Story Behind The Song

I wanted to write a song about the problems in the Middle East and ended up doing about three months research all contained in a massive Excel spreadsheet. The more I looked at the problem, the more intractable the whole thing became. I think I?m with Ormsby-Gore who said ?Palestine is largely inhabited by unreasonable people?. In the end I stripped out various lists from the research: peoples, people, military groups, holy sites, places. The chorus was constructed from all the words in the research that came out of the conflict. Where necessary the words have been positioned to help the rhyme. Other than being grouped, they are not in any order, nor are they definitive (they are just what was when I stopped the research), nor is there any intention to represent an opinion; any opinion or bias is entirely in the mind of the listener

Song Description

If you think there is a solution to the problems of the Middle East, then you are not in possession of all the facts

Lyrics

[peoples]
phoenicians, israelites, canaanites, maccabeans
marmelukes, arabs, homo erectus, hasmoneans
seleucids, abbasids, amorites, babylonians
kurds, romans, egyptians, assyrians
french, quraysh, persians, palestinians
neanderthal, ottomans, britons, macedonians

[people]
titus, bakr, bush, uthman
zaitar, arraf, arafat, soloman
peres, moses, macdonald, mcmahon
baker, isaac, jabotinsky, clinton
nebuchadnezzar, herod, ben gurion
rabin, al-shukairi, tenet, mazan
joshua, amir, nasser, weizmann
begin, husseini, rogers, adwan
gemayel, hitler, goldstein, eichmann
saladin, pompey, abraham, sharon
ismael, muhammad, shamir, al-qassam
jesus, mitchell, seleucus, aaronsohn
abdullah, maccabee, ormsby-gore, ahad ha'am
ayyash, pinsker, ali, nachman
al-durrah, herzl, argov, hadrian
cyrus, shapiro, alexander, truman
balfour, el-arif, barak, napolean
sadat, hussein, hawatmeh, ramban

settlements, imprisonment, genocide and suicide
conflict, convict, dispute, pursuit
defeat, mistreat, retreat, deceit, evacuee, refugee, internee, deportee, detainee, amputee
barricade, blockade, invade, grenade
parade, degrade, raid after raid
massacre, seizure, censor, traitor, torture, slaughter, conquer
obedience, self-defence, violence, ambulance, insurgence, allegiance, grievance and vengeance
imprisonings, wanderings, conquerings, hijackings, beatings, bombings, rulings, shootings
woundings, jailings, killings
retaliation, humiliation, assassination, interrogation
annexation, confiscation, demonstration, deportation
desecration, excavation, occupation, execution
isolation, segregation, violation, persecution
demolition, destruction, detention, division, restriction, eviction and invasion

[military groups)]
nili, abu nidal
bilu, etzel
mukhabarat, hizbullah
stern group, haganah
israeli defence force, lehi
al aqsa martyrs, south lebanon army
ghazu, fateh
hamas, intifada

[holy sites]
temple mount, holy sepulchre
way of sorrows, kabah
wailing wall, rachel's tomb
al haram al-sharif, joseph's tomb
mount of olives, church of the nativity
mount sinai, garden of gethsemane
patriarch's tomb, mount moriah
dome of the rock, al aqsa

chorus

[places]
jerusalem, babylon, palestine, gaza
tel aviv, acre, tunis, syria
sinai, khan yunis, negev, herzelyia
auschwitz, beirut, camp david, sabra
hebron, jericho, nablus jaffa
galilee, kfar kasem, jordan, qibya
belsen, sarpsborg, golgotha, judea
west bank, canaan, bethlehem, haifa
ashkelon, kishinev, suez, shatila
israel, jenin, nazareth, mount moriah
masada, al-karameh, golan, samaria
basle, egypt,lebanon, ramallah
armageddon