Sometimes it helps to look to the past in order to put the present in context. With that in mind, here’s a song I wrote in 2000, just before the US and Australian elections.
War is Over
Words and Music by Dan Walmsley
It’s the year 2000
End of the twentieth century
In which humans perfected
All kinds of hideous weaponry
The first and second world wars
Showed us the ways of evil men
But now we’ve learned the lessons of history
We’ll never have to learn them again
Peace upon the Earth
Many wars were caused
By leaders going off their tree
But Democracy will make
Our leaders act responsibly
Our voting rights ensure they’ll do
Exactly what we say
And if we protest something loud enough
I’m sure they’ll back the fuck away
Because war is over
Peace from now on
Technology will help us move away from fossil fuels
And the Middle Eastern tension will be gone
War benefits just two groups
In modern societies
Weapons manufacturers
And construction companies
So preventing war is simple
All we have to do is say
People closely linked to those two groups
Cannot run the USA
Peace upon the earth
Now that war is over
We can turn our thoughts to peace
Use the SAS to find lost kids
And go on missions planting trees
By next year our great nation
Will have reconciled our violent past
And that unpopular John Howard
Will be voted out at last
Because war is over,
Peace has come at last,
Kyoto will be signed, society we be refined,
And violence will be looked upon as crass
Yeah war is over,
Peace forever more,
We’ve hurt so much and learned so much in the 20th century,
I can’t wait to see what the 21st one has in store