Länsimaisen sotatieteen saavutukset

Annotation

The song "Länsimaisen sotatieteen saavutukset" ("The Achievements of Western Military Science") looked at the weapons used to kill in war, critical of the USA's use of science and power: "we know the gas... being spread into the villages far away... They are a gift to us... from ingoistic leaders, irresponsible researchers, senators, judges, murderers of negroes".

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Lyrics

English: We know western military science well / And we understand whom such science serves / When the American takes a child on his bayonet / And douses the villages with phosphorus / We know the gas that makes you laugh / And the second, which causes diarrhoea / The third makes you bald and the fourth takes your memory / The fifth leads, little by little, to metamorphosis / The sixth clogs the arteries and swells the brain / And the seventh makes the eyes bulge out of their sockets / The eighth is spread on distant villages / It leads to ever more miscarriages / They are a gift to us / From the United States of North America's / Monopoly capital / From war-crazed leaders / From irresponsible researchers / From senators, judges, murderers of negroes / From a little widow / Who invested her last savings in the war industry / And donated her interest income / To renewing the machines at the eye-testing institute for old cats __________ Finnish: Me länsimaisen sotatieteen hyvin tunnemme / Ja ymmärrämme ketä moinen tiede palvelee / Kun amerikkalainen ottaa lapsen pistimeen / Ja fosforilla kylät valelee / Me tunnemme sen kaasun joka panee nauramaan / Ja toisen joka aiheuttaa juoksutautia / Kolmas tekee kaljuksi ja neljäs muistin vie / Viides johtaa vähin erin muodonmuutokseen / Kuudes tukkii valtimot ja aivot paisuttaa / Ja seitsemäs saa silmät pullistumaan kuopistaan / Kahdeksatta levitetään kyliin kaukaisiin / Se johtaa yhä lisääntyviin keskenmenoihin / Ne ovat lahja meille /…

Notes

Finnish Folk Pop group Meripioneerit, influenced by the Nueva canción latinoamericana movement which developed in Latin America in the 1960s, usually with leftist political and social messages

About the artist

group formed and disbanded in 1981

Themes

Anti-War · Civil Rights

In collections

Civil Rights Songs · European Songs · Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs [War Years]