Bring the boys back home

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Navy Vet
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Bring the boys back home

#1

Post by Navy Vet » 23 Sep 2002, 16:28

Does anyone know the words to this British song?

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Aufklarung
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#2

Post by Aufklarung » 24 Sep 2002, 02:57

The Pink Floyd Version??


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#3

Post by Navy Vet » 24 Sep 2002, 06:29

That is the only time/place I have heard it referenced to, on that album. However, I was wanting to know the lyrics of the original song and perhaps the background.

Caldric
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#4

Post by Caldric » 24 Sep 2002, 06:40

Freda Payne sings a song very much similar I think.

Is called Bring the Boys Home. 1971, which is really a good song, can get the MP3 from WinMX, can also get the Pink Floyd version. Unless you have a problem sharing music.. :|


Here are her lyrics, think it had more to do with Vietnam then the Brits though.

Bring The Boys Home
Freda Payne

Fathers are pleading, lovers are all alone
Mothers are praying--send our sons back home
You marched them away--yes, you did--on ships and planes
To the senseless war, facing death in vain

Bring the boys home (bring 'em back alive)
Bring the boys home (bring 'em back alive)
Bring the boys home (bring 'em back alive)
Bring the boys home (bring 'em back alive)
Turn the ships around, lay your weapons down

Can't you see 'em march across the sky, all the soldiers that have died
Tryin' to get home--can't you see them tryin' to get home?
Tryin' to get home--they're tryin' to get home
Cease all fire on the battlefield
Enough men have already been wounded or killed

Bring the boys home (bring 'em back alive)
Bring the boys home (bring 'em back alive)
Bring the boys home (bring 'em back alive)
Bring the boys home (bring 'em back alive)
Turn the ships around, lay your weapons down
(Mothers, fathers and lovers, can't you see them)

Oooh, oooh...
Tryin' to get home--can't you see them tryin' to get home?
Oooh, oooh...
Tryin' to get home--they're tryin' to get home

Bring the boys home (bring 'em back alive)
Bring the boys home (bring 'em back alive)
Bring the boys home (bring 'em back alive)
Bring the boys home (bring 'em back alive)
What they doing over there, now (bring 'em back alive)
When we need them over here, now (bring 'em back alive)
What they doing over there, now (bring 'em back alive)
When we need them over here, now (bring 'em back alive)

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#5

Post by Caldric » 24 Sep 2002, 06:47

Here is the Pink lyrics, I think he created the song? I am almost sure he did, or they. Which the song is lacking without the drums and full band with the music, even then it is rather odd?.

Bring The Boys Back Home

(Roger Waters and choir)
Bring the boys back home.
Bring the boys back home.
Don't leave the children on their own, no, no.
Bring the boys back home.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And progress he does continuing with the war-themed "Bring The Boys Back Home," a hymn-like chant that Roger Waters calls "the central song on the whole album" (1979 interview). Similar to the narrative alteration with the summary in the middle of "Hey You," the song offers a shift in perspectives to what appears to be the collective voices of England, of the world, of all men. Though the lyrics and music specifically recall the war era of the late 1940's with the chorus asking for an end to war's devastation, "Bring the Boys Back Home" is applicable to every generation in that its underlying message is the very foundation of social life. For Waters, the song is the lynch pin in that "it's partly about not letting people go off and be killed in wars, but it's also partly about not allowing rock and roll, or making cars or selling soap or getting involved in biological research or anything that anybody might do, not letting that become such an important and 'jolly boys' game' that it becomes more important than friends, wives, children, other people." In essence the song's ultimate message of human connection is the very thing that Pink has missed, failed at, or rejected throughout his life. And it's the only thing that can bring down his wall.

Though it might seem odd for the answer to Pink's problem to just suddenly appear in the midst of the album, it is not unheard of in the world of literature, or more specifically theater. Many authors have used deus ex machina to bring about sudden resolution to a play's central dilemmas. The term itself is derived from the Latin meaning "god from the machine" which comes from the Greek theatrical tradition of lowering a deity onto the stage by means of a crane so that he or she might intervene in a difficult predicament. The technique has been used ever since, though the Greek and Roman gods have since been replaced with fortuitous events, unexplainable messages, or contrived characters that are introduced solely to resolve the plot or situation. In the tradition of this seasoned stage device, "Bring The Boys Back Home" acts as the deus ex machina for Waters' epic story, though the usual Floydian twist prevents this resolving technique from untangling either the plot or Pink's current situation. If anything, the inclusion of this song is a reminder that the answers to life's difficulties are generally all around. But like Pink many of us are so blinded from building our walls too high and too fast that we either disregard or overlook the obvious solutions to our problems.

