The The - Sweet Bird Of Truth Lyrics

1986 2002 2020 its Still the same, Nothing changed and here we are in the 21st Century spending big bucks on machines of War.

I love the deep, slightly menacing voice at the lines: " Heaven sent and a hellbent" followed seconds later with EYI EYI Adios!!I


I remember getting started with The The when I was maybe 12- or 13 yo and was obsessed. I moved quickly into my punk rock, then goth thang. Though, I never understood why he was not more well known? Another favorite along the same brilliant lines and complete obscurity was the band "Flux". Has anyone hear of them? But anyway, I am so pleased to find Matts material here.

will be in my record collection until I`m 6 foot under.

Anna Domino (of Snakefarm) singing back-up

08/01/2020 - Over the mountan tops we go. Just like all the GI Joes. Ee-aye, ee-aye.

Best Band Ever

Great lyrics

Visionary.

6 o'clock in the morning and I'm the last person in this plane still awake
Y'know I can almost smell the blood washing against the shores
Of this land that can't forget its past
Oh, the wind that carries this plane is the wind of change
Heaven sent, and hell bent
Over the mountain tops we go, just like all the other G.I. Joes
E-I-E-I, adios


This is your captain calling (with an urgent warning)
We're above the Gulf of Arabia (our altitude is falling)
And I can't hold her up (there's no time for thinking)
All hands on deck (this bird is sinking)

Across the beaches and cranes, rivers and trains
All the money I've made, bodies I've maimed
Time was when I seemed to know
Just like any other G.I. Joe
Should I cry like a baby, or die like a man
While the planet's little wars start joining hands
Oh, what a heaven, what a hell
Y'know there's nothing can be done in this whole wide world

Arabia

I don't know what's wrong or right
I'm just a regular guy with bottled up insides
I ain't ever been to church or believed in Jesus Christ
But I'm praying that God's with you when you die

This is your captain calling (with an urgent warning)
We're above the Gulf of Arabia (our altitude is falling)
And I can't hold her up (there's no time for thinking)
All hands on deck (this bird is sinking)


Arabia
Arabia
Arabia
Arabia
Arabia
Arabia
Arabia
Arabia
Arabia
Arabia
Arabia
Arabia
Arabia
Arabia

always ALIVE

Nineh Cherry, the female vocals in the band

This album in fucking unbelievable... a truly masterpiece and Matt is simply a genius!

Arabia Arabia Arabia...

Prophet Matt , years ahead of his time .

Unfucking believable track. 2019 still strong

My political awakening song

The production on this album is INSANE!

I lived in Leeds when this came out- the locals couldn't say the band's name- lots of grimacing and gesturing but a forlorn effort really

Cracking album , summer 86 this was all I listened to

into the 90's

Sublime and prophetic

Brilliant minds make it sound so easy.

its like talking to your self !

i forgot about this band - so good :)

Good to hear again

Official Vid. here: https://vimeo.com/304668280

So much that is brilliant in this, details to broad brush. Once heard never forgotten.

after all these years still incredible!

The original video should be here. Mat get why you 🚶 walked away from it, if you com. Back great if not legacies stand i know what you've done for the homeless we shall overcome

https://vimeo.com/304668280

the mother of all late 80s alternative song intros

Shit hot tune

Forecasted Desert Storm. Matt a visionary. Musically & globally !!

Trev Johnson not Matts brother on main guitar along with Johnny Marr was superb

Anyone know where the name the The originates?

The arrangement and performance of this on the new tour was staggeringly brilliant

Drummer Dave Palmer and guitarist Johnny Marr were huge part of the sound. I just came back from the concert. Matt was amazing and so were James Eller (bass) and so was D.C Collard (keys) but with the new drummer and guitarist The The is a just a Slow Emotion Replay of what it used to be. Just compare the impact of the snare to understand what I'm talking about. Matt, if you're reading this: bring the old glory of The The back!

Hi there, Sweet Bird Of Truth was a Fairlight CMI production - not to say he didn't sample the drummer. Yes, I sadly missed The The when they played in Aus last year. Johnny Marr was born to play with The The ....wish he was on every record.

