When We Left / The Song Of Displacement

from Now Comes The Dragon's Hour by Grand Union Orchestra

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about

Two different lyrics are interwoven. Written by its singer, a Chilean political exile, When We Left evokes a mood which is only too universal - the mixture of anger, regret, hope and apprehension felt by refugees departing for a new land. The Song Of Displacement is a harsh and highly graphic view of the conflict and civil disruption that creates refugees, the conditions they live in and the future that awaits them.

lyrics

Behind them the ruined towers lie breached and broken
Small careful lives gone beneath the rubble
No matter that they lay within their labyrinth
Quiet and unambitious, shy with strangers
The enemy came and ate them, like a spider

Now round the smoking tents hysterical soldiers
Go at their casual pillage all the morning
Ignoring children's bodies cut to fragments
Fathers of families do rape on corpses
While the blood dries slowly, like a rusting blade

Yo no quiero mi tierra
Herida e oscura
Yo no quiero mi tierra
Vestida de sangre

Between sky and sea I travel, leaving behind faces
A multitude shouting in silence
Break the chains, give us liberty
Behind we left the dead
Behind we left the night
When we left, when we left

¿Dónde quedó el sol?
¿Dónde está la luna?
¿Dónde están nuestros dioses?
Where are our gods?

But now, as you stand inside this steel enclosure
Ancient with pain and pain of pain's suppression
A bundle of rags, your eyes upon the runway
While searchlights cut the air in tiny slices
You touch your permit twenty times an hour

As winds from the south blow softly over the delta
From arm to arm the soldier shifts his rifle
Excited by its cool expensive glamour
A guard dog trembles with an abstract hatred
Slowly unhinging its long glittering jaw

Yo no quiero mi tierra
Herida e oscura
Yo no quiero mi tierra
Vestida de sangre

Behind we left benighted land
And three thousand people who will never return
From the mountains to the sea
Twelve bells rang from the church
Twelve hundred men left for dead
Rivers of flesh meandering
When we left, when we left

¿Dónde quedó el sol?
¿Dónde está la luna?
¿Dónde están nuestros dioses?

When comes the sun?
Where are our gods?
Where is the moon?
Where are our gods?

At last the wheels come screaming off the tarmac
The future plucks you towards a destination
Somewhere with clever uses for your suffering
Giving to liberty its definition
You'll kiss the flag and fall in love with money
Lusting for power and the fire next time

I never wanted to see my land
Hurt and in darkness
I never wanted to see my land
Shrouded in blood

But one remains, his dull foot stuck in history
Stubby, cold, old granite milestone, dying
Joe Never-smile, the local god of boundaries
See how the green moss grows and tries to hide him
He won't forgive, and he will not bow down

credits

from Now Comes The Dragon's Hour, released October 18, 2002
Vladimir Vega (voice, panpipes, quena, charango)
Richard Scott (voice)
Chris Biscoe (alto clarinet, alto saxophone)
Shanti Jayasinha (trumpet)
Eclectic Voices women's choir
Sir John Cass's Foundation School year 6 string ensemble
Music by Tony Haynes
Lyrics by Vladimir Vega and David Bradford

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about

Grand Union Orchestra London, UK

Grand Union Orchestra is a multicultural world jazz ensemble based in London. It has been performing, touring and recording large-scale shows for over 30 years and is well known for its educational work. Grand Union specialises in large-scale musical performances that reflect the backgrounds of its performers and often invites participation from amateur musicians and community groups. ... more