“Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves.” This was today’s quote: the words of Abraham Lincoln. Fitting given today’s world.
One Friday halaqa early in my days at Stanford the main segment was a PBS Frontline documentary about various aspects of American foreign policy. As the end credits rolled music was playing in the background and they were playing a music video for some guy. One of the brothers mentioned his name and said he had many anti-war songs. One line caught my attention, it was something about how the government lies and justifies its wars by saying “we’ve come to the aid of a friend.”
Some time later (maybe months, maybe years, it’s all too long ago now) I wanted to figure out how to get the lyrics for that song. Trouble was I couldn’t remember the name of the artist, I couldn’t remember the name of the song, and I couldn’t remember the specific video. (The really scary part was that none of the brothers could remember watching this video or figure out what I was talking about, including the brother who’d expressed such great admiration for the singer :) ). In the early nineties when the web came along I tried to search for the phrase “the aid of a friend” but nothing came up. Well, I gave up. Almost.
Every few years, I’d try the same exercise again. I’d go on the web and search for the phrase “the aid of a friend”. Finally, last year I found it. The singer is Jackson Browne and he did have a period were he was producing increasingly political songs. If you search for his name on youtube you find him singing at an anti-war rally with Bruce Springstein in ‘81, and you find him as part of a group of artists doing an anti-apartheid video. The song I was looking for is called Lives in the Balance, and someone had decided to use it in a “video editorial” by juxtaposing the song with appropriate images of the “men who fan the flames of wars” and images of the actual wars. This video editorial focuses specifically on Iraq, but there are a couple others that followed up on the same idea that also include Palestine.
At any rate, I wanted to share this. Be warned that the videos include some disturbing images. If you’re not up to that, you can just listen to the audio here. Lives-in-the-Balance
Here’s the video editorial I mentioned:
And I was finally able to find the original music video also on youtube:
Salaam Yaser,
I actually had a question that I’ve been meaning to find the answer to for quite sometime so I thought I’d ask you :)
There’s a hadeith that says (paraphrasing) that Allah says that I am to my servant as he /she thinks of me.
(Do you recall hearing that hadieth?)
I’m like sooooooooo confused when I read this. What does this hadieth mean?
does it mean that we should always think ‘merciful’ and that way we’ll be more prone to mercy?
Please clarify
bests!
abdul
disturbing video but real and many people refuse to look at reality
Great song. I love it. thanks for sharing :)
Salaams Yasir…
I remember you showing us a video with this song at TIC 2006 and it affected me then as it does now…Goosebumps and anger. The song is amazing and after reviewing the TIC 2006 version of the video, I felt the new video version with this song hits a bit closer to home due to us actually living the images in our daily lives.
It’s sad that not much has changed throughout the years; we are still using the same song to portray a similar devastating event that is taking place 25 years later.
Jakah Allah Khairun,
Assalamu Alaykom
Excellent video. Jazak Allahu Khayran for sharing.
My second time visiting your blog in what appears to be ages, and I find that you share perhaps a common interest in the singer-songwriter Jackson Browne. Not a single person I know even knows that the man existed! The entire album that the song is from is full of protest songs. Unfortunately, protest songs are what ruined this man’s musical career, as his audience preferred to hear the old Browne who sung of the poetic complications in relationships one has with friends, family, home, land, lover… you get the point. Anyway, next time I see you, inshallah, I’ll be sure to bring this up.