Union Songs

Just Another Day (in Baghdad)

A Song by Aidan Jolly©Aidan Jolly 2008

- [play]

Thursday morning in the crowded market
The bomb bursts across the traders stalls
So close they, never hear the sound that kills them
A fist crushing flowers then darkness falls
All they wanted was food for their children
All they wanted was a job with pay
All they wanted was to get home safe
But in Baghdad, it's just another day

Thursday morning in the crowded carriage
The bomb tears through the tunnel walls
So close they never hear the sound that kills them
A fist crushing flowers then darkness falls
All they wanted was to get to work
All they wanted was to earn their pay
Agony captured on a thousand mobiles
London's making the news today

Breakfast at the Summit is rudely broken
Helicopter blades begin to turn
From a safe distance the cameras gather
There are speeches to make and points to earn
Standing firm, shoulder to shoulder
Leaders pose behind police lines
Suspects are hunted and heroes are found
In Baghdad and London, life goes on

It's business as usual in the City of London
It's business as usual at the Baghdad gate
It's business as usual in the halls of the mighty
The Board of Directors' profits won't wait
What's the price of a life in a Baghdad market?
What's the price of a life on an underground train?
It's dearer by far than the price of peace
But to the Board of Directors it's a fair exchange

In Baghdad they cry for their sons and their daughters
In London they cry for their sons and their daughters
In Madrid they cry for their sons and their daughters

In New York they cry for their sons and their daughters
In Chechnya they cry for their sonsand their daughter
In Beslan they cry for their sons and their daughters
In Sudan they cry for their sons and their daughters
In Gaza they cry for their sons and their daughters

Notes

Many thanks to Aidan Jolly for permission to add this song to the Union Songs collection.

This song is from his 2008 CD 'State of Hysteria'

Visit Aidan's website at http://www.aidanjolly.com/

Find more of Aidan Jolly's work in this collection

Aidan writes:

If there is a theme to these songs it's about people on the move ...people have always moved, and always will, whether from one side of the world to the other, or from one part of a country
to another. What kind of a world would it be if everyone stayed where they were born, or where they were put? Everywhere the walls go up, the borders are drawn, and the cameras are there to track us all as we travel up and down the motorways, the airports, the stations ... somewhere in some vast data-centre, there'll be a red light flashing just for you. So make sure you have nothing to hide. Live quietly. And never ask who is watching ... or why ...

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union songs..........a selection by mark gregory