the darkening of the day

[cluebyfour]

This song just popped up on my MP3 playlist. It's 20 years old and was inspired by a visit to Ireland by then-President Ronald Reagan, but other than the couplet about having "the voice of an angel and the face of a saint" (Bush has neither) it continues to be eerily relevant today . . . it really could allude to U.S. foreign policy since at least the Cold War.

Big Country, "Flame of the West"

A stranger came by traveling
He went to every door
He said he'd lost his people
He had come to look for more
And many did believe him
as he talked upon the square
The spell he wove upon us
fills my body with despair

And in his eyes was the Flame of the West
Until it burns he never rests

He had the voice of an angel
and the face of a saint
And though they fell behind him
I knew what it was he meant
His eyes were full of demons
as he made the message clear
He strode the world like Caesar
With a trident held as fear

And in his eyes was the Flame of the West
Until it burns he never rests

It's just how it's always been
One man with the ruling dream
And everyone falls for him
Heroines in an ancient film
Called the Flame of the West

Look out for that stranger
if you pass him on your way
He never sees the danger
in the darkening of the day
There will be dollars in his hand
He has all hell to pay
And he will pass them to you
if you promise you will stay

And in his eyes was the Flame of the West
Until it burns he never rests