Redgum Blood Upon The Rain
I nurse my mother in a mudbrick room
She weaves her days on a blanket loom
I face conscription when I reach eighteen
Old men starve and widows sigh
Behind the fences corn grows high
Every night there's a disco
For the pimps and marketeers
Fat landowners know no shame
Trade Swiss francs and quaff champagne
In the hills they grow cocaine
For the dealers from the north
There's no grave for heroes here
Some speak out and conquer fear
Every week more disappear
There's blood upon the rain
Pall Mall softpacks, American guns
Government troops bask in the sun
Drawing straws for the whores from the shanty town
Beneath the truncheons you bow and scrape
You learn to hustle, you learn to hate
Bolt the doors when the squads patrol
And terror stalks the night
Suffer my country, children weep
So much pain and oh so deep
The people sow and the fascists reap
And conscience has no name
A new beginning or a hangman's rope
While caution slept, our courage woke
We took up arms and we took up hope
There's blood upon the rain
Clutch your life in each short breath
Another skirmish, a nameless death
The tracks are mined and there's snipers in the trees
The mountain mists hide for years
Our silent power, our faith and tears
The valley streams are poisoned
And the gunships scour the plains
Cock your rifle, mumble prayers
Lying in ambush, wet and scared
Far from towns were dull eyes stare
And tequila loosens tongues
Feel the strength, feel the fire
A nation caged behind barbed wire
A million hearts with one desire
There's blood upon the rain
Companeros, eyes that shine
Close as brothers, we pass the wine
The future's ours, seize the time
And fan the rising flame
Kill the beast and life begins
Silently we spread our wings
If harvests fall, we reap the wind
There's blood upon the rain