Fair Tirade
2001
This song "came to me" almost complete on14/09/01, three days after "9/11", the twin towers atrocity. It was in such a complete state that I felt sure I had heard it sung in concert by John Wright. Enquiries with John, followed by every other search I could think of, left me wondering what it was all about.
The song reflects upon the story in the King James Bible, book of Matthew, Chapters 26 and 27 and is a ‘meditation’ on the phrase Thirty Pieces Of Silver.
In an ironical way, this is a song for Easter. It is a measure of western society’s departure from the religious belief it professes that, whenever I perform this song, I have to relate the story of how, Caiaphas, the High Priest sent the temple guards to capture Jesus before he was crucified. Perhaps it was no coincidence that Jesus had just thrown the money-lenders out of the temple. We blame Judas for taking Caiaphas’ bribe. We blame the Romans for doing the killing. But, do we learn the lesson of the corruptive influence of money?
My parents were not religious but I was educated in nominally Christian schools where we used to study the Bible. The advice of Moses' Ten Commandments that Jesus boiled down into two essentials has been distorted, literally beyond belief. Isn’t it ironical that success in ANYTHING today can only be measured in monetary terms? Yes, most of us admire those people who are kind and caring but only rate them as “successful” if they have made a pile of money. In the Bible we read of Jesus throwing the money-lenders out of the temple, yet, in supposedly Christian lands today, in the words of this song...
“… Wealth is God and greed our creed and lust the only rule.”
We brand Judas a traitor for fulfilling a prophecy. But, according to the story, he threw the blood-money down on the temple floor and killed himself. He was truly penitent. When we meet our maker, will we find that we have, metaphorically, hanged ourselves in our tree of greed?
1
Thirty pieces of silver - see them in your hand
Profit, pay, commission - Dollar, Pound or Rand
We tilt paying-field of life - exploitation lines our purse
Trade today indicted – our glory now our curse
2
Thirty pieces of silver – count them for yourself
In every small transaction – adding to your wealth
Did poorer people suffer? Did weaker creatures die?
To give our life more comfort – can we now deny?
3
Thirty pieces of silver – charter, deed and trust
Commandments set to guide our lives are crumbling to dust
And still the subtle bribe we take – too late the pitfalls see
Like Judas, coins upon the ground – we hang there in our tree
4
Thirty pieces of silver – Guru, Prophet, Saint
Goodwill to all and healing free – but not from avarice’s taint
Medicine we did not require - before this life of speed
A ransom for the very souls - of those in greatest need
5
Thirty pieces of silver – religion stands accused
Forgetting all the rules of God – position was abused
The banker now outweighs the priest – and counts him but fool
Wealth is God, greed our creed and lust the only rule
6
Thirty pieces of silver – who will our champion be?
The lawyer though he swear to God – is servant to his fee
Governments promise all to serve – but forget the old and weak
Corrupted by the taste of power – at all cost they must keep
7
Thirty pieces of silver – two world wars and worse
This earth of ours is reeling – its famine still to nurse
Lands torn apart, the children killed – lives once full now void
The hope past generations built – by profiteers destroyed
8
Thirty pieces of silver – ‘till all the world agrees
On what is good and what is right – and everybody sees
If trade is fair, we make a friend – if not, we make a foe
Thirty pieces of silver – are warning me and you
Coda
Are warning me and you – End