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Adv Song Sunday Bloody Sunday
Adv Song Sunday Bloody Sunday
11. And the battle's just begun, 28. And it's true we are immune.
12. There's many lost, but tell me who has won? 29. When fact is fiction and TV reality,
13. The trenches dug within our hearts, 30. And today the millions cry,
14. And mothers, children, brothers, sisters torn apart. 31. We eat and drink while tomorrow they die.
15. Sunday, bloody Sunday... 32. The real battle just begun.
33. To claim the victory Jesus won,
16. How long, how long must we sing this song? 34. On a Sunday bloody Sunday,
17. How long, tonight we can be as one. 35. Sunday bloody Sunday...
INTRO ANALYSIS
FIRST STANZA
IN YOUR OPINION, WHICH OF THESE MEANINGS ARE USED IN THE EXPRESSION “BLOODY SUNDAY”?
LINE 2 HOW DOES HE FEEL AFTER WATCHING THE NEWS? CAN HE JUST SWITCH OFF TV AND FEEL
CAREFREE?
WHY DOES HE INSIST ON THE PRESENCE OF KIDS? WHAT DOES IT IMPLY ABOUT THE VICTIMS? HOW
VIOLENT, DANGEROUS WERE THEY?
WHAT DOES THE MODAL “CAN” IMPLY ABOUT BONO’S VISION OF THE FUTURE?
SECOND STANZA
READ THE WHOLE SONG AGAIN AND FIND WHICH LINES ECHO LINES 11;12:
WHAT IMAGE DOES THE SINGER USE TO SHOW HOW DIFFICULT IT WILL BE?
STANZA 4
WHICH EXPRESSION DOES THE ADJ “BLOODSHOT” REMIND US OF? WHAT IS THE EFFECT PRODUCED BY
THE USE OF“BLOODSHOT” TO QUALIFY THE EYES?
LAST STANZA
ACCORDING TO THE SINGER, HOW DO PEOPLE REACT TO THE TRAGEDIES SHOWN ON TV? QUOTE 2
ELEMENTS FROM THE SONG !
WHAT DOES “IMMUNE” IMPLY ABOUT THE REASON FOR THIS INDIFFERENCE? FINISH THE SENTENCES:
People are used to seeing ……………………………………………………………………….
People are used to …………………………………………………………………………………
People have got used to …………………………………………………………………………..
They have got used to seeing or hearing about ………………………………………………….
WHAT TRAGIC EVENT OR WHO DOES BONO ALLUDE TO WHEN HE MENTIONS EATING, DRINKING AND
DYING?
WHAT IS THE PART PLAYED BY THE MEDIA AND TV IN THAT INDIFFERENCE? QUOTE THE SONG!
WHAT DOES IT MEAN ABOUT TV VIEWERS AND REALITY AND FICTION? CAN THEY DISTINGUISH
BETWEEN FACTS AND FICTION?
WHAT ELSE DOES IT MEAN ABOUT THE OFFICIAL VERSION OF FACTS PRESENTED ON TV?
BRANCHING OUT
LYRICS ANALYSIS
WHAT INSTRUMENT CAN YOU HEAR? They are playing the drums
WHAT DOES IT SOUND LIKE? It sounds like a beat used to keep a military band in step.
WHAT IS IT COMPOSED OF? 5 stanzas and one chorus Sunday bloody Sunday...
FIRST STANZA.
- Line 1 WHAT ARE THE SINGER’S FEELINGS ON HEARING THE NEWS?
He feels surprised, astonished, amazed, taken aback, shocked. He can’t believe his eyes, he can’t believe it’s true,
he must be upset, devastated, crushed.
WHAT DOES HE THINK! How dreadful/apalling! What dreadful news!
WHICH NEWS IS HE TALKING ABOUT? The news about Bloody Sunday
EXPLAIN WHAT IT WAS ABOUT!
Civilians demonstrating in a peaceful march for the defence of civil rights killed by British paratroopers.
WHICH ARE THE DIFFERENT MEANING OF “BLOODY” IN THE CHORUS?
The word “bloody” is a direct reference to the blood that was shed that particular day (to shed=verser)
WHICH ARE THE OTHER MEANINGS OF THE ADJECTIVE BLOODY?
- Cruel, merciless
- In British English, it is a swearword used to emphasize an emotion such as anger
IN YOUR OPINION, WHICH OF THESE MEANINGS ARE USED IN THE EXPRESSION “BLOODY
SUNDAY”? all
- READ THE FIRST STANZA AND FIND WHAT IMAGES HE HAS GOT IN MIND! QUOTE THE
LYRICS!
Lines 6; 7 “Broken bottles under children's feet”, “Bodies strewn across a dead end street,”
REPHRASE! WHAT CAN HE SEE?
He can see children in the debris and corpses/dead bodies lying in the street.
DEAD BODIES/ BROKEN BOTTLES- WHAT DO THESE IMAGES UNDERLINE?
HOW VIOLENT WAS THE EVENT? These images show how violent the event was.
WHO WERE THE VICTIMS? Children and civilians
WHY DOES HE INSIST ON THE PRESENCE OF KIDS? WHAT DOES IT IMPLY ABOUT THE VICTIMS?
HOW VIOLENT, DANGEROUS WERE THEY?
The reference to kids stresses how innocent, defenceless, powerless the victims were.
They were not responsible for this conflict.
SO WHAT DOES IT IMPLY ABOUT THE BRITISH TROUPS?
It underlines how pitiless, heartless, merciless (bloody) the British troups were.
FOCUS ON Lines 3; 4“How long, how long must we sing this song? How long? How long?”
WHAT DOES HE DO IN THIS SONG? He denounces/deplores violence.
WHAT DOES THE MODAL MUST EXPRESS?
