A personal diary keeping people abreast of what I am working on writing-wise.

Sunday, July 22, 2007

THE DIVINE COMEDY - "GUANTANAMO"

An unreleased song from Neil Hannon's intelligent pop outfit. While normally Neil writes about personal politics between men and women, with occasional bouts of whimsy and literary pretensions (note that phrase "Kafka-esque" in this song), "Guantanamo" sees him sticking his hands right down into one of our nation's current shameful practices. The musical approach evokes Kurt Weill, providing not only a historical precedence for this song as agitprop, but also the theatrical setting by which it works. Of course, historical precedence is something our leaders try to deny about as often as they deny science, so I am sure that would be lost on them, just as the parallels with the 1970s and the IRA also bounce off them. They are rubber, after all, and we are glue. They'll be long gone, off cataloging their spoils, while their mess sticks to the rest of us.



Given that the song is unreleased, this is an unofficial video made by, presumably, a fan. It's grisly at times, maybe obvious at others, but effective.

Current Mood: angry

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for bringing this to my attention. I'm a huge Divine Comedy fan. This seems so out of character, but really powerful.