Three Wars - Momus.mp3

[00:00.00] The first war, the war of 14 to 18
[00:19.20]Begins with an uprising of adrenalin
[00:21.84]The first war begins with the testicles descending
[00:25.56]And desire assassinating the child that you once were
[00:33.90]The war begins at school when you rebel against the maths teacher
[00:38.31]Who touched you up behind his desk
[00:41.52]And ends when you've failed your final maths exam
[00:44.70]And had your first success with sex
[00:47.04]The war brings new discoveries
[00:49.20]How to make dog fights with your thyroid and pituitary glands
[00:54.09]How the Zeppelin can fly at your command
[01:00.36]And a generation lays down its life
[01:03.81]When after all they've done for you
[01:06.96]The good parents die
[01:13.05]Resurrected as your enemy
[01:19.26]And when the girl you've started wanting
[01:21.06]More than all you've ever wanted says "no"
[01:26.16]She is, she is your enemy too
[01:34.86]But you survive
[01:38.43]And from the trenches of your newly found opinions
[01:41.79]Freshly dug, quickly abandoned
[01:45.18]The white flag waves for an armistice on Christmas Day
[01:51.21]Then your voice rings round the family front room
[01:54.45]Like a drill sergeant's in front of his platoon
[01:59.70]Broken, broken too soon
[02:08.31]But you survive
[02:25.05]The second war, the war of 39 to 45
[02:28.23]Begins when you identify your own inner Third Reich
[02:31.44]The second war begins with a sudden hypochondria
[02:34.56]A visit to a doctor who waves a piece of paper and says
[02:38.01]"This time it's just a false alarm"
[02:42.93]The war begins at work with some intoxicating news
[02:47.04]When the letter comes that offers you promotion
[02:50.52]And ends when you decide to let them offer it
[02:53.46]To younger men with more ambition
[02:56.10]The war brings new perspectives when you suddenly see through
[03:00.12]The politics of power which possessed you
[03:02.97]Through all your waking hours
[03:09.51]And a generation lays down its life
[03:12.39]When the whizz kids of the industry
[03:15.93]Slow down, slow down and die
[03:22.11]Resurrected as your enemy
[03:28.29]And when the woman who accepted you
[03:30.06]When all the rest rejected you goes
[03:35.04]She is, she is your enemy too
[03:43.83]But you survive
[03:47.52]And at weekends you get custody of an only child
[03:51.03]Already adolescent and unreconciled
[03:53.67]Who laughs at you, you and your new-found piety
[04:00.21]And his laugh rings round your faint desire for god
[04:03.72]Like an order from an inner firing squad
[04:08.67]Breaking, breaking the ties of blood
[04:17.31]But you survive
[04:39.99]But the third war is the war that never comes
[04:43.56]The war that never comes to everyone
[04:46.32]Begins the second after next by accident
[04:49.59]Ends everything except itself
[04:52.38]The war brings nothing, the unimaginable
[04:55.86]That the old imagine all the time
[04:59.52]Imagine imagination dying
[05:05.82]And a generation lays down its life
[05:08.94]When it refuses the creation
[05:12.24]Of new ways, new ways to live
[05:21.84]And when the great invention falls apart
[05:25.08]Ripping through the atoms of your heart
[05:29.76]The third war, the third war will start
[05:38.43]Which no-one survives