Songs about the fall of Communism\Berlin Wall\Soviet Union

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There's surely gotta be something better than "Winds of change"

― Michael B, Saturday, 26 July 2003 13:08 (twenty-two years ago)

'99 Red Balloons'? i've just realised i'm not entirely clear what thats about

Sting's 'Russians' obv.

― stevem (blueski), Saturday, 26 July 2003 13:11 (twenty-two years ago)

"99 red balloons" is about nuclear war

― Michael B, Saturday, 26 July 2003 13:12 (twenty-two years ago)

ties in no?

― stevem (blueski), Saturday, 26 July 2003 13:18 (twenty-two years ago)

So does "In the Year 2525" (by which the Curtain has gone)

― nestmanso (nestmanso), Saturday, 26 July 2003 13:20 (twenty-two years ago)

Holidays In The Sun?

― the pinefox, Saturday, 26 July 2003 13:36 (twenty-two years ago)

Cambodia.

― nestmanso (nestmanso), Saturday, 26 July 2003 13:45 (twenty-two years ago)

Pet Shop Boys: "My October Symphony". A wonderful song from 1990:

So much confusion
When autumn comes around
What to do about October
How to smile behind a frown?
It's hard to settle down

It's so bemusing
Will they cancel the parade?
We marched each October
Now they say we were never even saved
We must be very brave

Shall I rewrite or revise
My October symphony?
Or as an indication
Change the dedication
From revolution to revelation?

― Tobias Rapp (Tobias Rapp), Saturday, 26 July 2003 16:17 (twenty-two years ago)

Blues for Ceaucescu - Fatima Mansions

Well, hello.
You can no longer depend on the land in which you were born.
You can no longer depend on any land in which you choose to place yourself.
You can no longer depend on the bed in which you lie by night,
or the room in which you sit by day.
You can no longer depend on the pillow on which you lay your head.
You can no longer depend on the existence of silence in your mind when you close your eyes.
Go to England, baby-raper, false economist.
Call yourself King Charles III.
Nobody will notice.
Nobody will be alarmed.
There is no constitution.
Go. Goodbye. Goodbye.

He's shining brightly, he can't be a man
He is the genius of the Carpathians
He's running checks on his mother's womb
He's gonna be reborn real soon

Ciao, Ceaucescu! Ciao, Ceaucescu! Ciao, Ceaucescu!
Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye, goodbye!

Well, golly gee, oh my gosh, I never
Regina, Regina rubs her thighs together
She made three wishes and they all came true
The middle one ended in a "W"
The first one began with a kiss kiss kiss
The last one ended in a pulverized fist

(And don't forget, I need sleep. I don't get no sleep.)
Meanwhile in London, things stay the same
The untenable must be maintained
Who's that knocking down my back door?
It's the same bald-headed, bug-eyed male whore--CHORUS

In the dingy Irish orphan's home
Dickie Mountbatten licks the alchemist's bone
It's done in strict official secrecy
God, I love living in a democracy!
I really do! I do! I really do!
I looooooooovve you! I looooooooovvvvvvve you!

He's shining brightly, he can't be a man
He is the genius of the Carpathians
He's running checks on his mother's womb
Hey, look out below, he's gonna drop in again soon!

Ciao, Ceaucescu! Ciao, Ceaucescu! Ciao, Ceaucescu!
Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye, goodbye!

Goodbye! Goodbye! Goodbye! Goodbye!

Give thanks!!

― N. (nickdastoor), Saturday, 26 July 2003 16:27 (twenty-two years ago)

Ah, the Fatimas, remember them well.

He's not an obvious choice, but I was talking to a chap in his 40's who was part of Poland's Solidarity movement last night and he claims Leonard Cohen was something of a poster child for fellow subversives.

― Jamie Conway (Jamie Conway), Saturday, 26 July 2003 16:31 (twenty-two years ago)

Stevem - the thing is that Russians and 99 Red Balloons were about the Cold War in full flight, not its collapse.

― N. (nickdastoor), Saturday, 26 July 2003 16:31 (twenty-two years ago)

Mr. Lenin, awaken the boy
Mr. Stalin, bisexual epoch
Khrushchev, self-love in his mirrors
Brezhnev, married into group sex
Gorbachev, celibate self-importance
Yeltsin, failure is his own impotence

REVOL! REVOL!
Lebensraum
Kulturkampf
Raus raus
Fila fila

Napoleon, childhood sweethearts,
Chamberlain, you see God in you,
Trotsky, honeymoon, serenade the naked
Che Guevara, you're all target now
Pol Pot, withdrawn traces, bye bye
Farrakhan, alimony alimony

REVOL! REVOL!
Lebensraum
Kulturkampf
Raus raus
Fila fila

― Justyn Dillingham (Justyn Dillingham), Saturday, 26 July 2003 16:43 (twenty-two years ago)

A number of the pieces on Bowie's "Heroes", including the title track, are supposedly themed around two lovers who live on opposite sides of the Wall. There's probably stuff on "Low" and "Lodger" that deals with Berlin and the Cold War as well, but a bigger Bowie-head than myself will have to clarify that.

