Is There Anyone Else Up There?

a song by Tommy Sands

Thank you for joining me for today’s song, “Is There Anyone Else Up There” by Tommy Sands. If you’d like to hear the song before you read about it, I’ve included a YouTube video below the article.

Comments and questions are welcome. For Japanese students, vocabulary words in bold are provided in Japanese below. TOEFL (PBT) 450+, Eiken 2, CEFR B1. 

(684 words)

Tommy Sands is a famous Irish singer and songwriter. He started out with his family band, the Sands Family, and they played Irish music in places like Carnegie Hall in New York and the Olympic Stadium in Moscow. His songs have been recorded by many other well-known performers and have been translated into many languages. He teaches music to people in prison to help them, and he works with children in Northern Ireland to make music about their towns. People love Tommy because he's kind and makes everyone feel happy with his music.

In Is There Anyone Else Out There, Sands asks if there is a way we can stop the madness of what is happening in the middle East.

Throughout history, groups of people have thought that they were special and that they were chosen by God to do something important on Earth. For example, early in U.S. history, many settlers believed that they had a certain destiny to move to the west of North America and spread their values and morals. According to Jewish religious teachings, the Jewish people were chosen by and have a special relationship with God. The Bible says that God promised to return the Jewish people to their original land which is now Israel.

What would be, if it were true, could we be the Chosen Few 

God has told us what to do - go and take take the land 

The next line asks whether we could be fair (just) and wise about doing this, or whether we will just take over the land and make those living there submit to us. Perhaps there is another way?

Could we be the just and wiser, just like wild colonial boys or

Could there be another voice?

Help me understand 

The chorus of the song asks if there might be another higher being that does not teach people to kill.

Is there anyone else up there?

Is there anyone else up there? 

Is there anyone else up there to say there might be another way?

Is a anyone else up there?

Crusader (AI-generated image)

The Crusades happened in the late 11^th century. Christian Crusaders from Europe went on long journeys to fight wars against Muslims. They wanted to stop Muslim countries from gaining land, take back important places like the Holy Land in the Middle East, and regain areas that used to be Christian.

Crusader (Christian), a holy war (Muslim), what God are we fighting for?

There is a saying in English, “Might makes right.” It means that the more powerful you are, the more you are able to decide what is right or fair. It means that the powerful can enforce their own beliefs on others, even if they aren’t justified in doing so.

If it is right that might is right, who's a God to gain? 

A god of fear? A god of greed? A god of blood the children bleed?

The next line has the word “profits”. Because the lyrics are talking about religious beliefs, there is a play on words with prophets, meaning a person who is someone who people believe can hear messages from a higher power and warn others about the future. But the word profit is similar to the idea of greed because companies and countries make money from the sale of weapons. 

The profits from the rockets that scream like burning rain 

(AI-generated image)

Is there anyone else up there to say don't kill children in your way?

Is a anyone else up there?

Perhaps we should think again about the messages we understand from our religious teachings.

So, if you hear your heaven say, “Slaughter what is in your way”

It's time to change to whom you pray 

Get a second point of view 

For Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Jew 

In most of the world’s religions, there is a passage that conveys the following:

Who wrote in your holy books

“Don't do to another what you don't want done to you”?

Is there anyone else up there above

To speak of Justice, Truth, or Love 

Is there anyone else up there?

Is there anyone else up there?

(photo: Unsplash)

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Question

What does “Don't do to another what you don't want done to you” mean to you?

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Vocabulary

settler 入植者

morals 道徳

submit 服従する

colonial コロニアル (植民地)

justified 正当化された

slaughter 虐殺

pray 祈る

convey 伝える

Source

Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. (2024b, February 18). Crusades. Encyclopædia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/event/Crusades . Accessed 29 March 2024.

Learn more about Tommy Sands at https://www.tommysands.com/

Thanks to

David Rovics

for bringing this song to readers’ attention.