Lettera di Robert Bowman
2005 · Block Nota CD BN 502 · Turin, Italy
- Artist
- Fausto Amodei
- Title
- Lettera di Robert Bowman
- Release
- Per fortuna c'è il Cavaliere
- Year
- 2005
- Label
- Block Nota # CD BN 502
- Format
- CD · Album
- Language
- Italian
- Country
- Turin, Italy
- Songwriter
- Fausto Amodei, after Robert Bowman
- Genre
- Folk · Contemporary Italian Folk Music
- Primary theme
- Post-War
Lyrics
English: Spoken: // "This letter, addressed to the President / Of the United States and titled 'Why the / United States Is Hated,' was written in / 1998 by Robert Bowman, a Catholic / Bishop from a diocese in the state of Florida. / During the Vietnam War, Bowman—holding / The rank of lieutenant colonel—had / Taken part in more than one hundred combat / Missions." // Tell the truth, Mr. President, / Tell the truth to the people. / Stop spreading far and wide / Lies, falsehoods, and untruths. / It is not true that, if terrorism threatens / To grow stronger by the day, / We must respond in kind— / With a thousand arsenals of death. / A 'Star Wars' system— / Costing as much money as you can spend— / Will not ensure that a few assassins / Don't plant bombs among us. / Do not tell the people that we are a target / For advancing terrorism / Simply because—by chance or by mistake— / We are not strong enough. / Do not repeat that lie again— / The claim that some want us defeated / Because we defend democracy, / Freedom, and human rights! / On the contrary, our government is all too happy / To offer—with full honors— / Aid to those who practice exploitation, / To despots and dictators. / We are a target because we are hated— / And, sadly, made notorious— / By our own governments, which have stained themselves / With heinous acts and crimes; / Governments that sent agents / Into many countries to do their dirty work— / To depose or kill leaders / Who had been elected by their own…
Notes
Track 9 of 14 on the book-and-CD "Per fortuna c'è il Cavaliere" (Nota, Udine; ISBN 9788801305029). A spoken-and-sung setting of the 1998 open letter to the US President by Robert Bowman, Vietnam veteran and bishop, "Why the United States are hated".
About the artist
Fausto Amodei (born Turin, 1934) — architect, singer-songwriter and founder member of Cantacronache (1958); author of "Per i morti di Reggio Emilia". [Source: Wikipedia (it)]
Themes
Vet · Anti-Imperialism · Anti-American · Iraq War · Protest