Killing
An Arab
Standing on
a beach
With a gun in my hand
Staring at the sea
Staring at the sand
Staring down the barrel
At the arab on the ground
See his open mouth
But hear no sound
I'm alive
I'm dead
I'm the stranger
Killing an arab
I can turn
and walk away
Or I can fire the gun
Staring at the sky
Staring at the sun
Whichever I choose
It amounts to the same
Absolutely
nothing
I'm alive
I'm dead
I'm the stranger
Killing an arab
Feel the
steel butt jump
Smooth in my hand
Staring at the sea
Staring at the sand
Staring at myself
Reflected in the eyes of
The dead man on the beach
The dead
man
On the beach
I'm alive
I'm dead
I'm the stranger
Killing an arab
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Robert
on 'Killing An Arab'...
"The song was written in 1976, when I was 16. We used to play
it in a pub in Crawley and it didn't seem that earth shattering at
the time, and it seemed quite ludicrous to me that it suddenly became
an issue last year. It was only when someone suggested that it was
somehow some sort of publicity stunt that I thought, 'This has really
gotten out of hand,' and that's when I asked for it to be withdrawn
from airplay, just to make it obvious that we had no interest in perpetuating
it as an onrunning issue. It was just unfortunate that the real world
intruded". (The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee raised
objections to the air-play of the song when Standing on a Beach was
released. Robert and Elektra drew up a cover sticker explaining the
song's intent and requested that radio stations discontinue airing
the song. (Eastcoat Rocket 22nd July 1987)
"It was a short poetic attempt at condensing my impression of
the key moments in 'L'etranger' (The Outsider) by Albert Camus".
(Cure
News 11 - October 1991)
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Killing
An Arab
7" Fiction Single |
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