The Sydney tour will be something to behold and endulge with the odyssey of the music which will cascade through so many memories....

I spun the shit out of this record in 1986!!

Unbelievable!

Maybe time to take these Genre defining sorts to the Courts they deserve?

******************
6 o'clock in the morning & I'm the last person in this plane
Still awake
Why'know I can almost smell the blood washing against the shores,
Of this land that can't forget its past.
Oh the wind that carries this plane, is the wind of change,
Heaven sent and hell bent!
Over the mountain tops we go, just like all the other GI Joes
EE-AY-EE-AY----adios!
CHORUS
This is your captain calling--"with an urgent warning"
We're above the Gulf of Arabia--"our altitude is falling"
& I can't hold her up--"there's no time for thinking"
All hands on deck--"this bird is sinking"
Across the beaches and cranes, rivers and trains
All the money I've made--bodies I've maimed.
Time was when I seemed to know,
Just like any other GI Joe
Should I cry like a baby, or die like a man
While all the planets like wars start joining hands,
Oh what a heaven--what a hell!!
Why'know there's nothing can be done in the whole wide world.
I don't know what's wrong or right,
I'm just a regular guy, with bottled up insides,
I ain't ever been to church or believed in
Jesus Christ
But I'm praying that Gods with you when you die!!!
CHORUS

Cheers for lyrics singing my heart out think neighbor liked them also

I always thought it went "I'm the last person in this dream still awake" and also "we're about to go bomb Arabia" oh well, your lines have corrected my assumptions though I believe my rambling imaginings have some merit.

The The is perfect, absolutely timeless.

Of Course. Totally underrated

This song reminds me of earth "This bird is sinking, all hands on deck"

Well , he was at the Royal Albert Hall last night. I saw him. He has finally arrived.

James Wells Jealous 🙃 Tell him he needs to come to Kansas City!!!!

James Wells I saw him there over 20 years ago when he had the anger and edginess of youth

target no 11

There used to be a video with an angel for this. Gone with the wind?

First listened to this at Rods place in Brisbane

Thank you Styx.

Did styx reccomend the the damn he is just 10.2 cool

shut up listen to The the.Fanny,s That's Scottish.

good song thanks!

can't wait for them in Glasgow, tickets booked,Amazing band.

A timeless masterpiece!

First heard this in 87.& still listen to the the from time to time!

Fab album
Had it
Played it
Loved it

Alpha Go I’m always riding the way back machine... I loved the F🤯🤯k of everything on this album. So imagine my delight yet confused reaction to hear this sample on a remix of a song by Queen Latifah. Little did I know she would be a boarderline sell out decades later. I used to be a big fan of her’s and when I heard it this song mixed in...SOOOOOO cool! I’m a 48 year old black chick and I tell you, still it’s a perfect match. If you get bored find Dance For Me by Queen Latifah Ultimate remix. I’m not saying it’s all that fantastic, but when it came out I was digg-in it. Nice!

Memories , amazing on vinyl through a decent sytem ,Lorna wheres that glass top qed turntable 😂😂lol

Genius!

can't wait to see him live long way to go from oz

True talent.not all this talentless teen bollocks at present

I guess it sucks to see the future, right. Poetic justice, everyone.

Heaven sent & hell bent

This song counts more than ever in our Trump, May, troubled times.

Trump listens to The the.

So under-rated, still packs a punch 30(?!?) years on...

💜 I don't know what's wrong or right,
I'm just a regular guy, with bottled up insides

when rayGon could have shit up the world.

and kinda did

When you die you A: Burn in a furnace B: Rot in a hole C:Thrown in the sea D: Chopped up in a gangster frenzy, Nothing leaves you and visits erm ALLAH or erm JESUS get a fucking grip for fucks sake man.

Islam is rising the Christians mobilizing, wars in gods name , but zero evidence of god ha ha ha you fools

TIMELESS so it seems

so i guess this is a modern song just concocted in some guy's bedroom in the UK? no, this was 'our' prophet matt johnson (may peace be upon him), armaggedon days are here, folks! ;)

The sleeper band of the 80's.

I came across this album back in 1991 and I still love it today - timeless.

