Anti-Reagan song lyrics very prophetic of today:

[TroubleMan]

This is from one of my all time favorite songs. These were early 80's anti-Reagan lyrics. They reflect on PNAC and the Bush adminstration almost prohetically at points (especially the "war for peace"). Now can anybody, without a Google search tell me who wrote this and the name of the song?

...........

A newspaper burns in the sand,
and the headlines say ‘Man destroys Man!’
Extra! Extra! Read all the bad news
on the war for peace that everybody would lose
The rise and fall, the last great empire,
the sound of the whole world caught on fire
The ruthless struggle, the desperate gamble
The game that left the whole world in shambles
The cheats, the lies, the alibis
And the foolish attempt to conquer the skies
Lost in space, and what is it worth, huh?
The president just forgot about Earth
Spending multi billions, and maybe even trillions
The cost of weapons ran into zillions
There’s gold in the street, and diamonds under feet
And the children in Africa don’t even eat
Flies on their faces, they’re living like mice
And the houses even make the ghetto look nice, Huh!
The water tastes funny, it’s forever too sunny
And they work all month and don’t make no money
A fight for power, a nuclear shower
And people shout out in the darkest hour
Of sights unseen and voices unheard
And finally the bomb gets the last word
Christians killed Muslims, and Germans killed Jews
And everybody’s bodies are used and abused, Huh!
Minds are poisoned and souls are polluted
Superiority complex is deep rooted
Leeches and lice’s, and people got prices
Egomaniacs control the self-righteous
Nothing is sacred and nothing is pure
So the revelation of death is our cure
Hitler and Caesar, Custer and Reagan
Napoleon, Castro, Mussolini and Begin
Ghengis Khan and the Shah of Iran
Mixed with the blood of the weaker man
The peoples in terror, the leaders made the error
And now they can’t even look in the mirror
‘Cause we gotta suffer while things get rougher
And that’s the reason why we got to get tougher
To learn from the past and work for the future
And don’t be a slave to no computer
‘Cause the Children of Man inherits the land
And the future of the world is in your hands

.....

As a hint, this was from a movie soundtrack (the title track). The movie was a hit.

Here are some more lyrics from the same song:

You search for JUSTICE and what do you find?
You find JUST US on the unemployment line
You find JUST US sweating from dawn to dusk
There’s no justice, there’s ... just us!

[madrchsod]

1. since you brought this up

how about simply red`s "money`s to tight to mention"

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

2. I love Grandmaster Flash!

[TroubleMan]

3. He was the DJ, but`

he didn't write or rap it. You're almost there (think first verse of "The Message")

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

4. Melle Mel?

He did a remake of The Message in the 90's too that kicked ass..just can't remember if it was Melle Mel or the Cowboy in Beat Street.

[TroubleMan]

5. It was Melle Mel

The whole "Beat Street" song is him. In the movie, it makes it look like the main character does the first verse, but he's lip synchin'.

Melle Mel was also the first verse on "The Message" and the first and fourth verse on the remix. His lyrics almost always had a progressive message, and his delivery was the best of his time.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

6. I agree wholeheartedly

The video for The Message II was INCREDIBLE TOO! and very progressive. I used to have a copy of it somewhere.

[disgruntella]

7. "The Message" - my introduction to rap

I saw the video on USA's "Night Flight" when I was 13 and I never forgot it. I still have it on tape but it would probably disintegrate if I took it out of storage...

[TroubleMan]

8. The Message is another eternal song:

"Got a bum education, double-digit inflation
Can't take a train to the job - there's a strike at the station"

Oppression makes for great music. The roots of rap like Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five, Melle Mel, KRS-One, ect. were very outspoken versus Reagan/Bush. Life for minorities became a lot better under Clinton, so rap became all materialistic, because many had a lot of wealth and were showing it off (the whole "bling bling" trend). Groups with messages faded out, because everybody was doing much better - it didn't apply to the man on the street as much; there was hope.

There's a few who still make music like that, like Mos Def and Talib Kweli, but I predict another term of Bush and they'll be a lot more songs like "Beat Street" and "The Message."

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

9. Gotta throw in Public Enemy too!

But have you heard Franti's - Stay Human or the other stuff he did with Disposable Heroes of Hiphopracy?

BTW that question is to you and Disgruntella.