Civil War [Italian translation]

[Spoken Intro: Strother Martin ]

What we've got here is failure to communicate

Some men, you just can't reach

So, you get what we had here, last week

Which is the way he wants it

Well, he gets it

*Whistling*

And I don't like it any more than you men

Look at your young men fighting

Look at your women crying

Look at your young men dying

The way they've always done before

Look at the hate we're breeding

Look at the fear we're feeding

Look at the lives we're leading

The way we've always done before

My hands are tied

The billions shift from side to side

And the wars go on with brainwashed pride

For the love of god and our human rights

And all these things are swept aside

By bloody hands time can't deny

And are washed away by your genocide

And history hides the lies of our civil wars

D'you wear a black armband

When they shot the man

Who said "peace could last forever"

And in my first memories

They shot Kennedy

I went numb when I learned to see

So I never fell for Vietnam

We got the wall of D.C. to remind us all

That you can't trust freedom

When it's not in your hands

When everybody's fightin'

For their promised land

And

I don't need your civil war

It feeds the rich while it buries the poor

Your power hungry sellin' soldiers

In a human grocery store

Ain't that fresh

I don't need your civil war

Ow, oh no, no, no, no, no

Look at the shoes you're filling

Look at the blood we're spilling

Look at the world we're killing

The way we've always done before

Look in the doubt we've wallowed

Look at the leaders we've followed

Look at the lies we've swallowed

And I don't want to hear no more

My hands are tied

For all I've seen has changed my mind

But still the wars go on as the years go by

With no love of god or human rights

'Cause all these dreams are swept aside

By bloody hands of the hypnotized

Who carry the cross of homicide

And history bears the scars of our civil wars

[spoken by a narrator:]

We practice selective annihilation

Of mayors and government officials

For example, to create a vacuum

Then we fill that vacuum

As popular war advances

Peace is closer1

I don't need your civil war

It feeds the rich while it buries the poor

Your power hungry sellin' soldiers

In a human grocery store

Ain't that fresh

And I don't need your civil war

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no

I don't need your civil war

I don't need your civil war

Your power hungry sellin' soldiers

In a human grocery store

Ain't that fresh

I don't need your civil war

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no uh-oh-uh, no uh-oh, uh no

I don't need one more war

I don't need one more war

No, no, no, no uh-oh-uh, no uh-oh, uh no

What's so civil 'bout war anyway?

1. The liner notes credit this monologue simply to “Peruvian Guerilla General”. The source material, a Chicago Tribune piece from July 9, 1989, does not acknowledge such a high-rank, attributing it to only “a young guerrilla officer who gave his name as Jorge”.

“All popular war is violent. We use selective annihilation of mayors and government officials, for example, to destroy the presence of the state and create a vacuum. Then we fill that vacuum. Violence is an integral part of armed struggle. As the popular war advances, peace gets closer. Only more popular war will bring peace.” Source: genius.com

• Artist:Guns N' Roses
• Album:Use Your Illusion II (1991)