Nation (Of the Heartless Kind) (2003) – David Bridie

Nation (Of the Heartless Kind) is an Australian protest song by David Bridie released on his 2003 Hotel Radio album. This is the fourth song to appear from Bridie’s obscenely underrated Hotel Radio record. No information seemingly exists about this song and it’s almost certain you haven’t heard of this 2003 record unless you have read my previous song articles. There isn’t even a wiki page about Hotel Radio, but most of the songs from this record will feature in this music library project.

We dare not move
We sit close by, we’re drinking the spoils, ignoring the cries
The one in every three dead
Haunting back on our shores
Is this all we’ve got the energy for?
Where has our heart gone?
Selective memory, isolationists
Falling back on ourselves pretend that we’re strong
We’re not that strong…
I believe that we had the chance to show
The strength in our heart, true test of our metal
And when the first hurdle came with the yards to be done
We fell, we crashed, we cried and fell down
Is this our whole nation of the heartless kind
This is a sorrowful song
This is a sorrowful song
Remember back when the Great Wars ended
They took us to those places, very special places
And we told them all, we’d never forget
We’d stand arm in arm
Judge us by the way we act now
Is my whole nation of the heartless kind
This is a sorrowful song
This is a sorrowful song

According to Bridie’s own web site – the album (Hotel Radio) radiates a sensual summer’s warmth with an expansive sense of mystery that delved even further into the artform of sonic texture.
Nation (Of the Heartless Kind) – the fifth song on the record is a brazen deviation from the breezy atmospheric sound proceeding it. It appears Nation is Bridie’s attempt of expressing: ‘I’m fed up with our government’s policies’. The following lines seem to relate to the boat refugee crisis which occurred in Australia not so long ago:

The one in every three dead
Haunting back on our shores

Reference:
1. David Bridie – Wikipedia

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