We’ve really tried to hold back on comment about…you know what…it’s been a strain requiring painkillers to get over the effects of a tongue bitten too hard just once too often. So why break the silence now, since the outcome is already blindingly obvious? It seems petty, but really it’s a reminder that there is nothing too small to lie about – and of course we mean placing bets on the date of the election just after your boss has told you the date of the election. Sheesh. But it’s no surprise is it? Who could forget fast-tracked friends given huge PPE contracts for which they got paid for delivering unusable crap? And making huge profits – not for them the “wartime spirit all pull together for the Nation” attitude – nope it’s the normal (or even larger) profit margin and “when’s the next pandemic ‘cos this one is making me very rich?”
And so a couple of pieces of advice and comment – first Dylan reminds us that “I’m a rambler, I’m a gambler” before adding that “if the people don’t like me they can leave me alone.”
And then Dick Gaughan has some harsh words: “Lucky for some rolling with the loaded dice / lucky for some gambling with others’ lives / lucky for some dealing from a marked-up deck / they made their luck by stomping on everyone else / …/ lucky for some – tough shit for everyone else.” Originally about the music biz, but oh so appropriate.
Robert Hunter nailed them:
“They say that Cain caught Abel rolling loaded dice
Ace of spades behind his ear and him not thinking twice” and
“They say that when your ship comes in
The first man takes the sails
Second takes the afterdeck, the third the planks and rails”
‘We asked for signs
The signs were sent:
The birth betrayed
The marriage spent
Yeah the widowhood
Of every government
Signs for all to see.
I can run no more
With that lawless crowd
While the killers in high places
Say their prayers out loud.
But they’ve summoned, they’ve summoned up
A thundercloud
They’re gonna hear from me.
Ring ring ring ring ring
Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack a crack in everything
That’s how the light gets in’
Leonard Cohen, Anthem (verses 3&4 & Chorus) from album The Future, November 1992