― Nom De Plume (Nom De Plume), Saturday, 26 July 2003 16:44 (twenty-two years ago)

"dancing on the berlin wall"- rational youth

― sucka (sucka), Saturday, 26 July 2003 20:04 (twenty-two years ago)

no wonder why i think that my polack relatives are so weird.

oh yeah, jesus jones "right here, right now"

― Tad (llamasfur), Sunday, 27 July 2003 05:03 (twenty-two years ago)

Linton Kwesi Johnson, "Mah Revolushunary Frien".

― plebian plebs (plebian), Sunday, 27 July 2003 08:16 (twenty-two years ago)

turbulence~warren zevon

― thomas de'aguirre (biteylove), Sunday, 27 July 2003 12:34 (twenty-two years ago)

good one plebs!

― thomas de'aguirre (biteylove), Sunday, 27 July 2003 12:39 (twenty-two years ago)

good one plebs!
i usta think that song sounded so far out when he goes .."Kazaar..you gotto go"

― thomas de'aguirre (biteylove), Sunday, 27 July 2003 12:40 (twenty-two years ago)

The Fall's "Free Range" seems to be an oblique reference to the conflict when Yugoslavia split up.

― earlnash, Sunday, 27 July 2003 16:45 (twenty-two years ago)

apologies in advance, but: Rush - Heresy

All around that dull grey world
From Moscow to Berlin
People storm the barricades
Walls go tumbling in

The counter - revolution
People smiling through their tears
Who can give them back their lives
And all those wasted years?
All those precious wasted years
Who will pay?

All around that dull grey world
Of ideology
People storm the marketplace
And buy up fantasy

The counter - revolution
At the counter of a store
People buy the things they want
And borrow for a little more
All those wasted years
All those precious wasted years
Who will pay?

Do we have to be forgiving at last?
What else can we do?
Do we have to say goodbye to the past?
Yes I guess we do

All around this great big world
All the crap we had to take
Bombs and basement fallout shelters
All our lives at stake

The bloody revolution
All the warheads in its wake
All the fear and suffering
All a big mistake
All those wasted years
All those precious wasted years
Who will pay?

― Kris (aqueduct), Sunday, 27 July 2003 20:12 (twenty-two years ago)

hey Kris! dass a good 'un

― Michael B, Sunday, 27 July 2003 22:20 (twenty-two years ago)

But it's not even better than "Winds of Change"!

― Kris (aqueduct), Monday, 28 July 2003 00:07 (twenty-two years ago)

Yeah, "Right Here, Right Now," which was, I believe, a hit when the Soviet Union collapsed, and is at least married in my mind to those events, for better or worse...

― Pete Scholtes, Monday, 28 July 2003 20:23 (twenty-two years ago)

Catch me if I fall
I'm losing hold
I can't just carry on this way
And every time
I turn away
I lose another blind game
The idea of perfection holds me
Suddendly I see you change
Everything at once
The same
But the mountain never moves
You rape me like a child
Christened in blood
Painted like an unknow saint
There's nothing left but hope
Your voice is dead
And old
And always empty
Trust in me through closing years
'Cause perfect moments wait
If only we could stay
Please
Say the right words
Or cry like the stone white clown
And stand
Lost forever in a happy crowd
No one lifts their hands
No one lifts their eyes
You justified with every word
The party just gets better and better
I went away alone
With nothing left
But faith

It makes me think I would dare this.
It makes me think I would dare this.
Someone walks up to you and is so much bigger than you and says : "Shut your fucking face !".
You can garb hold their eyes and go, and they will fall down in front of you, fall down in front of you.
But it's so much different if a man walks up and he's this high...
He says : "Shut your fucking face !"
And holds a gun to my mouth.
What will I do ? What will I do ?
What would you do ?
He won't let me speak, he says : "You can only say the word -YES-.
If I ask you a question you say -NO-
I shoot the back of your fucking head". He says : "Do you love me ?
Do you love me ?"
I'll say, I'll say......... I'll say...
He's this small, this far away. He says : "I'm fucking waiting for your answer. Answer me now ! Do you love me ? Do you love me ?"
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahouuuuuuuuuhhh ! I SAY NO !
'Cause I fucking don't love you ! 'Cause I fucking don't love you !
Walk into the room, push anything in my face, anything in my mouth !
I'll never fucking love you !
And push this deep inside your head.
And push this deep inside your head.
This means nothing, means nothing !
There's nothing left but faith.
There's nothing left but faith.
There's nothing left but faith.
There's nothing left but faith...

Thank you very much and good night.
And don't forget.
Good night.

― flowersdie (flowersdie), Tuesday, 29 July 2003 15:26 (twenty-two years ago)

Tiananmen Square rather than the Wall, but the point is taken.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 29 July 2003 15:32 (twenty-two years ago)

sex clark five 'communist bloc blues'

― keith (keithmcl), Wednesday, 30 July 2003 03:32 (twenty-two years ago)

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