ahh.., kali ini ane mo serius dikit. ..jiakakaaak.., blon jg mulai udah ngakak
)
serius ah, sotoy mode ON, lanjuuut...,
Lagu ini melodinya sederhana, apik, dan liriknya asyik. Ane tiap kali denger nih lagu rasanya miris, selalu kepikiran buat apa sih perang kalo hanya untuk tujuan agresi demi ambisi segelintir politisi kelas rendah?
Peace: Make love, Not War (John Lennon, 1940-1980) is my signature
Goodnight Saigon merupakan lagu lawas yg dirilis oleh
Billy Joel pd thn 1982 dalam album "The Nylon Curtain". Lagu ini sarat dengan makna dan kisah kelabu mengenai peperangan, khususnya perang Vietnam. Lagu ini mewakili perasaan ribuan prajurit US; keresahannya, ketakutannya, ketidakberdayaannya, dan pada akhirnya menggambarkan betapa sia-sianya sebuah peperangan.
Lagu ini dibuat atas permintaan sekelompok veteran perang Vietnam seperti yg pernah diceritakan seorang penulis di salah satu forum:
"
Joel recently said that in the early 1980's a group of Veitnam vets came to him an urged him to write a song about their experiences there. He said he couldn't do it since he never served. They told him that it made him the perfect choice to write it - that real Vietnam vets couldn't get over the emotions involved to write a song about it. So Joel spent several days listening to their stories and then got their
approval before recording the song. - Ken, Louisville, KY"
Coba kita simak beberapa baitnya:
We met as soul-mates
We left as inmates
From an asylum
pertempuran ini pada akhirnya hanya menghasilkan tawanan2 suaka perang yang saat ini konon masih bertebaran di belantara Vietnam.
Berangkat dengan modal semangat yang menggebu-gebu namun akhirnya sebagian dari mereka harus pulang dalam kantong-kantong jenazah bernomor:
We came in spastic
Like tameless horses
We left in plastic
As numbered corpses
Bait berikutnya memaparkan rahasia umum betapa para prajurit US dicekokin dengan segala hiburan, bahkan ganja, untuk meredam keresahan mereka:
We had no home-front
We had no soft soap
They sent us Playboy
They gave us Bob Hope
We passed the hash pipe
Hal yang paling menyedihkan lagi pada bagian chorus dikatakan
"Yes we would all go down together", merupakan pernyataan rasa pesimis mereka dan bayang-bayang kehancuran yang pasti, bahwa mereka semua akan mati bersama-sama, baik prajurit US maupun pejuang Vietnam
Masa kecil yang tersia-siakan untuk suatu peperangan yang mereka sendiri tidak tahu siapa yang benar, siapa yang salah juga digambarkan dalam bait berikut:
They left their childhood
And who was wrong?
And who was right?
It didn't matter in the thick of the fight...
Namun dibalik rasa frustasi itu timbul rasa persaudaraan yang sangat menyentuh untuk saling bahu-membahu, bahkan saling berjanji untuk mengabari ibu-ibu mereka seandainya ada yang tewas
And we held on to each other
Like brother to brother
We promised our mothers we'd write
Dan pada bait terakhir lagu ini merupakan pengakuan samar akan ketidakberdayaan Amerika di medan perang Vietnam. Jika di awal peperangan prajurit Amerika begitu percaya diri dan menyatakan diri sebagai "
And we were sharp - As sharp as knives", namun pada akhirnya kedatangan mereka hanya untuk menyongsong kematian sebagai obyek pembantaian para pejuang Vietnam yang ternyata akhirnya diakui lebih tangguh:
And they were sharp
As sharp as knives
They heard the hum of the motors
They counted the rotors
And waited for us to arrive
(Ane bikin tulisan ini sambil dengerin lagunya.., ooh man, super touching!
Yuk gan, silakan, mangga, monggo dinikmatin lagunya: Goodnight Saigon)
Goodnight Saigon
We met as soul-mates
On Parris Island
We left as inmates
From an asylum.
And we were sharp
As sharp as knives
And we were so gung ho to lay down our lives.
We came in spastic
Like tame-less horses
We left in plastic
As numbered corpses
And we learned fast
To travel light
Our arms were heavy but our bellies were tight
We had no home-front
We had no soft soap
They sent us Playboy
They gave us Bob Hope
We dug in deep
And shot on sight
And prayed to Jesus Christ with all of our might
We had no cameras
To shoot the landscape
We passed the hash pipe
And played our Doors tapes
And it was dark...
So dark at night
And we held on to each other
Like brother to brother
We promised our mothers we'd write
(Chorus)
And we would all go down together
We said we'd all go down together
Yes we would all go down together
Remember Charlie?
Remember Baker?
They left their childhood
On every acre
And who was wrong?
And who was right?
It didn't matter in the thick of the fight...
We, held the day,...
In the palm of our hands
They, ruled the night
And the night, seemed to last as long as six weeks
On Parris Island
We held the coastline
They held the highland
And they were sharp
As sharp as knives
They heard the hum of the motors
They counted the rotors
And waited for us to arrive
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKFEfR_Q16I[/youtube]