Soccer / WW One

[Wahe@aol.com]

John King wrote

>Sparwasser Tor - da habe ich leider eine Bildungsluecke.

Allow me to fill in, it was the '74 World Cup, where in the course of entente
and Ostpolitik the teams of both Germanys took part. Although the West-G won
the cup,  they lost in the begining against the East-G in Hamburg 0:1 through
a goal by - Sparwasser. Has to do with east G. self esteem.
Jungle World must have to do with Junge Welt, which was a paper related to
the official youth organization in the former socialist east.
But real fans would have known beforehand that anarchs dont play or watch
ball games often.

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Found the following song by John Mayall on a 97 record (Blues For The Lost
Days, ORE CD 547):

Trenches

In the middle of summer Nineteen Fourteen
The young men of Europe all in their prime
Ahead lay the horrors of a world insane
It haunts me now to think about that time
One assassination leads to a clash of nations
Everybody talkin' war. A country worth fighting for
But how was anyone to know that Hell was in store

Sign a dotted line and give a man a gun
Don't worry boys, you'll be home by Christmas
But little by little the lights were going out
And heading for the front line the men were listless
Wondering in the rain will they ever see home again
Slaughter is about to start. Best friends are blown apart
Never be a bloodier war in memory before

Shelling day and night driving men insane
Screams of the dying in No Man's land
Nowhere to run from the gas attacks
And everywhere you turn there's another blind man
Losing life and limb. Gangrene and rot set in
Weapons out to kill and maim. The boy's are cryin out in pain
Never be the same again. Never see an end.

If you ever get to France see the poppies in the fields
Just think about the red of the blood of heroes
Who died in the fury of battle day and night
The carnage of war all around when the sun rose
All the mud and rain. Machine gun fire again
Never gonna leave that trench. Wallow in the mud and stench
Dyin' on a stretcher bench. Time to say goodbye

A generation lost, four deadly years
Families left behind to a life of grieving
Ten million graves to be left untended
Nothing anymore left to believe in
Bodies ripped and torn long before I was born
But all those fine young men. Never see their like again
I can vividly recall the  pain down through the years


I wonder what made Mr. Mayall take up this topic.

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I passed Verdun last summer. The French like to call their towns "Capitale de
..." whatever there is, so Verdun is "La capitale de la paix" (logisch). In
town there is a little tourist information booth, where among the brochures
of the sights one finds pocket book editions of 'Orages d'acier' as matter of
information about the region.


Walter Hedderich
Wahe@aol.com