On eBay
And it all ends up as stuff that you can buy
Welcome to new subscribers and regular readers! Thank you for joining me for today’s song, “On eBay” by Chumbawamba (2004). If you’d like to hear the song before you read about it, I’ve included a YouTube video below the article.
Below, you’ll find my interpretation of the lyrics which are written in italics. For Japanese students, vocabulary words in bold are provided in Japanese below. TOEIC (PBT) 450+, Eiken 2, CEFR B1.
(644 words)
The background
In 2003, the U.S. and its allies invaded Iraq. During the chaos that followed, the National Museum of Iraq in Baghdad was looted. When American soldiers went in, the local police system broke up, and looters went into the museum, stealing or destroying thousands of priceless artifacts. The museum had some of the world's most important collections of Mesopotamian artifacts from over 7,000 years of history.
Because there was no one guarding the museum, people stole thousands of objects, including ancient sculptures, gold jewelry, and cuneiform tablets. Some items were taken out of Iraq secretly and sold on the black market, while others were damaged or lost forever. The destruction was seen as a major cultural tragedy.
The song
Oskar Kokoschka was an artist, poet, and teacher. He was best known for his works in the impressionist style. One of his paintings was taken by the Nazis from its Jewish owner during WWII. The first line of the song refers to the looting of valuable art during a time of war. The singers in the background sing sad, so sad in an ironic way.
Mr. Kokoschka, it just happened again (sad, so sad)
They struck the museum like a hurricane
All of our culture, it's dead and it's gone
From Babylon, baby, back to Babylon
Babylon was an ancient city in Mesopotamia, located in what is now Iraq. This last line refers to the fact that thousands of objects were stolen from Babylon (Baghdad), sold on eBay, and then eventually came back to the museum.
In the song, notice how stuff means different things. It often refers to things that are not of much value.
There's stuff you find along the way and stuff you leave behind
And it all ends up as stuff that you can buy
On eBay, from Babylon back to Babylon
In old Baghdad, they're dusting off the antiques (sad, so sad)
It's the fourteenth Guernica we've had this week
(This refers to the Guernica painting by Picasso that was bought and sold several times on eBay. This did not, in fact, happen. The songwriters are being ironic.)
I got twenty-five dollars for a Persian vase
Hold the critique, I think I'll go large
In other words, don’t complain about what I’m doing. It’s more important for me to make a profit than to be concerned about another country’s cultural history.
That stuff inside your houses and that stuff behind your eyes
Well, it all ends up as stuff that you can buy
On eBay, from Babylon back to Babylon
They're building a tower out of wrappers and cans
Building a tower could refer to the Tower of Babel, a story from the Bible that explains why we have different languages. Babel is close in pronunciation to Babylon, so maybe the song writers were playing with the words here. Wrappers and cans might refer to meaningless objects that people will buy and sell.
Now we speak in a language that we all understand, in other words, making money from selling things.
T-t-t-t-toungue-tied and starry-eyed, meaning to be excited about making money on Internet.
It's the ancient history of old school ties
Old school ties usually refers to social networking at elite universities. Here, it could be saying that even the power structures of the elite are part of this buy-and-sell world. Status, privilege, and historical respect are just another thing that can be bought or sold like items on eBay.
There's stuff dressed up as truth and then there's stuff dressed up as lies
And it all ends up as stuff that you can buy
On eBay…
Some of the stolen artifacts have been returned, but many remain missing. The museum eventually reopened with more ways to protect it, but so many artifacts were lost. It is a painful reminder of the war’s impact on Iraq’s rich history.
Question
What can be done to protect a country’s cultural heritage during a time of conflict?
Vocabulary
ally/allies 同盟者
to loot 略奪
priceless artifacts 貴重な遺物
cuneiform 楔形文字
black market 闇市場
jewish ユダヤ人
ironic 皮肉
stuff もの
critique 批評
wrapper 包装
privilege 特権
Source
https://www.dw.com/en/nazi-looted-art-cases-remain-unsolved-mysteries/a-16863346
#英検2級 #protestsong #protestmusic #chumbawamba #iraqwar #culturalheritage #art #history
I remember the reports for this incident Louise,we were in Ireland with an friend who was a researcher for the local museum, we sat thinking of the historians, the archeologists who must have spent vast hours of days of the lives researching these objects, learning, documenting... we were so saddened by the loss of such important national relics.
"That stuff inside your houses
and that stuff behind your eyes
Well, it all ends up as stuff that you can buy
On eBay, from Babylon back to Babylon"
So true... ❣️
Thank you Louise for your addtional explanation.
I don't have much of an imagination and I could not uderstand what they implied, but I now uderstand the lyrics better and what you meant when you sad "The singers in the background sing sad, so sad in an "ironic" way." Thank you alwasys for taking time to answer my questions.
Mitsuru Hiki