The words "collateral damage" have come to mean dead civilians. This song puts those words in context.


Collateral Damage

you loved your sweet country for all of your life
like your mother and father before you
the land runs deep, so deep in your blood
your flesh and your bone and your sinews
descendants and ancestors, deep as it goes
a relative circle as far as your eye
it can all be undone in the flash of an instant
mechanical thunder that bruises the sky

(chorus)
goodbye to my relatives, all of my life
never again will I see
you won't have a name when they fly the big airplanes
collateral damage is all you will be

from a faraway place where the language is strange
they come with their angry machines
and the clouds rain a metal that hurts when it falls
and it shatters the ground, making everything scream
and the children run crippled, the old people hide
the babies are caught in the rubble debris
but the strangers don’t know you, you are only a number
and how can they respect what they can’t even see

(chorus)

a mother is more than a number to a baby
who now has to grow up on it’s own
and a grandfather blinded and crippled at his age
is more than just a statistical drone
all of these people are human beings
and deserve to be more than a footnote
this cynical language of killing is killing us
caught like a bone in humanity’s throat

(chorus)

so if you see a ghost in the lonely wind blowing
like shrapnel the sound of the rain
and it’s speaking a language you don’t understand
but you know what it means just the same
it’s too late for innocence, all of that’s over now
don’t say that you didn’t know
when they come to collect for the damages owed
the collateral may be your own

(chorus)

Collateral Damage

Avtor glasbe: Bob Dylan
Avtor besedila: Bob Dylan
Izvedba: Severa Gjurin
Avtorja priredbe: Severa Gjurin, Chris Eckman
Založba: Izdalo Veleposlaništvo ZDA v Ljubljani

Not Dark Yet - Severa Gjurin (priredba / cover)

Children Of The Sun 2 - Atmospherics

The classic from Blind Faith played and sung by me.

Can't Find My Way Home

Jim Page was named by Seattle Metropolitan Magazine as “One Of The 50 Most Influential Musicians In Seattle History.”  He has recorded 21 albums over the course of a 40-plus year career and written a mountain of songs.  Originally a California native Page has called Seattle and the Pacific Northwest “home” since 1971.  His songs have been covered by The Doobie Brothers, Christy Moore, Dick Gaughan, Michael Hedges, and Roy Bailey.  He has toured in 13 countries including the US, Canada, Ireland, the UK, most of northern Europe, and Taiwan.  Renowned lyricist Robert Hunter says, “If Jim Page ain’t the bastard son of Woody Guthrie I’m T-Bone Walker,” and Bonnie Raitt says, “I'm a longtime admirer.”  The late Utah Phillips said it best: “If you’re ever going to get the message, this is the messenger to get it from.” 


Collateral Damage

Folkpunch

Related tracks