ONE WORLD in ONE UNIVERSE by DR Romesh Senewiratne-Alagaratnam Arya Chakravarti

ONE WORLD in ONE UNIVERSE
POEMS AND LYRICS

by
Dr Romesh Senewiratne-Alagaratnam
2013
CONTENTS: One World..4 Black and White Minerals5 Words, Words6 The Sky is in the Stars....7 Wik-ed Plan8 Amazon and Timor9 Sadness is a Lonely Word...10 Shells of the Land...11 Danger Games..12 Bureaucracy13 Brand New Plan...14 Looking for the Moon15 The Spirit of Birds...16 A change of Lights ..17 Some Things Remain...18 Somebody Elses War 19 Carnival.20 Old School Tie21 Magnetic Forces...26 Individual Human Minds....27 Aliens.28 The Enemy.29 Sun.30 Birdbrains31 Animals.31 Television.32 The Doctor 33 Dean..34 John35 Andrew..36 Michael..37 Francesca ..38 Joe39 Cherie.40 Retrospective Diagnosis...41 Cruel Betrayal....43 The Doctors and the War Machine.45 The Sound of Yesterday..46 Johnny had a Bad Day.47 News of the Day.48 Education for the Nation49 Well Bomb them after Christmas 50
The President51 The Presidents Men.52 Deception53 With One Voice54 In between 55 Another Day in World War Three56 Halliburton..57 Freedoms Not Given On A Plate 58 Reality TV 59 The Idle Gaze At The Idols 60 The Ivory Tower61 Landmines62 News of the Decade.63 Tonys Story.64 Five Hundred Years..66 Moneymarket67 When Bankers Make the Rules..68 Walking Down the Fine Line69 These Days..70 Burkes Backyard..71 History Lies.72 Black Hole73 Misnomer.74 Sacrifice75 The Bell Rings..76 Atomic Peace...77 Petrochemical Conspiracy?.78 Eugenic Miscalculation..79 The Death of Free Will Abstracted.80 Quest for the Atom.81 Spinning Ship of Fools..82 Shocks and Stares..83 Identity Label84 The Empty Thing.85 Churchill86 Space.87 A Joke No More88 Asylum.89 Greenwash.90 1995..91 Ive Heard it Said..92
ONE WORLD People speak of different worlds Different races in different places People speak divisive words Different cases in different spaces But here we are in one world In one verse One universe People speak of victory Of conquering insanity People speak of enemies Murderers of humanity People speak of eugenics And warfare undeclared People speak of economics are no longer scared For here we are in one world Unrehearsed One universe
1999 Romesh Senewiratne
BLACK AND WHITE MINERALS Words & music 1999 Romesh Senewiratne & Sara Di Genova
Black and white minerals Carbon black as coal As clear as diamonds Building rings of life The same salts and minerals In people of every colour Black and white people A political production A destructive construction A divisive reduction Of the complexity of skin And our common origin Piecing the puzzle together My aqueous humour helps me see Salts of the earth, Salts of the sea Salts in the blood, Flowing in me In my element, I swim In the sea Black as the night sky White as the clouds above Metallic when the moon is full Bright shards of white light Reflect from their crests A bird in flight Apart from the rest In the Otways, a cockatoo Black feathers, made of minerals too Does the magpie hate the mynah For the colour of his feathers? Does the major hate the minor When they can make music together? Black and white minerals, taken in vein Children confused, adults the same Selling our forests, cheaper than chips Nine cents a tonne, chopping down Ancient forests, for toilet paper Cardboard boxes, dyed tissues Headlining issues, magazines Guns and powder, plastic money, Paper houses, buying news Lies about, the corporate ruse Black and white minerals Carbon, black as coal As clear as diamonds Building rings of light The same salts and minerals In people of every colour Black and white people A political production A destructive construction A divisive reduction Of the complexity of skin And our common origin. So is black, the absence of colour And white all the colours combined Or is white, the absence of colour And black, all the colours Superimposed Or is it not As black and white as that?
