Sunday, September 28

"The Call Up"
(Joe Strummer)

It's up to you not to heed the call-up
You must not act the way you were brought up
Who knows the reasons why you have grown up?
Who knows the plans or why they were drawn up?

It's up to you not to heed the call-up
I don't wanna die
It's up to you not to hear the call-up
I don't wanna kill

For he who will die,
Is he who will kill.

Maybe I wanna see the wheat fields
Over Kiev and down to the sea...

All the young people down the ages
They gladly marched off to die;
Proud city fathers used to watch them
Tears in their eyes.

It's up to you not to heed the call-up
I don't wanna die
It's up to you not to hear the call-up
I don't wanna kill

For he who will die,
Is he who will kill.

There is a rose that I want to live for
Although, God knows, I may not have met her
There is a dance, and I should be with her
There is a town - unlike any other...

It's up to you not to hear the call-up
You must not act the way you were brought up
Who gives you work, and why should you do it?
At fifty five minutes past eleven.

There is a rose...

6 comments:

Hans said...

interesting lyrics and i'm glad you pointed out that it wasn't written in any hateful way. We all have our choices, that's all.

Unknown said...

You must not act the way you were brought up...

But so many people don't realise there is another option. I was having a discussion with my boss along those lines the other day. Peole do what's expected of them, what they think is the 'the done thing' without considering the sense behind it, the implications. We weren't talking about war, but marriage, although the same applies.

Thanks for the post. I'm going to find that song on youtube now and revisit my Clash cds.

Metamatician said...

It's hard for me to fathom that kind of automatic behavior that characterizes the vast, vast majority of the human sheep population. I guess I was born with that rebel gene, that questioning mind, that seems like the norm to be but it really such a rare thing in the human species as a whole.

Obviously so were you, and the few other people I choose to spend my time with, otherwise I wouldn't spend my time with them, or respect them nearly as much if I did. It might not be there faults, some of it may be hard-wired, but much is ignorance, and some I think is just stubbornness, and laziness, not to have to live on your own, think for yourself, be responsible for your own actions.

I struggle with life. But this doesn't mean I'm weak or a failure, because I'm foregoing so much of what is automatically accepted and done by other people, even if it's not good for them or for other people on the planet, simply because it's in the script that was handed to them. I didn't get that memo; I'm making this all up as I go along.

***
P.S. The LINKS in the post will bring you where you need to go to either just hear the song or see the video. I'm hiding videos and other unexpected things more and more in posts these days, because it's fun.

Metamatician said...

Sorry, I meant the post right above the actual lyrics.

Unknown said...

S'ok, I found the link right away - very handy as well as being more fun for you.

Aren't you glad that memo passed you by? I sometimes try to imagine what it's like following the script, but I can't even do that, it's quite an abhorent thought at most times, although at others I think it'd be much easier if I could close my mind to it and float along happily with everyone else. I can't though. And thank fuck for that.

I would've added fear to the list of why people don't start writing their own actions.

Metamatician said...

Ah yeah, that old bugbear fear again. Curse it. Curse, I say!

Fear prevents all of us from doing so, so many things.

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