Despite the unexpected answer in the midst of turmoil, Pink continues to dwell on his bricks, many of which are audibly depicted in the loop of sounds at the end of the song. The teacher's harsh criticisms, the groupie's oblivious concern, and in the mix a new sound from the present seamlessly entwined with the audio clutter of Pink's past. Unconscious of his manager knocking at the door telling him that it's "time to go" to perform at his concert, the sounds of Pink's life blend and grow until the multiple facets of his psyche once again ask "is there anybody out there?" After the answering, collective voices of "Bring the Boys Back Home," it is easy for the listener to answer that there are people "out there." But for the incognizant Pink, however, the answer is just another insignificant noise buried within the multiple layers of his auditory self-absorption.

The sudden appearance of the drummers marching out of the fog in the cinematic depiction of "Bring The Boys Back Home" is as fitting a deus ex machina as any. While the chronology of Pink's age was the only detail belying the historical voracity of "Vera," the highly stylized "Boys" sequence discards the pretense of narrative continuity in order to emphasize both the stunning visuals and the underlying message of resolution. Every person at the train station turns towards young Pink and sings in unison while Pink, occupying his own little island of isolation amongst the crowd, turns from face to singing face without uttering a single word. He is at once alienated from the crowd because he has no father nor any loved one there, but he's also isolated in that he is not singing the common chorus nor does he even hint at knowing it. As mentioned before, he is oblivious to the answers that are found all around him.


http://members.surfsouth.com/~breezy/boys.html

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Aufklarung
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#6

Post by Aufklarung » 25 Sep 2002, 03:54

Caldric
I tip my hat to you, Sir. I, for no particular reason, did not take you to be a PF fan. Do you have/listen to it on Vinyl? Do you have "When the Tigers...." somewhere on the web?

A 8O

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#7

Post by Caldric » 25 Sep 2002, 05:29

Ahh I love Pink Floyd. I do have the old records, but at last no longer do I own a turn table. I have the Wall and Dark side of the Moon. One of my favorite is Pink Floyd: Live Delicate Sound of Thunder, 2 CD set I listen to.

Rush is good to though, depending on the day.

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#8

Post by Aufklarung » 26 Sep 2002, 04:26

Staying with Floyd tho' I think Animals is my favourite album. Sheep and Dogs sound so great very loud. There is no excuse not to have a turntable these days........unless you live in Alaska or something. :lol:
When you get to the lower 48 you'll see them in all the used electronic shops and rock bottom prices. Selection can be excellent depending where you go. I have a beautiful Sony that probably cost a grand in '85 and only paid $15.00!!

I have been sort of overexposed to Rush but can still appreciate the talent.
Now old Deep Purple........................see you in the lounge.

A :D

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Dwight Pruitt
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#9

Post by Dwight Pruitt » 27 Sep 2002, 03:21

aufklarung wrote:Do you have "When the Tigers...." somewhere on the web?

A 8O
A very haunting song! It's available on winmx, Kazaa morpheus, etc...

When The Tigers Broke Free"

It was just before dawn
One miserable morning in black 'forty four.
When the forward commander
Was told to sit tight
When he asked that his men be withdrawn.
And the Generals gave thanks
As the other ranks held back
The enemy tanks for a while.
And the Anzio bridgehead
Was held for the price
Of a few hundred ordinary lives.

And old King George
Sent Mother a note
When he heard that father was gone.
It was, I recall,
In the form of a scroll,
With gold leaf and all.
And I found it one day
In a drawer of old photographs, hidden away.
And my eyes still grow damp to remember
His Majesty signed
With his own rubber stamp.

It was dark all around.
There was frost in the ground
When the tigers broke free.
And no one survived
From the Royal Fusiliers Company C.
They were all left behind,
Most of them dead,
The rest of them dying.
And that's how the High Command
Took my daddy from me.

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Aufklarung
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#10

Post by Aufklarung » 27 Sep 2002, 22:51

You rock, Dwight.
Thanx

A :D

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