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Civillisation

from The Third World Circus by Fred Nagel

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about

Civillisation is a rant about various smaller topics that do not necessarily fit the otherwise political nature of the rest of The Third World Circus.

The song points towards the irony of drinking bottled water, especially in South Africa, wherein the production and eventual waste of the product pollutes the very ecosystem which supplies not only the municipalities that provide you with tap water, but also the bottled water providers.

The latter half of the lyrics deal with the highly controversial E-Tolls open-road tolling system implemented by the government in Gauteng. This forms part of a recurring theme wherein the government, seemingly unable to run anything effectively, needs to find new ways of funding itself – ironically losing most of the profit to off-shore investors who made the project possible in the first place.

lyrics

They told me the free water isn't safe to drink
And sold me some new ones in bottles that blink
A bottle that's made in a factory of plastic
That pollutes all of the free drinking water that washes down my sink

The night skyline seems to be on fire
Burning our coal to take our kind higher
We are diurnal beings but yet
This is the goal to which we aspire

Can't you see this great error of logic?
To purify ourselves we make the drinking water toxic
The driving by lorry, the pumping, the taxes
The refrigeration in malls fueled by assets
Now tell me, is that Valpré still healthy?

I seriously hate E-tolls
The financial strain is taking its toll
The Belgians are taking our money away
Our president bathes all his guilt away
In money that he stole from the country he leads
to disarray

Can't you see this great error of logic?
To account for the land's debt you rob the public
Gantries that hang over freeways like gallows
Unwilling citizens' lifeblood it swallows
Now tell me, is the system still wealthy?

credits

from The Third World Circus, released September 21, 2014

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Fred Nagel Pretoria, South Africa

Frederik Johannes Nagel, born in the decade of the Spice Girls, KTV and dial-up Internet.

Fred started playing classical music at age 7. Studied sound engineering and worked as a sound engineer in the Atterbury Theatre.

Performed as vocalist/keyboardist for Sentyre, drummer for Balyios, and keyboard/violinist for Monkeys In Boots.

Currently studying Architecture at the University of Pretoria. ... more

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