Song des Tages: American Babylon

(Saviour Machine: "American Babylon", aus dem Album "Saviour Machine II", 1994)

A thousand bloody hand-prints stain the walls of liberty.
A stranger hides in dreams denied, awaiting his release.
I've seen this picture before.
I never thought that we would end up here.
When fascism comes as an angel of light
Its license parading as tyranny thrives forth its son.

The son of mourning dominating fears, afflicting fallen men.
His body highly organized is coming into prominence
To bear its ominous warnings.
It's in your blood to comprehend its origin.
For those who refuse to remember the past
Are condemned to repeat it,
The first and the last, dust to dust ...

History is his story
And life is laughing at its peril.
Building towers that come fourth in men.
Shifting powers consuming us within.
They will puzzle the apostles till the end.

Enter into the silence, into the dying life of America,
The brave, the slave, the grave.

The shattered pigs dying as primitive savages,
Eating their flesh, they'll lie rotting in dirt,
While a stranger among you has challenged the course
Of the human existence and alien forces.
The birth of the black prince is setting the stage
In its thriving dissension, exalting his rank,
And the innocent man will fall victim to hands
In the trial of truth and its twisted reversal.
The union of factions bleeds shock to the system,
For civilization has ended today.
The transitional nature of acts and society climbs in its place
While its face re-creates ...

... Until your god is dead.
Enlighten me with your pale statues, face of inhibition.
Until your reign has ended,
Frighten me with your stale – taste – tongue of inquisition.
In your eyes I will come forth in men,
With no justice, no order to defend –
And the stone will be cast again ...

Enter into the fire, into the bloody gates of America,
The great, the fate, the late.



Anmerkung: Einer Band aus Kalifornien kann man schwerlich Antiamerikanismus vorwerfen. Und auch wenn dieser Band immer wieder das alberne Mäntelchen des Christentums umgehängt wird, weil sie gelegentlich aus biblischen Texten zitiert, sprechen das Werk und auch dieser spezielle Song eine ganz eigene Sprache, die weder den bösen alten Männern in Rom, noch den christlichen Fundamentalisten in den USA oder der deutschen Grünpartei gefällt. Ich verehre Saviour Machine für ihre außergewöhnliche Musik und für Textzeilen wie die hier wiedergegebenen. Es gibt offensichtlich auch in den USA Menschen, die klar bemerken, dass hier etwas (wieder einmal: "For those who refuse to remember the past are condemned to repeat it") völlig aus dem Ruder läuft:

"When fascism comes as an angel of light" – ist der "Point of no return" nur noch einen Katzensprung entfernt. – Das war 1994. Vor über 20 Jahren. Ich kann mich dem Resümee dieser Band nur anschließen:

"Civilization has ended today."