SWC Theme Song

[jmm99]

does "grow" on one, as one "digs" in.

Roland has two appealing images; one in black & white:



and another in color:



"He" even has "his own" video clip (besides the many Zevon performances), titled "African Bush Wars".

BTW: the scenes in the video clip have nothing to do with Roland, Biafra, the Congo or Mombasa (as its first 10 seconds graphically tell us).

Of course, Roland is an acoustic warrior deployed under artistic license. As such, the lyrics easily present their own mythology and version of history. I suspect that finding a common SWC mythology and version of history - which must underlay a "theme" song - would be as difficult as in 55 Days At Peking (at 03:30-05:45, battling anthems; and especially the clip of the relief column scene).

The realities of "small wars", to those actually involved in those conflicts, extend the conflict beyond military operations to very different perceptions of what happened and why. As an example, these four short clips present the partial viewpoint of one of the professional military units that fought on one side of one small war.

Youtube1

Youtube2

Youtube3

Youtube4

I suppose if one wants to make a valid historical point about the story told in those four clips, one could fairly say that a butterfly flexed its wings in Lisbon in 1974; and the days of UDI became even more numbered than they had been - thus, end of story, or at least end of chapter, by 1980. But, human nature being involved, the story has more facets than a well-cut diamond, or an ill-cut diamond (and the arguments will continue as to which variant viewpoint should be accepted and which should be rejected).

And, so it has always gone ...

Refs:

For those Warren Zevon fans, go here (100s of clips, e.g., playlists of 9 concerts from 1980-2000, including the 1982 Passaic NJ concert - IMO the best renditions of Roland and Werewolves).

Regards

Mike