WORDS, WORDS Words, words, you used words To express a meaning Too bizarre for me (repeat) Ill have to call you mad Or face the fact that Im mad Or everyone is mad And that would be mad.
words & music 1997 R.Senewiratne
Words, words, you used words To express a meaning Too alien for me Words, words, you used words That disturbed my sense of reality. I was unconfident, I was jealous, I was shy I was unconfident, I was jealous, insecure Words, words, you used words To express a mind Too openly for me Words, words, you used words Too confronting With too much honesty Hey you! You talk too much Youre defective Hey you! You talk too little Youre defective Words, words, only words Words imprison But words can be released (repeat) I was unconfident, I was jealous, I was shy I was unconfident, I was jealous, insecure I will be what I want to be Confident, friendly, secure I wll be what I want to be Confident, friendly, secure
THE SKY IS IN THE STARS words & music 1999 Romesh Senewiratne and Sara Di Genova The sky is in the stars tonight I woke with amazement, which turned to delight The stars are in flight Theyre in flight through the night The stars are in the sky tonight I woke with amazement, it turned to delight I saw that I was in two dimensions I saw it in three and four dimensions Time, giving a real perspective of history Where we are The fifth dimension Ignoring the past People talking in riddles The joker, the clown The mysterymaker, the mythmaker Television, telepathy, telecommunication Tell me tellers tales, tall tales, terrible tales From television (Star wars, Star trek) Repetitive patterns Bright colours Mesmerising music Hypnotising Advertising A philosophy of greed (money to be made) Suggestions of madness Mass delusions Buy! Buy! Buy! Radio, frequency Waves crash Crash, boom Sky unlimited See, Hear The sky is the stars tonight The clouds are in the moon A gas giant dwarfed to a Little speck of light A bright sun is a little speck of light
WIK-ED PLAN
1998 Sara Di Genova and Romesh Senewiratne
Its a wik-ed plan Ten points for the man With a crown of coins on his head Its a wicked debate That makes people hate Its mislead and one sided Have you read its making us divided Its their choice, weve no voice, no say in it Its a wicked plan, Jabiluka mining A grave for man kind, Of dim Kind of mindless To want to want to Blast away a national park Radio- active A tissue Bless you We all fall apart Its a wicked plan A cancer in the land They extricate yellow cake For weapons to make and sell There goes the bell Of the cash register While they take the cake They take the cake Its a wik-ed scam to privatise the land To hypnotise the children With idols from Uncle Sam Its a wik-ed scam to make our home a mine To make our home a factory Our home is our land Our land is our home
AMAZON AND TIMOR
Ive never been to the Amazon But I know that it exists Ive heard that little will be left Of the forest if we dont resist The chainsaws and the burning The turning of the wheel To which are shackled Slaves with broken spirit Children with no hope no home Weeping folk whove lost their friends Weeping for peace and making amends Ive never been to Timor But I know that it exists The forests there will soon be gone Unless we all resist The warfare and the looting The mercenaries loaded with money and weapons The soldiers trained in torture Who call themselves peace-keepers The neo-colonial armies With weapons of stealth and cruelty The programmed order-takers Making deals with the undertakers
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SADNESS IS A LONELY WORD Sadness is a lonely word Empty rooms with broken toys Lonely in a world full of people Sadness is a lonely word Sadness is a hopeless word Busy streets with noisy chatter Singing songs like migrant birds Fleeting memories of things that matter Sadness is a strange feeling Mixed with other emotions of suffering Pain in mind brings pain in body Peace of mind brings rain to deserts
Cancers weeping Children undeserving Cruel fates Warfare serving Greedy demons Promoting depression Sadness surely comes from repression New names for old obsessions The economists call it a recession The leaders of the slavery trade Say theres not enough money to be made The leaders of the slavery trade Say theres not enough money to be made
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SHELLS OF THE LAND Words and music 1988 by Romesh Senewiratne In the sky As the city rose See the smog Watch it as it grows And the choice Island of sand Or the lie of a greedy man Dont fear his voice Or the look in his eye As he steals everything he can And says he can understand How to live with land When we see Chimneys in the haze And we think Of the better days Can it be that Someone has taken away What we used to hold In our hands Everything that we can use Till they leave us with Only shells of the land Only shells of the land Come alive Come alive Theres so much we can do Come alive come alive Theres so much we can do
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DANGER GAMES Words and music 1988 by Romesh Senewiratne

Do they aim to deceive? Do they aim to control? Well they aimed their guns at me. Then they walk in parade And they claim to be strong With destroyers in the sea. Every year so like the others Little nations running scared With bombs aimed at their shores. How can we walk secure when Danger men play danger games With danger games we dread? They take another bath In the yellow light That the holy men proclaim As they hold out their hands For their holy right But wont let you do the same Every year like the others Little nations running scared With hungry days ahead How can we walk secure when Needy mouths are empty While the greedy mouths are fed? We say, weve got our pride They say, well Gods on our side I say, well that wont do. We say, How many more Will die to stem the tide? Youve got to tell me now So we push and we pull And well rise again We wont let them hold us down Then we laugh in their face And we stand our ground As we face another round. Every tyrant like another Every land is any land With numbered days ahead If we dont do something How can we walk secure when Danger men play danger games with Danger toys we dread?
