" AS IF " PART 2 & Once in a Lifetime - David Byrne

And now for a musical interlude with a funny little ditty by David Byrne Once in a Lifetime:





As If
by Gordon

as if the indulgences & tributes you paid
as if the beasts & birds of your burnt offerings
were just another con
to make the temple priests rich
no longer able to bribe your way
out of heaven or hell
as if all these terrible phony gurus
popes archbishops ministers pastors & vicars
ayatollahs mystics were leading their flocks astray
corrupting & mangling the messages
of their prophets
the avatars of god who cry out for justice
to be kind to one another
to be as we should be
as if there were a pure religion
as if there were a spiritual need
as if we needed a new creed-

as if we feared the sudden
appearance of tanks & soldiers
on our streets overnight
deep inside our paranoid dreams-
as if a shift unseen in the scheme of things
out of fear what unseen forces are unleashed
as if death squads wandered our streets at night
in black shirts & brown shirts
in pin-striped suits & skirts
changing & bending the law as it suits them-

as if politics were outside the realm
of your precious poetry
your mediocre saccharin
maudlin sentimental verse as it were
as if a poem existed in a vacuum
as if a poem existed
without someone to compose it
to speak it to write it
for others to share-

as if some were to head into the country side
some try to fight to make a stand
using harsh language against tanks
as if so many cared only about wealth
caring nothing for the poor
as if big brother invented the tv
to keep us all pacified or terrified
left in silent awe
as if it were like almost Armageddon
as if Armageddon would never arrive
as if we were in the midst of Armageddon
as if Armageddon were part of our past-

as if no dreams ever came true
as if all dreams came true
as if beneath the rocks were hidden
the secrets of the universe-
as if we had died & been reborn-

as if the mechanism itself were broken
it slipped a cog an incident occurred
as if it could be fixed
what arrogance we have
tossing out a barrage of words
going into a rant
as if the world needed our ranting
pointing our fingers
as if we were regressing or just digressing
from what is important-

see you later,
gord