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Bosnia
藝術家 arts  /    Cranberries  小紅莓合唱團
作品年份:1996
所屬類型:Song 歌曲
作品出處:Island Records
資料提供者:Buck Lee; image credit - discogs.com
Bosnia Bosnia

Lyric of "Bosnia"

Like the title of this album "To the faithful departed," Cranberries sympathetically deals with the conflict and violence in Sarajevo, Bosnia. This song states at the beginning that the speaker is not blind to fragile lives and the departed in Bosnia:

I would like to state my vision, Life was so unfair
We live in our secure surroundings
And people die out there.

`Life was so unfair` seems to indicate the speaker`s incapability to help `people die out there.` It is just like the following the speaker said, "and we call out in despair." Surely, the speaker points out the difference between over here and `out there.` In other word, the distance or the spatial difference manifests the miserable condition which represents in negative words, such as, `unfair,` `die,` unkind,` `despair,` `tomb,` `fear,` `terror.` Moreover, we could make a list of the contrast between here and there:

Here (Dublin, Ireland) There (Sarajevo, Bosnia)
secure surroundings people die out there
sing song in our room erects another tomb

In addition, we could listen carefully the transition of this song from the despair to the hope. In the last two part of this song, we could hear "When do the saints go marching in?" which seems to reveal some possibilities out there. The question "When do the saints go marching in?" sounds like "when this war and violence will end." We have no idea for this question, but the children sing this repeated line which reveals the hope, peace, and a little bit joy. In the very end, the melody of a lullaby apparently soothes the departed and "babies in their beds, terror in their heads."

Study Questions to "Bosnia"

1. Read the lyric of "Bosnia" and look up via the Net and find out where is Bosnia and what happened in Sarajevo?
2. Try to listen to the song "Bosnia" and discuss the arrangement of music and its implication
3. Make a list of contrast between `over here` and `out there.`
4. Read the lyric alound and try to find out its rhyme within.
5. Discuss the meaning of "When do the saints go marching in?" in the lyric and the song.

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