Why not Peacekeeper

CarneVaca · #1 02-04-2003, 03:35 PM

Dudes, it just occurred to me yesterday as I was playing the wise ass on Mick's board... ahem... I mean wise elder seeking answers to the questions to benefit the community at large... that Peacekeeper is the name of the U.S.'s newest ICBM missile.

Maybe that's why they decided against "Peacekeeper" as the album name, huh?

seteca · #2 02-04-2003, 05:41 PM

Damn....! I doubt that's what LB is singing about, but it would certainly give a whole new (very scary!) meaning to the lyrics of the song...!

...Everyone will suffer the fire we've made,
They all explode just the same,
And there's no going back on the plans we've made

...Peacekeeper take your time,
Wait for the dark of night,

...This is not a test, it's not a drill,
Take no prisoners, only kill.

The last line, in this context, is really horrific...i.e. don't leave anyone maimed/poisoned by radiation, they'd be better off if you killed them.

Is there any chance that Lindsey was talking about the Peacekeeper ICBM programme??

sara1998 · #3 02-04-2003, 06:55 PM

Uh... that makes since to me. Since I've heard the song, I cannot get the meaning of "take no prisoners, only kill".

Maria

CarneVaca · #4 02-04-2003, 11:15 PM

Seteca, that's what I've been wondering myself. I didn't even think of the missile angle until yesterday.

Well, we know he's not afraid of putting really in-your-face lyrics out there, so it could be...

Hopefully he'll clear it up for us in an interview.

chiliD · #5 02-04-2003, 11:26 PM

To me, "Peacekeeper" & "Murrow" are lyrically related (like "Hypnotized" & "Bermuda Triangle" are)

ERigby818 · #6 02-04-2003, 11:39 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by seteca
Is there any chance that Lindsey was talking about the Peacekeeper ICBM programme??

What a horrible thing to call a weapon! That's disgusting!
Well, If Linds is singing about that, I think he is cleverly pointing out the irony. Linds is skilled in the art of sarcasm, and sometimes songs filled with irony and sarcasm make great protests...or at least a profound statement for people to reflect on. The Beatles and Bob Dylan are very good at this.
-Sonia

jwys_soapbox · #7 02-05-2003, 12:22 AM

I agree with the irony angle. I also think there's some satire there too. War and weaponry have always seemed ironic to me because they are so often justified by a desire for peace--Utopia as a result of the size of your arsenal. Apparently those 60s hippies seeking peace by putting daisys in soldier's gun barrels had the wrong idea--they just needed bigger guns than the ones the soldiers were aiming at them (I'm joking, OK). As for satire, Lindsey's line "take no prisoners only kill" is his taking the concept of peace through weaponry to a logical (though cold) next step, for if peace can be got through having the power to blow your enemies off the earth, think how much peace we could have if we really did it (maybe that's the point to Lindsey's "insane laugh" from "Gift of Screws" making an appearance in "Peacekeeper).

John (owns no weapons other than his mouth, thus the nickname "jwys_soapbox")

DownOnRodeo · #8 02-05-2003, 12:44 AM

Yeah, thats a very chilling interpretation.

How long has there been public knowledge available of this Peacekeeper missile, or the plans for its creation? Given that Lindsey wrote the song a few years ago that would help close off that mystery.

But I still maintain the theory, like jwys_soapbox, that this Peacekeeper is in any case about the irony of war/peace politics and doublespeak.

jwys_soapbox · #9 02-05-2003, 01:15 AM

Even if Lindsey had never heard of the Peacekeeper missile, he'd very likily has heard of a peacekeeper--it's the nickname used for a sheriff's gun in a lot of western movies and novels.

I think it's great that Lindsey has written a song that is so provocative for interpretaion. I would say that lyrically he has come up with something that could stand next to some of Stevie's best "poetic" songs about the human condition. It just worries me that irony and satire may be missed in the current political landscape--the verge of war and all. It would be terrible to hear Lindsey's song which satirically questions war used as a call for war at some rally. But that's the danger of writing satire. If Mark Twain were alive today he'd say so, given the often misunderstood status of Huckleberry Finn.

John

CarneVaca · #10 02-05-2003, 09:14 AM

The more I think about this, the more I'm convinced the song is about the missile. This weapon was in the drawing board for a while, of course, and I believe the announcement for its name came some time in the mid to late 1990s, putting it in the right time frame for the song.

Ironically, I made a quip that I was going to write a song called "Heat seekers and Peacekeepers." I like the poetic resonance of the words and their meaning -- heat seekers for war and peacekeepers for peace -- but the phrase kept jogging something in my subconscious -- why did I put those words together? Then it hit me like, well, a missile! A heat-seeking missile!

Within the context of a missile, check out these phrases:

"Wait for the dark of night." Since the Gulf War we've mostly seen bombings at night.

"Soon all the suns will rise." When you see the missiles zipping through the TV screens, those balls of light could be seen as stars (or suns) flashing crazily through the sky.

And of course other folks have pointed out some of the other images in the lyrics.

This interpretation also puts the song squarely within the context of the political meaning a lot of us have attached to it.

DownOnRodeo · #11 02-05-2003, 10:28 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by CarneVaca
This weapon was in the drawing board for a while, of course, and I believe the announcement for its name came some time in the mid to late 1990s, putting it in the right time frame for the song.

You've sold me. That's all I needed to know to accept this interpretation.

CarneVaca · #12 02-05-2003, 10:43 AM

Let me correct myself. The Peacekeeper was deployed in 1986. Tests of this weapon started in 1979. A decision was made, after negotiations with the Russians in the mid to late 1990s, to deactivate it this year. But guess what? Our nuclear stance has changed, so there are theories that this might not happen.

So I was off by about a decade. After a while, the years just sort of run together.

Regardless of the time frame, this still fits with the tenor of the song.

DownOnRodeo · #13 02-05-2003, 10:47 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by CarneVaca
So I was off by about a decade. After a while, the years just sort of run together.
Regardless of the time frame, this still fits with the tenor of the song.

Yeah exactly. No the only thing I was clarifying was whether the peacekeeper missle was after the song was written; then I wouldn't be able to entertain the interpretation. The fact that its been known about for ages, even furthers my belief that this was the tacit topic of Lindsey's song.

CarneVaca · #14 02-05-2003, 10:54 AM

Rodeo, my thoughts exactly.

There was some talk about this missile during the negotiations with the Russians. Evidently, we have 50 of them. And though we are supposed to deactivate them this year, one was tested over the Marshall Islands less than a year ago.

ERigby818 · #15 02-05-2003, 11:11 AM

I'm developing a whole new appreciation for the song. That's a powerful interpretation. Politics aside, I love songs from the 60's that use irony to protest the war/violence or put it in perspective... The Doors Unknown Soldier, Crosby Stills Nash and Young's Ohio and Find The Cost of Freedom among others, The Beatles Happiness Is A Warm Gun, others I can't think of right now. I also like songs that mean the opposite of what they say, like Eric Clapton's Wonderful Tonight. I thought that song was cheesy then I read that it's meant in complete sarcasm about his druggie insecure lover and him being an alcoholic. I enjoyed the song after that.
-Sonia