Shriekback - Captain Cook текст песни

After eight weeks at sea,
Following the trade winds southeast of Java,
We sighted land, at first
No more than a long white cloud high above the ocean.
As we drew closer, we could discern mountains
And soon verdant plains and lush forests.
As we anchored in a sandy cove,
The native people ran from their rude dwellings to observe us.

Captain Cook took myself, the reverend, and
Four marines with muskets in a long boat, onto the beach,
And there he planted the English flag upon the land,
Claiming it as a colony of the Crown.
As he did so, their Chief, a tall man clad in
Fish-skins, came to observe us.

Captain Cook said:
We bring the gospel of the one true god.
We bring you medicine and video games.
We bring the language of the English queen.
We bring you alcohol and MTV.
We bring you syphilis and organized crime.
We bring you cinema and chemical war.
We bring the poison of our factory minds.
We bring the terror of the passing of the time.

And the Chief said to Captain Cook, "Who are you?"
The Captain said, pointing as his own breast, said, "Friend."
And the Chief did not understand.

So the Captain pointed out to sea at our vessel, and said, "Ship."
And still the Chief did not understand.

So the Captain pointed at a musket, and said, "Gun."
And the Chief said "Gun" and smiled.
And the word, the word, the word caught fire in the Chief's mind.
The word caught fire in the Chief's mind
And splintered into a thousand other words
For which he had no meaning.
Words for machines that flew into the night behind the stars,
The great cities made of metal and glass,
And new kinds of death.

And the chief's head was spinning with this new language,
And he could no longer remember his own tongue,
And he began to weep.
He said, "I don't,
I don't want to know your language, white man."

And Captain Cook said:
Nothing you know can be unlearned,
None of your bridges be unburned.
The new words stick in the brain forever,
No one stays stupid while someone's clever.
We're transmitting, you receive.
This is the software - do you believe?

And the Chief talked to his people,
There as the waves lapped upon the beach.
And the Captain waited, knowing that nothing could forestall
The tide of history coming in over the heads
Of these simple and beautiful folk.

And when the Chief turned to Captain Cook and said,
"We will do battle with you, then, white man,
And you will have to kill us all."
Captain Cook just smiled and said,
"We're not here to fight you, Chief.
No, we're here to transmit a virus.
We're here to transmit a virus called the future.
A virus called the future.
Called the future,
Called the future,
Called the future."

Civilization is Syphilisation,
And yesterday's reason is today's superstition.
There are new receivers and a new transmission.
We're here to pass on this information:
The language/virus inculcation.

The Prophets and Madmen sing their songs:
"Nobody right-nobody wrong."
This is our message--
Pass it on.
Pass it on.
Pass it on...