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YO-MAI-YO
[© Gautam Ghosh / Sound Syndicate / Terminally Insane]
[click here if you do not hear the song,..
or to hear it through your media-player]
 Theme:The plight of child refugees
& orphans
Case Study: The Vietnam War ~ The US-Iraq War ~ NATO bombing
of Yugoslavia
Story-line: Yo-Mai-Yo is the fictional/symbolic name of
a Vietnamese girl-child war orphan who survives the massacre
and extinction of her entire village with all its inhabitants,
and carries the scar of this event in her memory for the rest
of her life. Even though she's been adopted by her American parents,
who provide everything for her & whom she loves dearly, she
somehow fails to escape or delete her past.
So, on every 4th of July, when everyone around her celebrate
freedom and independence by cracking explosives amidst bright
lights, she withdraws and hides away, mortally scared that it
is a repitition of that unforgettable moment (when she was barely
4) when similar sounds and lights had wiped out her entire village
and family in '64.
Today, she leads a normal life and has adapted very well as
a citizen of "the greatest nation on earth," yet she
perhaps knows that this memory will never leave her despite all
her efforts to eradicate it.
The song depicts the violence as chronicled in human history
of recent times, and hopes to highlight the irrepairable damage
to child psychology, and even though (only 20%) of the victims
are gradually and lovingly rehabilitated by mainstream society.
Therefore it condemns all agression as War, and acknowledges
all War as Evil,.. and asks (indirectly) what happened to the
balance 80% of the war orphans!!!
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lyrics:
Yo-Mai-Yo-Mai-Yo-Mai-Yo-Mai-Yo! (2x)
Barely four
When that Night
The smashed through
Her Bamboo door;
Recklessly firing
On all that moved
And those that hit the floor. (Oh! Ho!)
It was a nightmare obviously
Till today it haunts her to be
Left alone as she huddles on the floor (Oh Oh Ho!)
While they celebrated freedom
On the 4th of July in Nineteen Hundred & Sixty-Four.
In the civilized world
All aggression ought to be termed as WAR
In our greater understanding of history
Let this be a lesson
That we ought not/not to forget
Or ever ignore.
Let there be peace & understanding between nations
Across the oceans
Let the people speak for themselves
Not politicians sitting on the fence
With inherent interests, sanctioned by power and greed
The lust for life cuts right across the entire human creed,...
Oh!
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