Holiday In Cambodia
Sorry that I haven't posted on this particular blog in ages, but I'm back now. This week it's a punk classic: "Holiday In Cambodia" by the Dead Kennedys.
DK were always One Of Those Bands That I Mean To Check Out One Day - I'd heard of them, I can definiately remember reading about them in a book about how bands got their names when I was about 12-13, and I'd heard all this stuff about how influential they were. When I was about 14 or 15, I was reading Kerrang! magazine one day when I noticed a competition to win a copy of a CD called Skate To Hell: The Extreme Skaterock Collection, and the tracklisting had a lot of bands I liked and a lot of bands I'd been meaning to check out, including the DK. I didn't win the competition but I did buy a copy of the album (highly recommended btw), and one of my favourite tracks on it was "Holiday In Cambodia."
Everything about this song was gripping, tense, exciting, anthemic, threatening and menacing, even though at the time I didn't understand a lot of it (e.g. who Pol Pot was). The doom-laden bass intro, then guitar chords cutting in, then a bit of regular guitar playing, subtle cymbals building up, then drums, then that riff kicks in, then Jello Biafra's voice jumping in... right from the start it grabs you, and it gets even better. The lyrics are sarcastic, caustic and brimming with social commentary, contrasting the lives of rich Americans who think they understand the suffering of poor foreigners, and oppressed Cambodians under Pol Pot's regime who really are suffering but are ignored by the West. Towards the end, Biafra starts chanting "Pol Pot" repeatedly, with both him and the instruments picking up pace, the guitar frantically spiralling into a black hole, before a final repeat of the chorus and then ending on a huge downbeat with one last call of "Pol Pot!"
It is still alarmingly relevant today (not to mention that it is alarming that there is still so much inequality in wealth in the world today). With lines like, "Play ethnicky jazz to parade your snazz on your five grand stereo, bragging that you know how the niggers feel cold and the slum's got so much soul," it digs deep into the heart of hypocrisy surrounding rich kids who pretend to care about the world's problems.
In a way it reminds me of the charity wristbands craze at school, and a certain bunch of latest-craze-chasing people in my year group who fell hook, line and sinker for the craze: there was a certain bunch of spolit-rotten trendies who wore certain wristbands because they were the ones their friends wore, not because they cared about those charities, and never helped others or gave to charity even though they were rolling in it (well, compared to me, anyway) but on the rare occasions that they did something charitable they bragged about it. They were also the sort of people who would preach to others about stuff like racism, when they themselves were actually among the most racist people you could ever meet, not to mention bullies to anyone who was different to them ("You want everyone to act like you"). They would also suck up to teachers at school, and then bitch on them when they weren't around to hear them ("Kiss ass while you bitch...").
Anyway, here are the lyrics. There are two versions of this song: the one I'm referring to here is available on the best-of album Give Me Convenience Or Give Me Death, and another version is available on the studio album Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables. "Holiday In Cambodia" was released as a single in May 1980; the lyrics were written by Jello Biafra and the music was composed by Biafra, Klaus Flouride, East Bay Ray and Bruce "Ted" Slesinger.
So you been to school for a year or two
And you know you've seen it all
In daddy's car thinkin' you'll go far
Back east your type don't crawl
Play ethnicky jazz to parade your snazz
On your five grand stereo
Braggin' that you know how the niggers feel cold
And the slums got so much soul
It's time to taste what you most fear
Right Guard will not help you here
Brace yourself, my dear
It's a holiday in Cambodia
It's tough kid, but it's life
It's a holiday in Cambodia
Don't forget to pack a wife
You're a star-belly sneech you suck like a leech
You want everyone to act like you
Kiss ass while you bitch so you can get rich
But your boss gets richer on you
Well you'll work harder with a gun in your back
For a bowl of rice a day
Slave for soldiers til you starve
Then your head is skewered on a stake
Now you can go where people are one
Now you can go where they get things done
What you need my son:
Is a holiday in Cambodia
Where people dress in black
A holiday in Cambodia
Where you'll kiss ass or crack
Pol Pot, Pol Pot, Pol Pot, Pol Pot...
And it's a holiday in Cambodia
Where you'll do what you're told
A holiday in Cambodia
Where the slums got so much soul...
