Each Small Candle
Roger Waters
In The Flesh, ©2000
Halfdan Rasmussen / Roger Waters
A touching and powerful human right's song
that was inspired by several sources. The first verse of this song was taken directly
from a poem by Danish poet Halfdan Rasmussen. The poem "Ikke Bodlen"
was written for Amnesty International in 1979 and published in a book of poems
about human rights. Roger Waters explained, "The English translation
(which represents the first stanza of the song) proved to be very moving, and
was set to music. The words remained untouched...Until Kosovo."
The remainder of this song was inspired by a
Serbian soldier's courageous and humane act of kindness in the midst of war.
Waters stated, "The London Times had a piece which told the story
of a Serbian soldier who saw an Albanian woman lying wounded in a burned-out
building. He left his platoon, went over and helped her, and then joined his
men and marched off. There was sense in that image. The rest of the song is
about that."
In 2004 Roger Waters wrote and recorded two
new songs, "To Kill The Child" and "Leaving Beirut," in
response to
Source(s): Each Small Candle / Press
release, Roger Waters.com
Roger
Waters Music and Lyric Resources:
Roger
Waters Official Web Site
Roger Waters - Each Small Candle
Roger
Waters International Fan Club
Amnesty
International - Music for Human Rights
Referenced
and Related Works:
United Nation's "Universal Declaration of Human Rights"
Statute of Amnesty International
Maya Angelou's "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings"
Andrew Salkey's, "After the War on the Land"
Jose Marti's, "I Cultivate A White Rose"
BBC News / Americas "They Couldn't Kill His Songs"
Witness
( external page )
YouTube – “Leaving
Beirut” (external link)