"Matt Kite is another Seattle songwriter who
has made some drastic changes. War Stories, the sixth
album from Kite's The Whole Bolivian Army, is packed with intense
polemics. Kite says he was inspired by research on the Vietnam
War and interviews with veterans he has been doing for a book.
The vivid album begins with 'Okinawa,' telling of a rape by U.S.
soldiers from the victim's perspective. More often, War Stories
comes from the perspective of the grunts, and Kite occasionally
approaches Tim O'Brien, who wrote The Things They Carried
and other unflinching fiction steeped in Vietnam. O'Brien would
appreciate some of Kite's writing here ('I wake the day the shooting
stops/the door, the Fourth, the engine drops/I wake the only
way I can/the eyes, the eyes, I killed a man')."
— Tom
Scanlon, Seattle Times, June 20, 2003
"On War
Stories, The Whole Bolivian Army creates political music
as though they have been doing it for years... With up-tempo
songs like 'Okinawa,' the serious and moving 'Shellshock,' and
'Kwangju,' the band assumes the identities of a Japanese woman,
a US veteran and a South Korean, respectively... In the end,
some of the tunes are almost danceable and you can’t help
but feel guilty dancing to a song like 'Shellshock.' Certain
songs really stay with you, mostly due to the lyrics. For the
politically active or interested, The Whole Bolivian Army offers
their political opinions for conversation, without feeling as
though they have been forced upon you, and created a decent album
from it at the same time."
— Corinne,
PlugInMusic.com, Spring 2003
"Enclosed in the liner
notes is a list of historical reading that addresses U.S. foreign
policy, post-World War II... 'I wanted to have a historical reference
and include the reading list in hopes that some of the fans would
do their own research,' [songwriter Matt Kite] said. During the
conception of War Stories, Kite was also ghostwriting
a novel on the Vietnam War for which he conducted 'intense interviews'
and heard 'heartbreaking stories,' he said. The research and
reading material somehow found its way on TWBA's latest release."
— Christina
Twu, Western Front, Oct. 14, 2003
READING
LIST:Bitter Fruit: The Story of the American Coup in Guatemala,
Stephan Schlesinger & Stephen Kinzer. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard
University Press, 1990. Blowback: The Costs and Consequences
of American Empire, Chalmers Johnson. New York: Henry Holt
and Co./Owl Books, 2000. Farewell Darkness: A Veteran's Triumph
over Combat Trauma, Ron Zaczek. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute
Press, 1994. In the Realm of a Dying Emperor, Norma Field.
New York: Pantheon Books, 1991. Korea's Place in the Sun,
Bruce Cumings. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1997. Kwangju
Diary: Beyond Death, Beyond the Darkness of the Age, Lee
Jai-eui. Los Angeles: UCLA Asian Pacific Monograph Series, 1999.
Okinawa: Cold War Island, Chalmers Johnson. Cardiff, CA:
Japan Policy Research Institute, 1999. A Rumor of War,
Philip Caputo. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1977.
Vietnam: A History, Stanley Karnow. New York: Penguin
Books, 1997. War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning, Chris
Hedges. Public Affairs, Perseus Group, 2002.
I suffer the
same as you
I swallow the same air you blacken
I follow my instincts
when I close my eyes and listen
OK, Joe, you tough guy
let me go
OK, Joe, you big guy
when you going home?
you crater
the earth that feeds us
you puncture the silence with cannons
you force me to hold still
while you empty your ammunition
OK, Joe, you sweaty
let me go
OK, Joe, you hairy
when you going home?
you sent the
man
you sent the man
you pulled me down
I tried to stand
you broke the dam
you broke the dam
you shut my mouth
I bit your hand
you circle
yourselves with barbed wire
you buffer yourselves in concrete
you station a guard in each tower
review, rehearse, and repeat
OK, Joe, you tough guy
let me go
OK, Joe, you big guy
time to go home
you sent the
man
you sent the man
you pulled me down
I tried to stand
you broke the dam
you broke the dam
you shut my mouth
I bit your hand
you shut your
mouth
it's time to go
I will not
beg
I will not bend
I will not buy American
I will not blink
I will not bleed
I will not buy American
I will not shrink
I will not feed
I will not buy American
I will not spend
I will not spend
I will not buy American
Shellshock
don't say
you believe in me
you're on your own
so don't look down
it's a long way down
a long way down
don't say
just get over it
you never served
you never lived
you're in your own world
a tiny, shiny world
don't say
you understand
every dream
a primal scream
it's a long way down
a long way down
I dream the
life I used to live
the wire, the hole, the trophy shiv
I dream the only life I get
the night, the black, the terror fit
shellshock...
don't say
you pity me
I did my best
just like the rest
we gave it away
gave it away
so don't say
you believe in me
I died the day
they discharged me
it's a long way home
a long way home
I wake the
day the shooting stops
the door, the Fourth, the engine drops
I wake the only way I can
the eyes, the eyes -- I killed a man
shellshock...
