Monday, March 14, 2011

Changed lyrics of a song originally written by the great Roger Waters

I am first going to write down the lyrics of the song "Towers of Faith" by Roger Waters (the mastermind of Pink Floyd).  This song was about the conflict over land in the Middle East and I thought by changing a few things in the lyrics one could write the same about what is happening in Andhra Pradesh today.  So first I will put down Waters' lyric and follow it up with my changed lyric to suit the context here.

Towers of Faith

The Prophet reclined on the Golan Heights,
He said this land is my land to the Shiites,
Jehovah looked out from the sea of Galilee beneath,
He said "I see you, you thief
This land is my land, this sand is my sand, this band is my band",
Oh the lonely boys
Looking over their shoulder
Checking every boulder in the park,
When the gates closed after dark.

Then the Pope rolled down in his armoured van,
He fell on his knees and kissed the land,
He said something that I did not understand,
It was in Polish,
Then up stepped an aide,
He said, here is what his Holiness said:
"I am the Chief Jesuit,
This land is Jesus' land,
That is all there is to it".

And in New York City, a business man in his Mohair suit,
In the World Trade Centre, puffs on his cheroot,
And he says
"I don't care who owns the desert sands,
My brief is with the hydro-carbons underneath"
And the sea of battle rages around the ancient tombs,
And mother nature licks her wounds,
And the lonely boys in their towers of faith,
Walk nervous in the park,
When the gates are closed after dark.

Now here are my lyrics suitable to the present context in Andhra Pradesh
I have called the song "Towers of Hate"


Channa Reddy reclined on the Telangana Heights,
He said this land is my land to the Coastal Andhraiites,
NTR looked out from the river Krishna beneath,
He said "I see you, you thief
This land is my land, this tank is my tank, this bund is my bund",
Oh the lonely boys
Looking over their shoulder
Checking every boulder in the park,
When the gates closed after dark.

Then the KCR rolled down in his imported sedan,
He fell on his knees and kissed the land,
He said something that I did not understand,
It was gibberish,
Then up stepped KTR,
He said, here is what his Mightiness said:
"I am the Chief Culprit,
This land is my father's land,
That is all there is to it".

And in Hyderabad City, a business man in his Armani suit,
In the Cyber Towers, puffs on his cheroot,
And he says
"I don't care who owns the damned lands,
My brief is with all the money underneath"
And the sea of battle rages around the Qutub Shahi tombs,
And mother Hyderabad licks her wounds,
And the lonely boys in their towers of hate,
Walk nervous in the park,
When the gates are closed after dark.

Here NTR is N.T. Rama Rao, KCR is K. Chandrashekar Rao, KTR is his son K.T. Rama Rao.

Please keep in mind that this is mostly in jest, the re-writing of the lyric.  I just saw a comparable situation and did this.  No intention to offend anyone.

1 comment: