PART 6
The Power & the Passion- Midnight Oil (1980)
(and Midnight Oil in general)
Midnight Oil long regarded as Australian Rock Music's Environmental and Social conscience.
Me , I consider them a good band with at best questionable lyrics. Midnight Oil for some reason have managed to get away with the reputation of being hard hitting word smiths with poignant and relevant messages. But a closer look at most of their lyrics reveal vague mentions of subjects and cryptic leanings towards others. For example: in the chosen subject song Power & the passion The song has reference to many iconic symbols but can anyone truthfully say they understand what these lines mean or represent?
Sunburnt faces around, with skin so brownSmiling zinc cream and crowds, Sundays the beach never a cloudBreathing eucalypt, pushing panel vansStuff and munch junk foodLaughing at the truth, cos Gough was tough til he hit the roughUncle Sam and John were quite enough
It is alright to go to form some intellectual theory that you think it may be about but keep in mind the core of Midnight Oils supporter base were the Suck more piss crowd that also followed The Angels & Cold Chisel. You would think plain English would have been more appropriate. Indeed how about for example instead of:
US Forces give the nod,
It's a set back for your country
Try
US Bases are no good
Don't let them in the Country
But if you go deep into the whole Midnight Oil lyric thing the album that the totally incomprehensible Power and; the passion is part of, you soon realise that most of the album struggles to make sense. Not only are the lyrics hard to understand, especially if you aren't aware of the subject matter they also make them very hard to read on the album by using distorted fonts and having them cut on edges of pages, so that one half of a songs lyric is diagonally split onto opposing pages making it even more difficult to understand.
I have researched many articles on Midnight Oil and discovered the lack of attention to their actual song meaning, the topic often moves towards individual protests or polular issues. This could explain Peter Garrets eventual entry in politics, he had great training in talking around a subject in writing song lyrics.
As for Power and; the Passion what's it about?
Don't know and I can't find out anywhere either. There is a short reference in Beds are Burning The biography by Mark Dodshon but it only goes on how Garret used to change Rob Hirst's lyrics if he didn't like them and wouldn't tell anyone. Power and the Passion was one of these songs. All other references only comment on how powerful the songs sentiment is, but refuses to say what that sentiment is.
You one thing that annoys me about this song personally, was for years I’d make excuses for it by saying the lyrics “It’s better to die on your feet than to live on your knees” was a killer line. Only to discover it was stolen from Emiliano Zapata Salazar a Mexican revolutionary.
I have compiled a sample list of Midnight Oil songs and I challenge anyone to explain what they are saying without going into metaphors or long winded explanations.
If Ned Kelly was King-Place without a Postcard 1981
Hollow threats and a great adventure
So much business, towns in the dirt
Company cars and efficient Americans
Three black boys sit in the corner
White woman waiting to talk
Lots of intention but no understanding
If Ned Kelly was king
He’d make those robbers swing
He’d send them down
Out in the dead heart, tourists and cameras
Four wheel drives wreck, snapshots and slides
Follow the brochures but nothings inside
Heavy machinery loud in the outback
Dreamtime developers they make all the sound
Where will we be when they leave us a quarry?
If Ned Kelly was king
He’d make those robbers swing
He’d send them down there
He’d make them stay
And we can hope
If Ned Kelly...
If the quinella comes in today
King of the Mountain-Blue Sky Mining 1990
Walking through the high dry grass, pushing my way through slow
Yellow belly black snake, sleeping on a red rock
Waiting for the stranger to go
Sugar train stops at the crossing, cane cockies cursing below
Bad storm coming, better run to the top of the mountain
Mountain in the shadow of light, rain in the valley below
Well you can say you’re peter, say you’re paul
Don’t put me up on your bedroom wall, call me the king of the mountain
Blacksmith fires up the bellows, cane cutters burning the load
Workers of the world, run to the top of the mountain
Mountain in the...
I cant take my hands from my face, there are some things we cant replace
Mountain in the...
