Here’s an anti-war anthem I wrote in 1979-1980 when Russia invaded
Afghanistan. Then as now, people were terrified it would lead to nuclear war. Instead it led to a futile, nine-year battle between the State of Afghanistan and Russia against the guerrilla group Mujahideen.
The song won an award and I was invited to Longford in Tasmania to
sing it at a folk festival. The lyrics and sheet music were published in a
long-defunct magazine called Stringybark and Greenhide. Anyway, this
is the only known recording of the song, from the live album, Little Deeds (1998), which is no longer in circulation.
As I said in the intro, this song is so old it refers to the Holden
Kingswood as the family car. I always meant to update it, add a contemporary verse or two but it never quite gelled.
I’m chuffed that Eric Bogle has seen fit to keep the theme going in 2022 with his song, The Armageddon Waltz, from the new album, The Source of Light.
It’s a lament for all the things we have lost and are yet to lose to climate change. And as is the Bogle way of never obscuring the message, the refrain is “it’s the Armageddon Waltz, folks, and were all going to die.”
Good one, Eric.
