This is a musical response to the recent Channel 4 Killing Fields video and Darusman UN Report. Literally, it’s political commentary set to Jazz. Genius.
I get the point, broadly. Really well done viral video and a nice song. Called ‘Shame On You’. With Rukshan Perera, Sohan Weerasinghe, and Rajitha Rupasinghe, if the tags are correct. This is my rudimentary transcription. But listen to it, you’ll miss the scatting. Also, the great metaphorical use of slide transitions.
When the West claimed there were WMD
And bombed in the name of democracy,
Where were you?
Where were you?When they openly tortured prisoners of war
Violated all human rights law,
Where were you?
And, where were you?Their death toll is in millions,
And they’re all innocent civilians,
Only now you are talking of human rights
Ban Ki-moon, you must be kidding, right?For 30 long years when we lived in fear
And suicide bombs danced in the air
Where were you?
And, where were you?When our children were forcefully dragged into the war,
Who didn’t know what they were fighting for
Where were you?
And, where were you?We finally ended a brutal war,
Now working on peace we’ve been waiting for
But now you are talking of human rights
Ban Ki-moon, you must be kidding, right?Shame, shame on you
Playing double standards and bullying us
Writing unfair reports to divide usShame on you,
You, and shame on youDo do,,, not transcribing this
Yes we have learned lessons from the past
We have gone beyond the race and caste
Don’t you see
We want lasting peaceWe’re resettling families in North and East
Embracing our brothers for lasting peace
Don’t you see
We want lasting peaceYes we need support from the world at large,
To soothe our souls and forgive our past
To mend our minds and the wounded hearts
Uplift our nation, don’t break us apartShame, shame on you
Playing double standards and bullying us
Writing unfair reports to divide usShame on you,
You, and shame on youclassy exit..
I’m not a big fan of the ‘but the west is worse’ argument in regards to universal rights, but I think they move beyond that into a discussion of how Sri Lankans are trying to move forward in a positive way. They’re saying that negative reinforcement from the outside world doesn’t help, and I tend to agree. I certainly like how they put it. It’s jazzy.
Hat tip to Raisa Wickremetunge for the link
Man, I am shocked :
Horrible singing,no flow, cheap badly done video, lame argument and detached from reality. If this is not meant to be a joke its just pathetic.
SHAME ON YOU, Rukshan Perera, Sohan Weerasinghe, and Rajitha Rupasinghe for putting out such a crappy song out…who do you think you are going to fool? Only a couple of million Sinhala Buddhists…It takes 2 to tango…
…and SHAME ON YOU Indi, for posting such crap on your site…
Tu quoque type arguments hardly prove anything and almost never contribute constructively to any discourse.
Jazz or no jazz this kind of reasoning should be STRONGLY discouraged. I’m referring to the kind of arguments that start with “well the west did it too and what was the UN doing then ? ..” this is flawed reasoning. It’s just not a good rebuttal simply because it cannot negate the fact that we may have committed acts that are morally reprehensible. I’m always shocked to hear this type of reasoning when confronted with the Ch4 issue :( sad really.
I do not agree on how the west is approaching post war SL. But this song sucks!
it’s not even so bad that it’s good?
There should be an independent investigation into that song.
Excruciating. I couldn’t get even half-way through it.
Hmm,
I loved the song! Wonder where all this hate in the comments is stemming from?
Ah David BlockHead seems to have a sense of humour…
We Shot The Lasantha, And We Also Burnt The MTV
(sung to the tune of ‘I Shot the Sheriff’)
By Rogerproxy and the Righteous Brothers
We shot the Lasantha, and we also burnt the MTV.
We shot the Lasantha, and we also burnt the MTV.
All around in ‘The Land of the Blind,’
They are blaming our ‘Gang of Four’.
They say they want to bring us in guilty,
For the killing of ‘Lasantha’,
And burning of the ‘MTV’.
But we say:
We shot the Lasantha, and we also burnt the MTV,
but we swear it was not in self-defense, (it was just to teach the media a lesson.)
We shot the Lasantha, and we also burnt the MTV,
and we say it is a minor offense…(an International Conspiracy)
Lasantha always hated us;
For stealing the ‘Tsunami Aid’ and ‘Crooked Arms Deals’.
He exposed are dirty deals in the ‘Sunday Leader,’
So we said ‘Kill him before he exposes more!’
So we said ‘Kill him before he exposes more!’
We say:
We shot the Lasantha, and we also burnt the MTV,
but we swear it was not in self-defense, (it was just to teach the media a lesson.)
We shot the Lasantha, and we also burnt the MTV,
and we say it is a minor offense…(an International Conspiracy)
Lasantha was on his way to the office,
To expose all our dirty deals.
So we shot, we shot him down.
We say:
We shot the Lasantha, and we also burnt the MTV.
We shot the Lasantha, and we also burnt the MTV.
Dear BlockHead…shouldnt there be an independent investigation into the killing of Lasantha?
@David Blacker Hahahahahahahahaha
I hate the song so much it makes me want to carve my ears out with a Hutu machete, that’s how much i hate that song. And I hate it’s ‘you did so we can do it too” attitude that is quite prevalent in the song. As a Buddhist nation I think it’s the countries duty to respect human life, and to be honest forget the UN and Channel 4’s of the world Sri Lankans do not resepct human life, that is it.
Maybe the hate is stemming from people who have taste?
Ugh, I hate everything about this, the message, the tacky special effects, their wardrobe choices, and mostly the song itself. ok, maybe I hate the message more than the song.
it’s not even so bad that it’s funny.. that classifies as things you show your friends to make them laugh, this would just make them cringe.
That trio must feel mighty good at having used their music to send a ‘positive message’ out to Sri Lankans. Out of curiosity though, when they say ‘Yes we need support from the world at large,To soothe our souls and forgive our past’ – they mean, ‘Just don’t say we were ever wrong’, yeah? 14,114 hits must do wonders for them.
Hey, Dunce, stick to your day job. Your song is worse than the original one. I didn’t think that was possible, but you’re a surprising bugger.
Answer my question dear BlockHead.
…should or shouldnt there be an independent investigation into the killing of Lasantha?
When you have stopped singing, farting and/or otherwise acting the goat for 3 consecutive months, dear Duncy, I’ll have an adult conversation with you.
I think this one is much better.
No