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BUREAUCRACY Words & music 1989 by Romesh Senewiratne

Theres a creature in the building His arms are wide and legs are long Bureaucracy, bureaucracy moving on Got to keep us moving To get the run-around Bureaucracy, bureaucracy moving on So dont tell me that theres room For compromise Chop down the forest We need the paper now To write another memo On the conservation cause Bureaucracy, bureaucracy moving on. Put it all in writing And sign the yellow form Oh, and the green, and the blue Bureaucracy, bureaucracy Their forms are power over you So dont tell me that theres room For compromise Dont tell me that theres room For compromise Theres a creature in the building An old boy with an old school tie Bureaucracy, equal opportunity a lie. The golden message Control and centralise Lies, lies, lies, lies, lies Bureaucracy Well never win if we dont try So dont tell me that theres room For compromise.
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BRAND NEW PLAN Words & music 1994 Romesh Senewiratne I relied on what they told me And I remember what they told me wasnt true So much misinformation For every answer that I have Im given two With our mass-communication I thought that we could be free at last Reaching every nation We could break the shackles of the past But in a while Well use our style Well have smile And sort the fiction from the fact Well use our guile Not reconcile To genocide Well use the spine within our back For in this hour Truth can empower And we can work together Build a brand new plan Too many years we took to mention That we dont need the games The Superpowers play A new colonial intention A dollar war, no one with principles can win To establish their New Order Dont forget that Americas Number One Theyll organise your border Theyll say, Yeah, were having lots of fun But in a while
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LOOKING FOR THE MOON Words and music 1994 by Romesh Senewiratne Im looking for the moon But its been and gone so soon Strange summers seem to whisper from behind. Im looking for the sun But when it comes I run for cover Strange things weve done To the air we breathe. Im looking for solutions But the answers seem so funny A neon light a common sight A car becomes a human right And we only see what were taught to see Were seeing wood instead of trees Wood instead of trees Im looking for the truth But every day I find I struggle Through a mountain Of useless information I look into the future Trying to learn the lessons of the past Not too afraid to throw it all away And start again
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THE SPIRIT OF BIRDS Words and music 1999 Romesh Senewiratne These fools who laugh at the spirit of birds These fools who laugh at the spirit of birds But cant sing and cant fly Who cant soar in the sky Who dont even ask why? These fools who laugh at the spirit of birds These fools who laugh at the spirit of birds But dont love the breeze And dont see the beauty of trees Who despoil what they seize Who dont see with their eyes Who live lives of lies Who are deaf to all sighs And dont care that the children cry And dont care for The love that was lost For the pain that it cost For the anger and rage Now denied at any age These fools in their ivory towers These fools They deny the healing power of flowers They con and they cheat They never admit defeat Like sheep they bleat Their programmed response Like Pavlovs dogs Computerised brains Sleeping like logs Dead to the world With alcohol in vein The birds laugh in wonder At a creature so vain At the strange human creature Who dares to look down On those marvels of nature -That soar over forests and seas
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A CHANGE OF LIGHTS
Words & music 1986 by Romesh Senewiratne
A change of lights between the lanes In silent competition A heavy load for heavy times Longing days of hoping, wishing Holidays are never far You say youll take off on the weekend Drive off somewhere in your car Always searching, but not finding understanding there A big town, with open door A special state, a special town An ever changing avenue The bright lights hiding dark words Are they keeping something from you? Empty rooms and broken walls Forgotten message, preacher calls And cemetery Sunday walks To watch the pretty flowers grow I saw the child of tragedy Below the line of poverty Was walking in the winter rain Pretending that the sun had come again How can we start to see How tranquil it could be If we lived in a fairer society Can we start to see How peaceful it would be If we were not ruled By inequality A change of lights between the lanes In silent competition Every race becoming blind Aimless days of hoping, wishing Happy days will never come If the world is conquered by those Who hope tote a gun Instead of searching for understanding Always searching for understanding
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SOME THINGS REMAIN Words & music 1986 by Romesh Senewiratne Yellow lines, telling signs Days of future past In the street, people meet Scenes go by so fast But some things remain the same Some things remain the same Tired, and were waiting for the train Some things remain In the park, in the dark Secret truths are told Something right in the night Inner feelings bold Some things remain the same Some things remain the same I try to find the right words to explain But my feelings pour like water down the drain It all seemed real, this little world Seemed big to me But when I open up my eyes I realise That its not really big at all Its just that were so small Its not really big at all Its just that were so small Hidden homes, given loans Try to keep afloat Alley-ways, winter days An old man in a coat Some things remain the same Some things remain the same Some things havent changed And who but ourselves can we blame?
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SOMEBODY ELSES WAR Words & music 1987 by Romesh Senewiratne They point ahead and then whisper in our ears They show us of their grand illusion here Their plan to make the whole world true The new world they were meant to rule They point ahead but they tell us to stand here They point ahead but they tell us to stand here They never have to hide With blinkered eyes they ride While there in every land Are scheming men with plans Fighting in somebody elses war Whats wrong, whats right And whats the law? Forbidden roads And shady deals Secret handshakes With official seals Theyre fighting in somebodys corridor So tell me, why is it so That their eyes never show A simple sign of interest? Dont tell me that they do their best So what do you think Their next crime will be? Perhaps a bomb in the middle east They put it to the test So battle done Wars been won The lights come on, but the dark is here to stay And everyone can have a say Its so easy now If we dont all get blown away Everyone can have a say And its so easy now If we dont all get blown away.
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CARNIVAL Words and music 1998 Sara DiGenova and Romesh Senewiratne Carnival time is here Electrical storm is near Hypnotised by the spinning wheel Weaving reel Ride the ferris wheel Spinning meal Step right up Ride the rollercoaster Try your luck Congratulations Lucky dip Youve drawn the short stick Staring at the freak show Pop a pill In the mouths of the mad, sad clowns Captured by mans own web of telephone lines and wires A flock of birds cycling a flock of birds flying a flock of birds soaring helicopters cycling, spying Peering in-vasion Carnival time is here Electrical storm is hear Hypnotised by the spinning meal weaving reel Quicksand is slipping through The timeless hourglass Calcifying, aging, dying Too hard to see clearly
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OLD SCHOOL TIE
What lies ahead tomorrow? Will it all come crashing down? The bubble of economic growth. Money made from corruption, seduction Slavery, exploitation. The people in the machine are dead inside But like heartless robots they go through the motions Mechanical, propping up a bizarre bureaucracy, a hierarchy Of buffoons in suits and old school ties Speeches and a parade of lies Blind and deaf to beauty and music To happiness and life Will the clocks stop and the computers break down? Will the fuel run out and the oil moguls frown? Will the conspiracies and delusions Be known to all as madness? Real madness, its all around Greed and aggression, ignorance and apathy Trivial crap on T.V. The news of the day Banal abuse in parliament What kind of immaturity keeps a grown man Preoccupied by old school prejudices? The boys from Scotch College Fighting the boys from Boys Grammar The opposition taunted They taunt back like school-boys The girls from Grammar the premier cries Misogynist and tyrant, advertising lies The girls from Grammar the premier cries At the leaders of the opposition In a State that defies law and order Preoccupied by orders but not law And not justice The girls from grammar At the age of seventeen Could teach Mr Kennett a few things
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About humility and wisdom About creativity and wit About listening in silence And not speaking shit The girls from grammar At the age of seventeen Could teach Mr Brumby About what theyve seen. So will it come crashing down tomorrow? Will the stock-market crash Will the Dow Jones crash through the floor? Will the deluded men in business suits The nutcases with briefcases With blank minds and blank faces Reach for their mobile phones And hear the message? Mobile phones cause brain tumours! Will they go home and see The message on T.V? Television causes madness, sadness and delusions! Will they reach for their newspapers And read the headline Weve only told you what our bosses Wanted you to know! Will they go see their doctor To prescribe them a pill? For their ulcers, their impotence Their lack of free will? Will they panic and repent When they find and they hear That their brain is dementing And theyve been dead inside for years? Stressed, impatient, angry Chasing numbers and plastic money While the rest of the world has been Getting happy and wise Sharing and caring Analysing the lies Ridding itself of the old school ties That tighten around the necks Of the old school boys The rich old men in their limousines Whove kept the rest down with their
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Shiny machines With guns and tanks, bombs and mines Who sent their daughters off to war And their sons to die for the queen Of another country and a long line Of has-beens Who locked up their children And said that they were mad Because they stood up to authority Because they stood up for peace Maniacs, witches, radicals, fools Cried the old men with dead minds Ruled by their tools Nymphomaniacs they called them Their daughters confined To prisons and asylums, confined. The greedy old men have always been there Wearing the judges wig or the generals uniform The inquisitioners cloak or psychiatrists gown The faceless business-men Who lie through their teeth Who stab in the dark At all those beneath In their hierarchy of brutality Their towers of greed Stuffing themselves while millions die in need. The man without ethics Who makes the best decision While those with real morals are Treated with derision The best decision The best decision for his company And himself Dare we call it conspiracy? His old mate happens to be A financier for the military Dealing arms, drugs and death To the Third World and the First What happened to the Second? Well, they coined the words Another mate owns a University