He is forced to deplore violence and hatred. He can’t but deplore violence as long as people keep on fighting.
HOW DOES HE FEEL TO VIOLENCE NOW?
He is fed up with violence.
He is sick and tired of that conflict that has been going on for too long . He feels weary.
REPHRASE LINE 3!
When will this conflict stop? It’s high time this showdown stopped/ were over.
It’s high time we put an end to the vicious circle of violence and hatred.
He wishes people stopped killing each other/fighting. He wishes the Irish people lived in peace.
WHY WILL HE REFUSE TO FIGHT? l 9“It puts my back up, puts my back up against the wall”
WHAT DOES “IT” REFER TO? The battle call/ the conflict/ violence
HOW DOES THAT CONFLICT MAKE HIM FEEL? It makes him feel sick=It puts my back up
EXPLAIN WHAT “It puts my back up against the wall” MEAN? HOW DO YOU FEEL WHEN YOUR
BACK IS AGAINST A WALL? CAN YOU MOVE AWAY?
That conflict makes him feel he can’t escape from the vicious circle of violence, hatred and prejudices.
SECOND STANZA
11. And the battle's just begun,
12. There's many lost, but tell me who has won?
13. The trenches dug within our hearts,
14. And mothers, children, brothers, sisters torn apart.
READ THE WHOLE SONG AGAIN AND FIND WHICH LINES ECHO LINES 11;12:
11. And the battle's just begun,
12. There's many lost, but tell me who has won?
→ 28. The real battle just begun.
29. To claim the victory Jesus won,
30. On a Sunday bloody Sunday,
WHO SHOULD WIN THAT BATTLE ACCORDING TO BONO? Jesus
EXPLAIN THIS REFERENCE TO JESUS’ VICTORY! WHAT DID HE DIE FOR?
He died for our sins to save the world. He refused violence and went towards peace.
WHAT DOES JESUS’ VICTORY SYMBOLIZE?
Jesus’ victory symbolizes the victory of love over hatred (the defeat of hatred), the victory of peace over violence.
SO WHAT SHOULD PEOPLE FIGHT FOR/DEFEND ACCORDING TO BONO?
They should fight for values such as peace and love. They had better defend peace and love.
HOW DIFFICULT WILL IT BE TO DEFEAT VIOLENCE AND HATRED? Very hard
WHAT IMAGE DOES THE SINGER USE TO SHOW HOW DIFFICULT IT WILL BE?
The real battle (of love, peace versus hatred and violence)
→Although it will be difficult, we must follow in the footsteps of Jesus, refusing violence and going towards
peace.
ACCORDING TO THE SINGER, HOW DO PEOPLE REACT TO THE TRAGEDIES SHOWN ON TV?
QUOTE 2 ELEMENTS FROM THE SONG !
28. And it's true we are immune.
30. We eat and drink while tomorrow they die.
EXPLAIN IN YOUR OWN WORDS!
-“we are immune”→ People don’t react to what they are shown on TV anymore
They feel indifferent to/ unconcerned about people’s sufferings and plight
predicament and hardships
DOES THE SINGER APPROVE OF THAT REACTION? SO WHAT IS HE DOING HERE?
He blames/reproaches TV viewers for their indifference /not reacting to what they see on TV.
He blames people for being indifferent to the others’ predicament and hardships
WHAT DOES “IMMUNE” IMPLY ABOUT THE REASON FOR THIS INDIFFERENCE?
People are used to seeing violence on TV.
People are used to watchingwar horrors from the comfort of their living room.
People have got used to images of war, war horrors terrorist attacks…
They have got used to seeing or hearing about people suffering/ crying/ dying/ sacrificing their lives on TV.
Violence has become commonplace on TV.
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
- NICRA (Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association) formed in 1967 to combat the widespread political and
social discrimination against Catholics in Northern Ireland, which is one of the roots of the conflict.
-On 9 August 1971, the unionist government of Northern Ireland, with the support of the British government,
introduced internment without trial, a policy consisting in imprisoning suspected IRA sympathisers without trial
(By the end of 1971, around 900 people, virtually all of them Nationalists, had been imprisoned without a trial).
At the same time that internment was introduced, a six-month ban on public demonstrations was imposed.
- The NICRA called a peaceful demonstration in Derry. On Sunday, 30 January1972, some 20,000 civilians
marched through the town of Derry in Northern Ireland to protest against “internment”as well as against the ban
on the right to demonstrate .
The march was "illegal" according to British government authorities and while the civilians were demonstrating,
British paratroopers fired on the unarmed and peaceful marchers, killing thirteen Catholic people, some shot in
the back.
The British-government-appointed Widgery Tribunal found soldiers were not guilty of shooting dead the 13
civilians in cold blood. Those responsible for this massacre were never punished.
-In 1981 another tragic event took place in Ulster: ten Republican prisoners who had demanded to be recognized
as political prisoners and not as terrorists went on a hunger strike and died. Among them was Bobby Sands, an
elected MP.
The popular Irish group U2 composed the song “Sunday Bloody Sunday” in 1983 in which the band addressed
the long-standing "troubles" in Northern Ireland. Fearful to be seen as taking one side over another, Bono (the
leader of the group) insisted on introducing the song during concerts by saying "This is NOT a rebel song!", and
wrapped himself in a white flag while he sang it to symbolize the song call’s for peace.
KEY
Sunday Bloody Sunday by U2
36. I can't believe the news today,
37. I can't close my eyes and make it go away.
38. How long, how long must we sing this song?
39. How long? How long?
40. ‘Cause tonight we can be as one, tonight.
41. Broken bottles under children's feet,
42. Bodies strewn across a dead end street,
43. But I won't heed the battle call,
44. It puts my back up, puts my back up against the wall.
45. Sunday, bloody Sunday...