Sunday, March 25, 2007

Group Eight : Lindsey H. (19), Jamia B. (33), Willy K. (33), Craig H. (27), Meredith K. (27), David S. (34)

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

War Pigs by Black Sabbath

Generals gathered in their masses,
just like witches at black masses.
Evil minds that plot destruction,
sorcerers of death's construction.

In the fields the bodies burning,
as the war machine keeps turning.
Death and hatred to mankind,
poisoning their brainwashed minds.
Oh lord, yeah!

Politicians hide themselves away.
They only started the war.
Why should they go out to fight?
They leave that role to the poor, yeah.

Time will tell on their power minds,
making war just for fun.
Treating people just like pawns in chess,
wait till their judgement day comes, yeah.

Now in darkness world stops turning,
ashes where the bodies burning.
No more War Pigs have the power,
Hand of God has struck the hour.

Day of judgement, God is calling,
on their knees the war pigs crawling.
Begging mercies for their sins,
Satan, laughing, spreads his wings.
Oh lord, yeah!

Anonymous said...

In this song, the lyrics in the third verse:"Politicians hide themselves away/They only started the war/Why should they go out to fight?/They leave that role to the poor, yeah" are relevant to me because it shows how, throughout history, those who caused a controversey often have not been the ones to resolve it. The first two lines in the fourth stanza, "Time will tell on their power minds/making war just for fun" shows the artist's opinion that politicians are just power hungry, greedy individuals. The band believes that because the politicians are not the ones that have to suffer through a battle, they see little problem with declaring war. The overall message of this song is summed up by line three of the fourth verse, which states that politicians are "treating people just like pawns in chess."
-Dave Schmidt
Geoff Way's 1:25 class

Anonymous said...

In thin song Black Sabbath is trying to point out the crooked politics and politicians behind wars. In the lines "Time will tell on their power minds, making war just for fun, Treating people just like pawns in chess, wait till their judgement day comes, yeah." it's saying that they're willing to throw their country and people into war but they don't want to be part of the dirty work; they just want to be the control freaks. This song addresses the political aspect of the war unlike many other songs that address the blood and guts of war and it provides a different view on the subject of war. This song also mentions that the crooked politicians will face their own judgements and be forced to answer for their actions.

Anonymous said...

Willy Korn - Erin Mccoy's 1:25 class

This song was written by Black Sabbath not just to paint a picture for the listener of how the typical, bloody battlefield looks, but instead attempts to tell the listener how these awful and violent wars are started. The title itself, "War Pigs", suggests that the politicians and leaders of their respective countries are indifferent about the casualties of war and they will be content as long as they are gaining more and more power. Black Sabbath's attempt to reveal the politician's apathy for the destruction and bloodshed of war is illustrated in these lines:
"Time will tell on their power minds, making war just for fun. Treating people just like pawns in chess"
I belive Black Sabbath was also describing how politicians can hide behind their desks and don't have to worry about being injured. They let the common person do the dying for them. This is illustrated in these lines:
"Politicians hide themselves away. They only started the war. Why should they go out to fight? They leave that role to the poor, yeah."

Anonymous said...

Hey, group!
The song basically vents rage toward the higher-ups that cause us to go to war. It sees war as a pointless act, something that politicians use as more of a puffer effect (like a lizard)than a last resort against an enemy. The title "War Pigs" suggests beings that are sloppy in their actions, greedy for war, insatiable for the spilling of blood. The true anger comes from the fact that virtually innocent people end up losing their lives because some leader is too full of themself to admit he is wrong, and that the latter is never touched. The song's only tune of hope comes at the end when it essentially tells us that these "war pigs" will be judged for the destruction that they have caused.

Anonymous said...

Dear Group,
I think this song has a very interesting take on war. It is very obvious through the lyrics what the singer is trying to portray. Obviously the singer does not believe in the war and also thinks it is ridiculous that politicians decide to fight but are not the ones to go out and do it. I actually agree somewhat with that statement. Although it takes many different types of positions to run a country and to fight a war, sometimes I believe that the people deciding we are going to fight almost make the decision to easily. They know they will not be the ones going out in the field and probably dieing, so it is very easy for them to say yes, lets go to war. The one thing that I did not like about this song was how dark it was. In the beginning very descriptive words such as burning bodies etc.. are used to describe the scene of war, however, I found it to be relatively disturbing and unnesscary in order to get there point across.

Craig Hossenlopp said...

