James -Government Walls

Fantastic song from 1991.  





Lyrics:

Break down the government walls
speak in tongues, power is money
I see our interest fall well behind their curtain
break down the government walls
infiltrate our television
Break down the government walls
trying to be outspoken

I can hear the sound of falling masonry
as they try to plug that leak
I am tempted by their cloak of secrecy
to find out what their games are about

Ask a question and they'll talk
of secret services
secrets from the people they should serve
and they can hide their crimes
in a legal disguise
truth will not be seen or heard

Break down the government walls
bring them down within my lifetime
let's see the curtain drawn
see what they're concealing
Break down the government walls
secrecy suggests deception
Break down the government walls
Trying to be outspoken

Bring down the government wall
Bring down the government wall
Bring down the government wall
Bring down (repeat 11 times)
the government walls!

While in Ireland they may shoot to kill without warning you
or lock you away for a while without trial
and if an honest cop gets too close to the truth of it
they'll set him up in style
in style

Bring down the government wall
Bring down (repeat)
break down (repeat)
break down the government walls!
break down my government walls

Break down the government walls
speak in tongues, power is money
I see our interest fall well behind their curtain
break down the government walls
infiltrate our television
Break down the government walls
time to be outspoken
It's a crime to be outspoken
It's a crime to be outspoken
It's a crime
It's a crime

I didn't have a Canadian flag to burn today - but listening to this classic song makes up for that. One of the first explicitly political songs I ever heard and it was catchy too. Great lyrics.


I found this song on the Just Say Yes to another Excess(1990) two-CD compilation which also had

Daniel Ash - This Love
The La's - Doledrum
The La's - I Can't Sleep
The Wonder Stuff - Circlesquare
Buffalo Tom - Enemy
Buffalo Tom - Birdbrain

All those songs were from the first CD, I used to listen that one CD again and again. At 15 years old it would have been an early taste of what would become 'alternative rock' (Nirvana would explode the following year). I was attracted but slightly disturbed by the host of unknown young musicians on it. There was a booklet that gave one paragraph bios of the bands which I must have read dozens of times.

Most of that CD made me feel weird melancholy emotions I had never known before, here are some Circlesquare's lyrics:


But when James sang 'Break Down Government Walls!' it was proudly defiant. It rocked. I might actually owe that song a big debt because it made bold political skepticism cool to me. In some ways listening to that CD was like hanging out with older kids to me.

Man that CD cover brings back a lot of memories! Especially after listening to some of the other songs on that CD again!

Government walls helped bring political corruption onto my radar as well. I would have only been 12 or 13 when this song came out. Even when I first heard it it didn't really make sense to me but it helped start a spark!

Yeah - in looking over that first CD I was surprised at how much I remember. I remember being later surprised when I realized Daniel Ash was from Bauhaus.

It was either one of the first CDs I picked up or it may have been Mom bringing home some weird thing she thought we like. I find it strange that I would have bought a CD with not a single artist that I recognized so I suspect it was Mom - but I might have been seduced by that cover art....

The cover looks old-school collage (no digital manipulation back then) and Dave McKean's Sandman covers were being done the same way with the same colour tones. So I might have thought the CD cover was 'cool' based on my love of Sandman.

Here is an amazing photo of a Sandman cover - I'm shocked at the physical size of them!