Kwangju
flower boxes
we had flower boxes
we had broken bones and cobblestones
we had flower boxes
bayonets
they had bayonets
they had M-16's blow'n to smithereens
they had bayonets
I lost my
brother
I lost my sister
in a cell or in a well --
I hope he's with her
we're on a
"fascinating vacation"
a giddy, strange elation
we packed our gas masks
we're headed for the station
we're on a
"fascinating vacation"
a choking, wild sensation
we packed our gas masks
we're headed for the station
TNT
we got TNT
we got vintage guns and taxi runs
we got TNT
got the green
light
they got the green light
ROK from the USA
they got the green light
I lost my
brother
I lost my sister
in a cell or in a well --
I hope he's with her
we're on a
"fascinating vacation"
a giddy, strange elation
we packed our gas masks
we're headed for the station
we're on a
"fascinating vacation"
a choking, wild sensation
we packed our gas masks
we're headed for the station
Blowback
hey, boy
just wrap yourself in the flag
it feels so good
people you don't know
bomb people you don't know
it feels so good
intuition?
institution!
Bible thump'n, Limbaugh hump'n
it feels so good
death squads and democracy
bitter fruit and happy pills
you feel so good
what you don't
know
what you don't care
what you don't get
you could never dare
(blowback) we sow the seeds that poison us
(blowback) we bear the fruit that staggers us
(blowback) we kiss the thorn that bloodies us
(blowback) we build the freaks that frighten us
blowback
hey, boy
just wrap yourself in your god
it feels so good
people you don't know
smite people you don't know
it feels so good
you're right,
I'm wrong
God hates this song
you're saved, I'm not
you know I'm not
I'm going down
you're rising up
it barely fits --
your crucifix
it feels so good…
Ack!
it's on the
radio
it's on the big screen
it's on my forehead
searing into me
brand me
it's in our
blood
it's in our DNA
it's on each bar code
whispering what to say
sell me
it's on the
bus stop
it's on the boardwalk
it's on the billboard
crowing like a cock
own me
I don't need
anymore
I don't want anymore
I don't feel anymore
I can't breathe anymore
it's in my
throat
almost on my lips
it's coming back up
it's coming… back up
The End of Chivalry
sun goes down
sun down
lights go out
lights out
I wait for your whisper
nothing
sun comes
up
sun up
breath goes out
breathe in
I wait at the table
nothing
and you won't
run the bulls again
and you won't serenade me again
sun goes down
sun down
lights go out
lights out
Red
elephant grass
ten foot high
all we got
twice too high
shirtless
boy
staring up at me
all he got
still smoking in the trees
chewing a
cigarette
spooning a canned peach
all I got
I left on the beach
office no
windows
paper trail to waste
all they got
a sterile world away
baby killers
-- zoom!
they see us on the news
all they got
a shrinking, burning fuse
the front
is the rear
is the wait is the fear
is the rain is the heat
is the kill is the meat
is the rot is the boot
is the spike is the foot
is the blood is the loam
is the war is our home
the war is
our home…
Landmine
I'll learn
to walk with one leg
I'll learn to crawl with none
a crab on the floor
I slither and beg
a crab at your door
I beg
mercy
I'll learn
to sign with my other hand
I'll learn to breathe with one lung
deformed on the sheets
I fumble and quake
deformed at your feet
I speak
love me
(land on me…)
I'll learn
to walk the fields like this
I'll learn to breathe in the mist
a bee on the sage
the grass, the stones
a bee at my hip
explodes
I'm free
(land on me…)
United Fruit Co.
remember Sam
the Banana Man?
the (super) Dulles Brothers?
the Ambassador from Hell?
everybody liked Ike…
United! Fruit!
Co.!
teachers and
preachers
writers and thinkers
unionists and socialists
everybody's in the ground…
United! Fruit!
Co.!
what price
freedom?
what price democracy?
what price, America?
collective amnesia…
United! Fruit!
Co.!
Credo
help me believe
in motherhood
in fevers broken, in comfort spoken
help me believe in the hands of love
let me sing, let me sing
you're more
than a Christian
you're more than a Jew
you're more than Allah ever knew
you're more than your Chakras
you're more than your flesh
you're more than the pills they sold to you
so help me
believe in childhood
in thirsty days, in humming planes
help me believe in memory
in rivers run, September sun
you're more
than a human bomb
you're more than a pawn
you're more than the Man would ever let on
you're more than a way of life
you're more than a flag
you're more than the dog they try to wag
so help me
believe in childhood
in thirsty days, in humming planes
help me believe in memory
in rivers run, September sun
help me believe in motherhood
in fevers broken, in comfort spoken
help me believe in the hands of love
let me sing, let me sing
you don't
need to be the hammer
you don't need to be the spike
you don't need to be the thresher
the fuel, the fire, the fight
just help me believe
"Matt Kite is another Seattle songwriter who
has made some drastic changes. War Stories, the sixth
album from Kite's The Whole Bolivian Army, is packed with intense
polemics. Kite says he was inspired by research on the Vietnam
War and interviews with veterans he has been doing for a book.
The vivid album begins with 'Okinawa,' telling of a rape by U.S.
soldiers from the victim's perspective. More often, War Stories
comes from the perspective of the grunts, and Kite occasionally
approaches Tim O'Brien, who wrote The Things They Carried
and other unflinching fiction steeped in Vietnam. O'Brien would
appreciate some of Kite's writing here ('I wake the day the shooting
stops/the door, the Fourth, the engine drops/I wake the only
way I can/the eyes, the eyes, I killed a man')."