Infected I first herd this on john peel show.When it came out in 86 and still love it now way ahead of it's time if you ask me ?

Peel out in the States,
Brought to You by NaNa...

(isn't he just the cutest thing?)

Jesus H Christ, found out about THE THE. LOLOL Mind Bomb- also a great album. classic.

Perfectly sums up the failure of western policy in the middle east, the fall out, and how the west is now turning away from the failure. If we're ever gonna get any better at this shit we need to own the fuck ups and learn from them, otherwise the lost lives of the lads we've sent out there were for nothing, and that's completely unacceptable.

X R
own up to wot ???

Gary Cowie own up? That's not what I wrote.

X R Oh yeah the architects of the Wolfowitz doctrine really care about cannon fodder, mate.

Just clocked the Saturn logo on the album cover..nice work Andy..RIP..come back when we got rid of time and money...this album will still be being played ...cheers for sharing X

The prophet spoke ??

Not a prophet... Just someone special who watched and learned... Still a god in my eyes.... Timeless music that will never be ignored!

Martin Duncan Certainly a prophet.

unfortunately they are ignored and underrated . 97 % of my friends DO NOT know the the .

@T- HAM They?

Matt is one of the most insightful musicians I have ever encountered. Indeed a god.

Defining album of the 80's...ee ai ee ai adios...

where is the original video and why can't we get it anymore?

GUY MULLINS trump

I have it on the INFECTED video tape, I need to transfer it to DVD if I can, then I'll upload it. It's fucking brilliant (and very true)...

Please do. It's relevant still..

It was banned due to no blacks or women or poofs or muslims too many GREAT BRITAIN WHITE PROTESTANTS in video welcome to moderate times

Calling in a napalm strike......followed by "Arabia...Arabia...Arabia..." in what we now know to be the lead up period to the first Gulf War..."while all the planet's little wars start joining hands." Holy FACK!!

Just noticed this. Who the hell are you calling a prick? Even a casual consumer of world events could see this stuff evolving all thru the 80s, and I dont think it came as much of a surprise to anyone. Here: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_War
Read under headings "Background" and "Run-Up", plenty of stuff on Iraqi domestic politics as well. That whole region has been one massive shit-show since the invention of the Israeli state in 1949, this shit took years to come about, It didn't spring out of nowhere that's for DAMNED sure.

Prick quoting a sex-pest who thinks capitals means truth.

Bowie's Heroes also prescient- " and the guns shot above our heads, and we kissed as though nothing could fall", 12 years before the Berlin wall came down=-O

It's about Libya

Thanks i met Matt n the seventies he is cool xx

One of the best ever written.

Is the one dislike Donald Trump ?.

Yeah Obama voters too pissed off, Bombing Libia with France and Britain was worth Nobel prize.

HYUP! axe bubba dumbass.

such an atmosphere, and still utterly contemporary.

I remember recording The The songs off the radio onto cassette (I think Tony Snell used to play them a lot), and later being blown away hearing them played at the State in Liverpool.

Still sounds fresh.

+Ed Barrett yeah, those were the days kid.x

ed, i was in the desert of New Mexico in the 80's when I first heard the the.  and your right, still sounds fresh.

Ed Barrett I

Where are you Matt? We need you now more than ever.

Check https://cphdox.dk/program/film/?id=61 He is here!! :) http://www.thethe.com/news/radio-cineola-live-music-broadcast/

I shook his hand last night at the showing of The Inertia Variations!! Great documentary om him! :)

Ray Stel they're touring this year (2018). He is also playing Festival No6 at Port Merrion and B'ham NIA in Sept. Probably a load of other dates too I suspect.

Guy Mullins - Yes, it was up last year, but is not to be found on Youtube anymore, to poignant I guess.

On tour.

I heard this album in my teens. still same old shit happening today!!!!! dollar crime!!!

ARABIA!!!

one o the best albums of the 20century....talk about nosradamus...matt johnson realised the muslim threat back then....class

+Neil Cooney he may be ahead of his time but it's not so much about the Muslim threat, if anything he's way too sympathetic towards Islam...
when you google him it's sad to see his views on the likes of Israel, sadly he's a liberal who'll be happy to bash them and support his anti gay, anti women fascist pals instead...
doesn't mean Infected isn't a great record though even if i do disagree with his views...