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A place to train bright young minds To give in to authority And worship the hierarchy. They like to share a glass of port and a cigar In the Melbourne clubs of the world But they have no love Only fear and hate They hate the young people Who wont fight for the queen Corporate structure or capitalism They hate their long hair Their nose-rings and tattoos They hate their indifference to entrenched tabboos Drug addicts and hippies Theyd have the whole lot put down Euthanased, put away, at least controlled With an armed police full of young thugs And a judicial system that calls people mugs A psychiatric system that tortures and torments Philosophers and artists, tell me, who is bent? They tell me WHO is bent. They say its simple, these people are mad With an incurable illness, a defectiveness, it really is sad What can we do in our position of control But label them publicly and give them The treatment they deserve Electric shocks and humiliation and Drugs that cripple, encouraging them to kill themselves is surely better Than losing our position Our position is this The lies at the root of the Eugenics movement Are delusions of grandeur that justify torment Stigmatised youngsters suiciding in masses The murderers make sure theyre seen in the churches But when will it end This illusion that theyve built An illusion of fairness, justice and freedom In a land where one leader told us
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Life was not meant to be easy Another I am an Englishman always Yet another No child will live in poverty No child will live in poverty When will the illusion be revealed as such An illusion shown to be running amok Down narrow corridors with narrow minds A preoccupation with statistics and meaningless Point-scoring A preoccupation with slavery and debt reduction A debt to whom, Id like to know? Exploiters, enslavers, mass-murderers and worse A debt! A debt to these men? The madmen in office continue to argue About which party is better Witch party About marginal seats while marginalised people Weep silently for what was once a lucky country What was once a lucky country Before it was colonised by barbaric people Who shout at each other Shouting theyre the best That theyre the strongest, beating their chests Like baboons Baboons in ties Old school ties.
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MAGNETIC FORCES
Magnetic forces Caused by electrical movement Causing electrical movements In our nerves In our brains In our blood In our heart Magnetic forces Caused by electrical movement Causing electrical movements In our rooms In our streets In our cities In our land The Southern Land Magnetic forces Caused by electrical movements Carried by water Through the air Under the ground We walk upon As we seek our lost Sense of direction Our friends who went missing Our families that we loved But became confused Because they were confused By a scientific philosophy That denies animal magnetism And the gentle spirit of nature
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INDIVIDUAL HUMAN MINDS

An open hand An open mind An open world A mind in ever changing mood A happy mind A creative mind A mind thats free to soar With thoughts of happiness Generosity and love Revolution is constant Evolution is constant It continues in our brains Always New emotions New connections A new unfolding panorama Schizophrenia Mania Hypomania Prejudiced labels used in denigration Used for control Used for killing Used for drugging Used as an excuse to build more prisons Used as an excuse to increase surveillance Used as a reason to torture the young Who cant survive If theyre killed by the old
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ALIENS
Aliens The cyborg is with us Alien To the natural world Of trees and bees Birds and seas Aliens On screen Aliens to scream about Watching spellbound Hypnotised children Exploding Star Wars myths While NASA scans the skies For radio waves from aliens While millions pontificate About strange abductions While alien channels Claim contact with extraterrestrials I sit here and wonder Whether the aliens are already here In our homes Their faces peer out of the TV For so many years They radiated into my mind That I too became an alien Alienated from life Alienated from people Alienated from birds Alienated from beetles Romesh Senewiratne 1999
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BLACK AND WHITE Is white, the absence of colour And black, all the colours superimposed? Or is white, all the colours combined And black, the absence of colour? Or is it not as Black and white As that?