Pol Pot.
DK were always One Of Those Bands That I Mean To Check Out One Day - I'd heard of them, I can definiately remember reading about them in a book about how bands got their names when I was about 12-13, and I'd heard all this stuff about how influential they were. When I was about 14 or 15, I was reading Kerrang! magazine one day when I noticed a competition to win a copy of a CD called Skate To Hell: The Extreme Skaterock Collection, and the tracklisting had a lot of bands I liked and a lot of bands I'd been meaning to check out, including the DK. I didn't win the competition but I did buy a copy of the album (highly recommended btw), and one of my favourite tracks on it was "Holiday In Cambodia."
Everything about this song was gripping, tense, exciting, anthemic, threatening and menacing, even though at the time I didn't understand a lot of it (e.g. who Pol Pot was). The doom-laden bass intro, then guitar chords cutting in, then a bit of regular guitar playing, subtle cymbals building up, then drums, then that riff kicks in, then Jello Biafra's voice jumping in... right from the start it grabs you, and it gets even better. The lyrics are sarcastic, caustic and brimming with social commentary, contrasting the lives of rich Americans who think they understand the suffering of poor foreigners, and oppressed Cambodians under Pol Pot's regime who really are suffering but are ignored by the West. Towards the end, Biafra starts chanting "Pol Pot" repeatedly, with both him and the instruments picking up pace, the guitar frantically spiralling into a black hole, before a final repeat of the chorus and then ending on a huge downbeat with one last call of "Pol Pot!"
It is still alarmingly relevant today (not to mention that it is alarming that there is still so much inequality in wealth in the world today). With lines like, "Play ethnicky jazz to parade your snazz on your five grand stereo, bragging that you know how the niggers feel cold and the slum's got so much soul," it digs deep into the heart of hypocrisy surrounding rich kids who pretend to care about the world's problems.
In a way it reminds me of the charity wristbands craze at school, and a certain bunch of latest-craze-chasing people in my year group who fell hook, line and sinker for the craze: there was a certain bunch of spolit-rotten trendies who wore certain wristbands because they were the ones their friends wore, not because they cared about those charities, and never helped others or gave to charity even though they were rolling in it (well, compared to me, anyway) but on the rare occasions that they did something charitable they bragged about it. They were also the sort of people who would preach to others about stuff like racism, when they themselves were actually among the most racist people you could ever meet, not to mention bullies to anyone who was different to them ("You want everyone to act like you"). They would also suck up to teachers at school, and then bitch on them when they weren't around to hear them ("Kiss ass while you bitch...").
Anyway, here are the lyrics. There are two versions of this song: the one I'm referring to here is available on the best-of album Give Me Convenience Or Give Me Death, and another version is available on the studio album Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables. "Holiday In Cambodia" was released as a single in May 1980; the lyrics were written by Jello Biafra and the music was composed by Biafra, Klaus Flouride, East Bay Ray and Bruce "Ted" Slesinger.
So you been to school for a year or two
And you know you've seen it all
In daddy's car thinkin' you'll go far
Back east your type don't crawl
Play ethnicky jazz to parade your snazz
On your five grand stereo
Braggin' that you know how the niggers feel cold
And the slums got so much soul
It's time to taste what you most fear
Right Guard will not help you here
Brace yourself, my dear
It's a holiday in Cambodia
It's tough kid, but it's life
It's a holiday in Cambodia
Don't forget to pack a wife
You're a star-belly sneech you suck like a leech
You want everyone to act like you
Kiss ass while you bitch so you can get rich
But your boss gets richer on you
Well you'll work harder with a gun in your back
For a bowl of rice a day
Slave for soldiers til you starve
Then your head is skewered on a stake
Now you can go where people are one
Now you can go where they get things done
What you need my son:
Is a holiday in Cambodia
Where people dress in black
A holiday in Cambodia
Where you'll kiss ass or crack
Pol Pot, Pol Pot, Pol Pot, Pol Pot...
And it's a holiday in Cambodia
Where you'll do what you're told
A holiday in Cambodia
Where the slums got so much soul...
Pol Pot.
posted by Hel at 5:43 pm
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