. People need to do something positive: such as making their views known to the politicians, writing letters, emailing them direct, phoning the Minister of Foreign Affairs Charlie Flanagan his number is in the Eircom directory and also by making your views known at public political meetings and or join a political party.
    Do you do any of these Dave ?

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  2. Thanks for your thoughts, Heron. I think that peace songs help us look for answers from an higher source and realise that so many politicians can be wolves in sheep clothing.

    I was once in the Labour party. My politics are a cross between clause four old Labour and the Green party. No political party exists like this. I have yet to find a political party that I agree with all their policies these days. My favourite English government was the 1945 Labour party. This party created the modern welfare state. NHS and built houses for all its citizens.

    Now a days I like to live on my smallholding here in Ireland and attempt to lead a more self supporting life watching the ever changing seasons and attempting to not be dismayed with the powers that be. Thanks Heron.

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  3. Showing my age here Dave as many of the peace songs I listened to come from the late 60's & 70's. How terrible it is that we still need them.

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  4. Hi Jane. I'm fifty and I play a lot of songs from the fifties and sixties. Two great peace songs to jog your memory: Universal Soldier - Donovan (lives here in West Cork, saw him once at Glastonbury), Barry Mcquire - Eve Of Destruction. I was also lucky enough to see him in concert in England in the 1980's. You're right it is terrible that we still need the peace songs.

    I remember going on the massive CND march in London (Hyde Park) in about 1981. Think there were 250,000 demonstrators - amazing sight! Thanks!

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  5. Hi again Dave - remember both of those and Pete Seegar, Dylan, Buffy St.Marie etc. One of the best for me is 'The Island' - Paul Brady.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CD4eS2Xb6Ls
    I was most active politically in London during Maggie's reign - but have taken it up again now in my 50's :)

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  6. I like the Island - Paul Brady, Jane. Another one of my favourite songs is: Child Of The Universe - Barclay James Harvest. I never understood why they weren't massive. I became disenfranchised with politics year a go. I can't see any difference in any of the political parties. None of them would get rid of nuclear weapons or stop purchasing oil. Cars give off pollution and the pursuit of oil seems to behind most wars these days. Thanks!

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