What utter bollocks. He calls it as he sees it, and he sees it with startling clarity. Matt Johnson isn't into taking sides. He is however a liberal, but in the truest sense of the word, not in the way you use it.

willing to respect or accept behaviour or opinions different from one's own; open to new ideas.favourable to or respectful of individual rights and freedoms.
(in a political context) favouring individual liberty, free trade, and moderate political and social reform."a liberal democratic state"

He isn't into taking sides, ha you obviously haven't read the same interviews I have. Nice dictionary definition, absolute nonsense in practice obviously.

Maybe I read the same interviews and drew a different conclusion from what he had to say. His angle on this is pretty clear, "fuck with this, expect to get fucked back". He's against intervention. That goes for his comments on the current middle east situation right back to Sykes-Picot and the later installation of Israel after WW2. All intervention based policy from the west and all bound to agitate. Whether or not any of it was avoidable is doubtful and pointless to argue over, but it's fair to make the observations all the same.

Bitchin!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

To the thumbs down dick, your days are numbered!

+Paul Knight got no brain and is insane

+Nigel Storrs amen , thumbs down = shit for brains

:D :D :D

Nigel Storrs haters gunna hate

this should be used in the star wars 7 film.

+borgship that movie was gay

Just love the part; "All hands on  deck! This bird is sinking!!"

Agree Like Universal Truths[?]

Done Sunk, Gasp, Tread,.....

Heaven Sent or Hell Bent! Just about sends up my life. Thanks for posting such a great song.

5 Thumbs up if I could...
Not heard this in a while, and I don't think it's aged!

How strangely prophetic for its time?

+maurice sheridan Try Armageddon Days for prophetic. Pretty much all of Mind Bomb... is in fact a mind bomb.

This song came out as a single at the same time the US bombed Tunisia. Prophetic for the time I am writing from as well.

Thought about this song the other day when I heard the US were bombing ISIS...nothing changes.

Reminds me of Operation Desert Storm tbh. I have my reasons.

Gary Cowie You're a fucking moron

Shoxx
Moron how fucking hurtful go away play your xbox + smoke more weed some people have work to go to

Gary Cowie Your view is so narrow. Your ability to not see the other side's perspective cripples your self-awareness. If you think killing children and innocents in another country for having a different culture (even if we are all human) then okay. Its your opinion, instead of calling people who don't agree with you a "moron" then at least try to present it in an agreeable formal manner. If you truly want to remain as this angry human being who is unreasonable then instead of virtually attacking others to satisfy your opinion, get your pillow, put into your face and scream the words you feel is right. Or buy a punching bag.

love devotion

( THE THE performing " Infected" .UK . Epic records . 42 m . 1986 ) 
COMENTARIOS DE UN VINILO ( RCA )
1) Infected 2) Out of the Blue ( into the Fire ) 3) Heartland 4) Angels of deception 5) Sweet bird of truth 6) Slow train to dawn 7) Twlight of a Champion 8) Mercy beat .
El 2º trabajo de THE THE ( Matt Johnson ) , es un disco de rabia contra el sistema . Contra el sistema de M. Thatcher . INFECTED , el rótulo del álbum es el pánico al SIDA . Es un álbum conceptualmente de desilusión en las letras pero altamente optimista en el ritmo . Es la sátira de convertirse UK en perrito faldero de USA .
El corte " Sweet bird of truth " , ( 5º del disco ) relata las últimas palabras de un piloto norteamericano moribundo , mientras regresa a casa tras el bombardeo de Oriente Medio . El disco pone de telón de fondo el problema del Sida , para hablar de las relaciones promiscuas en la Gran Bretaña de sombrero victoriano y de la ferocidad del sistema de consumo capitalista norteamericano .
El 6 corte se acompaña de una jovencísima Neneh Cherry ( " Slow train dawn ) . Un ejemplo soberbio de Brit-pop-funky . UN discazo con todas las letras .

Fucking Super............