4 thoughts on “If I had a rocket launcher”

1. Thanks for posting this.

2. La Marchionesse de WitchHampton under Buzzard de la Zouch

   Your Grace

   I apologize for perhaps thinking about things too much – I do not understand this song – does it relate to a specific context ? Guatemala ? Remember I’m just a dumb Rooinek – most Rooineks don’t kNow which part of the Pacific holds Guatemala !!!

   but the song’s Anger & Over-Generalization seems to be a replacement for rational analysis

   Yes, some generals are bad (eg Trotsky, Mao, Schickelgruber etc) … but generals/admirals can be beneficial

   eg we needed Eisenhower, Nelson & Marlborough to persuade Mr Hitler, Napoleone Buonaparte & Louis Quatorze to be “reasonable”

   Bruce sings “I don’t believe in hate” and then goes on to lament agnrily & bitterly at the absence of a rocket-launcher in his hands, because it stops him making sure [he’d] make sure somebody pay” – presumably this is a euphemism for mutliply murdering and/or maiming the helicopter crew

   … and wouldn’t his use of the hereinbefore-mentioned r-launcher invite retaliatory bombing from the helicopter

   Che Guevara was an attractive figure, with a great compassionate social-concern for a suffering humnaity

   but

   am I right to suspect that Kamerad Fidel deliberately sent Che to Bolivia on a hopeless mission, intending him to be killed

   Certainly, we should ask if organizing a Guerrilla Campaign in Bolivia (ie planning mass-murder) was really an effective way to improve the lot of poor Bolivian Folk

   Your Grace’s obedient servant etc

   G E

3. I do not know as much about Che Guevara as I should, but I CAN indeed clarify some of the issues that this song raises with regards to Guatemala.

   First of all, you should know that the author of the song was blown up by an American-funded bomb while working with a humanitarian agency in Guatemala, although he didn’t die. He’s been shot at as well, repeatedly, although he’s always managed to make it out before serious injury. He’s also made rage at injustice, and the injustices it tempts us towards, a central theme in his work. I remember seeing him in concert at Expo 86, which had a very bad reputation as an event because the city systematically rendered homeless over a thousand poor people so that they could have a nice, waterfront site for the expo, which they later sold at huge profit. So it was quite fashionable to protest Expo 86. Cockburn took the stage and gave a short, passionate speech against the government’s actions in forcibly evicting those people, a speech which was loudly cheered.

   Then he said, “Mind you, we can’t cheer too loud…we are here.”

4. Jawohl

   Being bombed sure transforms your Welt-und-Lebens-Anschauung

   GE

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