ASSIGNMENT #1: What do you think the composer was trying to say with this song? One page only!

ASSIGNMENT #1: What do you think the composer was trying to say with this song? One page only!

Joe Jackson, “Evil Empire” (1989)

There’s a country where no one knows

What’s going on in the rest of the world

There’s a country where minds are closed

With just a few asking questions

Like what do their leaders say

In sessions behind closed doors

And if this is the perfect way

Why do we need these goddamn lies

This doesn’t go down too well

“we give you everything and you throw it back

Don’t like it here you can go to hell

You’re either with or against us . . .”

There’s a country that’s great and wide

It’s got the biggest of everything

Try to attack it and you can’t hide

Don’t say that you haven’t been warned

You can’t hide in a gunman’s mask

Or kill innocent folks and run

But if you’re good at it they might ask –

Come on over to the other side

There’s a country that’s tired of war

There’s a country that’s scared inside

But the bank is open and you can draw

For guns to fight in their backyard

I could go on but what’s the use

You can’t fight them with songs

But think of this as just

Another tiny blow against the empire

Another blow against the evil empire

Just another blow against the evil empire