The Minaret
John Vanderslice * Track #7 On Emerald City
The Minaret Lyrics
It’s the end of spring
And light hangs on
Dripping over geraniums
And humming bird wings
In the blaze of summer
We’ll tap our weapons out
To the cadence of a melody
They sang at Normandy
It won’t be
The same the again
And we’ll just walk away
It’s the end
We crossed on the ridge
And cut their women down
I climbed up on the minaret
And occupied the town
They scattered in the woods
To gather up their strength
Dripping blood on the road
And oh how the animals looked on
They all see how we’ve changed
All the rules of the game
I can see both sides
I can see both sides
I can see both sides
I can see both sides
I can see both sides
And it paralyzed me
An eye for an eye
Was a way to limit revenge
We’ve done away with all of that
Read how it all begins
It was written years before
Same name, same war
I can see both sides
I can see both sides
I can see both sides
I can see both sides
I can see both sides
And it paralyzed me
Inside
The Minaret Q&A
What did John Vanderslice say about "The Minaret"?
The song is about the Iraq War, from the perspective of an American soldier. From a 2007 PopMatters profile of Vanderslice:
His views on the war in Iraq come to light on the song “Minaret”, where an American soldier subtly describes the pillaging of an Iraqi town. There is no partisan political mes...