Dear Group,
The first four lines talk about witches at black masses and evil minds that plot destruction. This gives me a dark and bloody picture of a battle. The next stanza talks about the brainwashed men that will fight until everyone is dead. The politicians just push papers and make the decisions while the war pigs are fighting the battle. They use the term war pigs because they are just like wild animals that are trained for war so the politicians can just use them. At the end it says how both the politicians and war pigs will be begging to God at judgment day. Satan spreads his wings because he knows that they are his.

Anonymous said...

Hey Group,
Wow, I really like everyone's perspective on the song. I agree with pretty much everything said. I really agree on all the comments about the politicians. I think that idea is the main point in the song and is important for people who listen to it to realize it. It is apparent that most people interpreted this song as being anti-war. I really like how the main point of the song was to make listeners aware of the possible lies and deceptions that go on behind the political curtain, and Black Sabbath definetly succeeded in making everyone concious of all thats going on. Good Job Guys!

Anonymous said...

Willy Korn - Erin McCoy's 1:25 class - Sectoin 33

Hello friends,
I think everyone was on the same page when writing letter 1. Everybody agreed that the song was anti-war and that the politicians and leaders of their countries are the ones that start the war. They are very responsible for all of the destruction and bloodshed that goes hand in hand with war. I liked Dave Schmidt's choice of words when he described the politicians as being power hungry and greedy individuals. I also agree with Dave when he wrote that the entire song can be summed up in the line three of the fourth stanze: "Treating people just like pawns in chess." Meredith Kwast's letter also helped me understand the lyrics a little bit better because of the words she used to describe the politicians themselves. She pointed out that the song was discussing the crooked politics politicians behind the wars. Once again, I think everyone in our group did an excellent job. I think we all got the same picture from the lyrics of this song.

Anonymous said...

I'm not exactly sure what to say anymore, because it seems that everyone agrees on the meaning behind the song. I like that you get different perspectives when reading each comment, like different ways to say the same thing so that everyone can understand. I think that the war imagery strikes everyone differently, but in the same way. Keep it up, guys!

Craig Hossenlopp said...

What's up group?
I agree with everyone's viewpoints on this antiwar song. It's pretty easy for politicians to point a finger at someone and have them do all the dirty work for them. I don't really agree with war and some politicians. That is why this song is great. It talks about both sides. I agree with Jamia on there not being much more to write about. This song was pretty easy to understand, and most people can relate to the war and politician aspect of it. Way to go team.

Anonymous said...

Willy Korn - McCoy Section 33

Hey gang,

Everyone did a great job of writing about the same thing using different vocabulary. I agree with Jamia and Craig when they stated that there is nothing else to write about. We have already discussed all of the the main points from the lyrics. http://www.antiwar.com/sperry/?articleid=7973
This is an article written by Paul Sperry who is completely against the war in Iraq. I provided the link because he uses the lyrics from this song in his article. In Sperry's article, he talks about how disgusted he is with the President for sending so many brave troops to Iraq, for no good reason. He even calls President Bush a "war pig" and says that the war is just a big game to the President. His article is very similar to the lyrics from the song and that is why I posted it.

Craig Hossenlopp said...

Dear Group,

Everyone was pretty much on the same level. We can all relate to this song because the war on Iraq has been a big part of our generation. This song can be applied to any war. I like the link that Willy gives to the article that relates this song to the current war. Some people are for the war and some people aren't. Some might be right in the middle. This song might persuade someone that is on the fence to become antiwar. The lyrics are detailed and well written. If you don't like rock then maybe this song isn't for you. There are plenty of other antiwar songs in different genres.

Anonymous said...

Dear Group,
I am not really sure what else to say. It seems like a lot of the bases have been covered. It is obvious that the audience for this song is anyone who is anti-war and it seems like most people understood that. Also, nobody seemed to disagree with any of the ideas that were behind the lyrics and the song itself. I agree with everything everyone has said thus far, and do not believe that there is any more room to argue.
Lindsey Howard

Anonymous said...

So, everyone is pretty much in agrement about the song, and the fact that everyone did a great job tearing it apart. I read the article Willy K. posted, and it was basically taking the song and applying it to the current war in Iraq, though (like someone said before me) the song can be applied to an anti-war stance on any war. I think that there have always been at least a few anti-war speakers, but I think it's only recently that more people have really started to question their government's motives and whether or not a war is the best idea. I guess because maybe in the "olden days" people pretty much figured the government to be infallible, but once it made one or two large mistakes that unquestioned trust started to fade.

Anonymous said...

Hey ya'll,
It seems like we all have the same ideas about what this song is about. Because our opinions are all relatively similar, it's difficult to find something to comment on. I also agree that this song allows us to relate to the war in Iraq, however, I don't think that is is necessarily the same situation. Everyones posts seem great and I can tell that this was a good learning experience for everyone.
-3rd post:Dave Schmidt