Over liquid tarmac wastelands of cactus and heat
Down cobblestone alleyways of washing day sheets
Up ghost prairie mountains of sunset and space
Down the road at a familiar place, across the wilderness
Out further than the bush I will follow you
Outside World-10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1- 1981
There’s a wind on the eastern side
Ghost gums dance in the moonlit night
Mopoke mourns the racketeers
The bosses they can sense your mood
All in place to a hand that rules
They all want to deal you out
I can see the outside world
Everything’s inviting in the outside world
Leaving all my problems in the outside world
Its the summer of another year
A little world weary a little more to fear
Hold those cards tight to your chest
Maybe someday you could be a man
Living quietly in a caravan
Not the Lismore road tonight
Short Memory-10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1- 1981
Conquistador of Mexico, the Zulu and the Navaho
The Belgians in the Congo short memory
Plantation in Virginia, the raj in British India
The deadline in south Africa short memory
The story of el Salvador, the silence of Hiroshima
Destruction of Cambodia short memory
Short memory, must have a, short memory
The sight of hotels by the Nile, the designated Hilton style
With running water specially bought short memory
A smallish man Afghanistan, a watch dog in a nervous land
They’re only there to lend a hand short memory
Wake up in sweat at dead of night
And in the tents new rifles hey short memory
If you read the history books you’ll see the same things happen again and again
short memory they’ve all got it
When are we going to play it again
Got a short, got a short, got a short, got a short
They’ve got a short must have a short theyve got a short aah
Short memory, they’ve got a.
I'm The Cure - Bird Noises 1980
Tell all your friends I’m the cure
Tell them again and again
Watching the walls, spinning in doors
I can bring you peace of mindUse me whenever you please
Sweeter than sweet memories
Everything’s neat, avoiding the heat
I can give you peace of mind
All this pressure I cant handle
Everything else becomes dim
You’re so much better than them
Waiting around for something to happen
Bring you this instant reliefKilo pascals in my finger
God is hiding in this teacup
Run By Night - Midnight Oil 1978
I’m on the whiskey flying, and Ill run by night
I’m on the whiskey running, and Ill run by night
I’m on the winter cycle, shut my eyes to the bite
I’m on the winter cycle, shake my fist at the bite
I’m on the whiskey flying, and Ill run by night
I’m on the phone to summer, so Ill see you on the flight
My friends are at a party, playing games with the light
I hate to say I’m wrong, I just know I’m right
We all run by night
I’m on the whiskey flying, and Ill run by night
I’m on the glaze a burning, and it burns in the light
I’m on a turning circle, turn my face from the bite
I’m on a turning circle, hear me screaming at the bite
I’m on the edge of danger, and Ill run by night
I’m on the phone to summer, so I’ll see you on the flight
My friends are at a party, playing games with the light
I hate to say ‘Im wrong, I just know I’m right
We all run by night
Scream In Blue -10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1- 1981
Come to me now, be careful of what you say
Don’t make a sound, there’s noise enough in this
Come with me now, let night move into day
Let sheets keep secrets that no one else could know
I could kill for this one time and not be caught
She said to me this is the one and I know
Come to me now, this is the final hour
When I’m dreaming I dream in blue
When I’m dreaming I dream of you
When I’m screaming I scream in blue
Redneck Wonderland - Redneck Wonderland 1998
I don’t want to run I don’t want to stay
Cos everything that’s near and dear is old and in decay
Emergency has gone, apathy rolling on
Time to take a standRedneck wonderland
Got you in my sights, spotlit by the fence
If your small you’re faking, its just common sense
Brick and tile for miles, rolling in the aisles
Rifle in my handRedneck wonderland
Well the streets are clean, nothing gets away
I can see the beauty treatment draining from your face
It is vision free, its poor bugger meSomething less than grand
Kosciuszko - Red Sails In The Sunset 1984
Older than Kosciusko
Darwin down to Alice Springs
Dealers in the clearinghouse
The settlements explode
High up in the homelands
Miners drive across the land
Encounter no resistance
When the people block the road
Older than Kosciusko
Dry white seasons years ago
Darkness over Charleville
The fires begin to grow
No end to the hostility
Now they want to be somewhere else
No stranger to brutality
Now they’d like to be someone else
Older than Kosciusko
Driven back to Alice Springs
Endless storm and struggle
Marks the spirit of the age
High up in the homelands
Celebration cross the land
Builds up like a cyclone
Now the fires begin to rage
Call off the ultimatum
No don’t turn away
Call off the ultimatum until yesterday
Call off the ultimatum
No don’t turn away
Bind up the broken-hearted
No don’t turn away
Call off the ultimatum until yesterday
Mosquito March - Capricornia 2001
when they march
when they march over fields of green
when they march
when they march over fields of green
when they march
when they march over fields of green
walking in the wilderness
no future to the question
you might get a simple answer
get a simple answer
walking in the wilderness
you're naked now just skin and sand
you'll get a smile answer
get a smile answer
see the king see the king of happiness
see the kingsee the king of happiness in the light
in the light you can see him crawl
see the kingsee the king of happiness
walking in the wilderness
no future to the question
you might get a simple answer
get a simple answer
walking in the wilderness the endless distance
you don't need to get a smile answer
et a smile answer
past the point of no return
your like a dog without a bone
so get a simple answer
get a simple answer
