Let the Bodies Hit the Floor
Program notes
Let the Bodies Hit the Floor (2009) is a mashup of songs and poems from World War I, juxtaposed with the recorded voice of an American soldier recalling the 2004 siege of Fallujah. At the end of the piece, the soldier's voice is replaced by a recorded female voice, speaking a text drawn from the same WWI-era poems, but scrambled even more dramatically. The piece was written for, premiered by, and recorded by Newspeak, an amplified chamber-music ensemble.
Instrumentation: Amplified chamber-music ensemble, Singer, Recorded voice
Performers: Newspeak
Lyrics
SINGER
The bells of hell go ting-a-ling-a-ling
For you but not for me
For me the angels sing-a-ling-a-ling
They've got the goods for me
O Death where is thy sting-a-ling-a-ling
O Grave thy victory
The bells of hell go ting-a-ling-a-ling
For you but not for me
I've seen them ...
I knew a simple soldier boy
Who grinned at life in empty joy
Slept soundly through the lonesome dark
And whistled early with the lark
I've seen them, I've seen them,
They gave him back to her
They gave him back to her alive.
I've seen them, I've seen them,
If you want to find the old battalion
I know where they are.
I've seen them, I've seen them,
They're hanging on the old barbed wire.
I've seen them,
I've seen them,
They're hanging on the old barbed wire.
The bells of hell go ting-a-ling-a-ling
For you but not for me
For me the angels sing-a-ling-a-ling
They've got the goods for me
They gave him back to her
They gave him back to her alive
They gave him back to her alive
They gave him back to her
Alive but not to keep
Alive and not disfigured visibly
His face, his hands, she had to ask
They gave him back, she had to ask
What was it dear?
What was it dear?
What was it dear?
What was it dear?
The bells of hell go
For you but not for me
I knew a simple soldier boy
Who grinned at life in empty joy
He put a bullet through his brain
No-one spoke of him again
RECORDED VOICE
Well, ahh ...
We sat all day
And we watched the city
It was actually really good
We sat all day
And so we sat all day
And we watched the city
It was actually really good.
You know they had the first day of the initial
Bombing
They were hitting, you know, targets
They were hitting, you know, peat fortifications
JDAMs laser guided bombs,
People were moving around, they were hitting them
And so we sat all day
Through this, like,
Symphony of destruction
And we watched the city
Just being bombarded
It was actually really good
And then when it got dark,
It's like, alright,
Now that it's dark
It's time for the grunts to go in
Yeah, the first night we went in,
This was pretty weird,
We had PSY-OPS behind us
And they're blaring music.
I mean, just huge speakers
Are screaming music into the city
Ah yes, I don't remember what the tune was
And there's like this funky seventies music going,
And that's what they were blaring as I crossed the breach.
And I was like, you gotta be kidding me!
You're playing THAT while I'm crossing the breach?
That's not what I wanna hear!
Q: Yeah, what music would you have chosen?
Uhh ...
Let the Bodies Hit the Floor?
That's a good one,
Really fast-paced, y'know?
The bells of hell go ting-a-ling-a-ling
For you but not for me
If you want to find the dead,
I've seen them hanging on the old barbed sunset
Wire torn horribly by brain,
They had not disfigured her
For me, I knew joy,
For me, the angels sing-a-ling-a-ling
They've got the goods for me.
