A Kiss Behind the Barricades
From Hang a Flag in the Window by David Rovics (2002)
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For Japanese students, vocabulary words in bold are provided in Japanese below.
The Song
(467 words)
I don’t usually write about love songs because they don’t deal with issues in society. They don’t normally talk about specific people or events in history that have an impact on people’s lives. Sometimes, though, you can find a song like that. But today, I offer a different kind of love song.
It’s a song about having someone’s back, about taking care of another human being, a comrade, who shares your values and is willing to stand up for them.
The song is Behind the Barricades, written in 2001 by David Rovics: “I read a piece on the web somewhere that my beloved friend and comrade, Starhawk, wrote at that time, from [the G8 meetings in] Genoa [Italy], about the importance of taking care of each other after terribly traumatic experiences, such as large-scale police riots that involve a lot of your friends getting their bones broken and such” (Rovics).
Many protests around the world today are met with police who are armed with military-style uniforms, weapons, and vehicles. Rovics provides the listener with the image of a kind of war zone. Yet in the past as today, there are many times when this song could have been sung: from the French and Tokyo student protests of the 1960s, to protests in Egypt, Malawi, Brazil, India, and in cities like Bangkok, Beijing, Ferguson or Portland.
When they’re gunning down our comrades
And it seems the end is near
As they’re loading up the launchers
For the tear gas grenades
And then, there is a slight pause in the chaos, allowing people a chance to…
We can take off our bandanas
And kiss behind the barricades
A lot of other things go on at a protest, not only marching and chanting.
We will cry and we will sing
We will laugh and we will dance
The police regroup in order to attack again.
As they shout their marching orders
Beneath the helicopter blades
We will seize the moment
For a kiss behind the barricades
The purpose of the moments of joy while working together to make a change is to give us the courage to keep going, to never give up.
They will try to break our spirit
And at times they may succeed
But our love for the world
Is stronger than their greed
When the building is surrounded
And hope begins to fade
In my final hour
A kiss behind the barricades
As the movement grows
There will be hills and bends
But at the center of the struggle
Are your lovers and your friends
The more we hold each other up
The less we can be swayed
Here’s to love and solidarity
And a kiss behind the barricades
VOCABULARY
traumatic トラウマ
riot 暴動
involve 巻き込む
vehicle 車両
gun down 銃撃
launchers 発射装置
tear gas grenades 催涙手榴弾
regroup 再編成
seize つかむ
greed 貪欲
be surrounded 包囲される
fade 萎む
struggle もがく
the less we can be swayed 揺れ動くことはない
solidarity 連帯
SOURCES
Behind the Barricades. David Rovics - Singer/Songwriter. https://www.davidrovics.com/songbook/behind-the-barricades-2/ Accessed 5 August 2023.
Really moving, poetic lyrics,