THE ENEMY The enemy of the needy Is fear of the greedy The enemy of the greedy Is fear of being needy
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SUN
Sun Provider of light Energy Life Yellow White All the colours of the spectrum Fire of many hues Burning all day And all night Illuminating the moon And those who walk beneath it Sun Warm and comforting Nourishing our skin and bones Promoting growth The gentle evolution Of a new type of human being Sun Rotating gently Beaming its kind rays On eager faces Turned towards the sun Loving the sun Glowing red at dusk Casting shadows in the early hours Telling us about time Affecting the seasons Without disorder Unless we create it Romesh Senewiratne, 1999
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BIRDBRAINS These fools Who laugh At the spirit of birds But cant sing And cant fly Who dont see beauty And dont love
ANIMALS Just a bloody animal A fucking animal A violent animal A pissed party animal Liberal party animal Imperialist party animal Labour party animal Slavery party animal Cannibal animals Murderous animals Disconnected From reality And other animals Of a gentler Kinder Nature Romesh Senewiratne, 1999
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TELEVISION Telepathy Telecommunication Tell me Tellers Tales Tall Tales Terrible Tales from Television Repetitive patterns Bright colours Mesmerising music Hypnotising Advertising A philosophy of greed Suggestions of madness Mass delusions Buy Buy Buy RADIO Radio .frequency Waves.crash Sky.unlimited See.hear Romesh Senewiratne, 1999
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THE DOCTOR The doctor struts his stuff He carries his head high He carries his opinions Over those who ask why. They ask why his patients weep And why his patients cannot sleep. They ask him why his wallet swells While people dwell in living hells. He justifies with lies and tricks To prove his victims are really sick That those he tortures truly are ill And in dire need of a poison pill. With self-fulfilling prophesy he tells Why the mentally ill will never be well Its in their genes he says with glee thats accepted at my University Good for research funding In this age of eugenics Theres no simple cure Theres no easy fix. The doctor sucks up to the professor The professor has been indoctrinated The professor doctors his statistics The doctor swallows his medicine They both become more sick.
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DEAN Dean is just a child A just child Misdiagnosed as Defective Because he twitches When he talks of Atoms and music He has a tic When he talks of Time and history Mythology and cosmology Tourettes syndrome Claim the experts Is caused by chemical imbalances With genes Behind the scenes A pseudoscience lurking To label Dean inferior And bring him under Control Independent Creative Witty children Can be better treated With love than labels Music than medication Hugs than drugs
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JOHN John studied philosophy He wrote throughout the night He wrote about freedom Freedom of speech John went to University To the Philosophy faculty To develop, he hoped His mental faculties. His mental faculties were full of freedom The University faculties were not. John felt free to debate He felt free to argue The point of freedom with his professor. The professor did not agree. The professor became angry.
The rule here is clear

Students respect their elders That is the law here. John was diagnosed He was institutionalised He was drugged but not broken He now shows compliance He complies with the poisons Under threat of injection But waits for the day The day he will be free To speak his mind Without dribbling And walk steadily Without shaking.
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ANDREW Andrew is a gentle soul who plays guitar and worries About the state of his mind. Andrew is a gentle soul Who philosophises and worries About whether he has been logical. Andrew is a gentle soul Who converses honestly then worries About whether he has offended anyone. Andrew is a gentle soul Who swallows his tablets and worries About why he feels so ill. He thinks about his memory And worries that he cant remember What happened when they first locked him up And gave him electric shocks Andrew wisheshe wishes That his brain would recover From the cruel torture He doesnt comprehend And I didnt have the courage To tell him about.
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MICHEAL Micheal was shaking He was sure he was divine He sang about smiling Colours and the fine line Between madness and sanity Compliance and control Treatment and torture. Micheal was shaking because the drugs made him shake. He was suffering But laughed at the poison Zoo-penthixol he chortled they think were zoo animals But they cant put me down They know that Im special They know of my power My special ability To make people laugh and sing. Im a musician, he said they can cripple my hands but they cant cripple my head. 1999 Romesh Senewiratne
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FRANCESCA Francesca was labelled schizophrenic Francesca was seventy She was Spanish, she spoke little English She was devout, she was pious She abhored violence She loved the sound of music She hated television The shouting made her weak She feared the radio Full of angry music and angry young men So they locked her up in a room With five young men, a TV and a radio They poisoned her aged body With injections that made her stumble And slur the words she still had No wonder Francesca thought she was in hell No wonder she cried And wanted to hold my hand.
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JOE Joe was once a scary man He said he was a criminal He said that hed been violent But now he wanted only To be left alone Just him and his tablets Just him and his methadone Joe asked for some tranquillisers All six foot six of him All 200 kilograms of him He leaned across the nurses station And begged for something to calm his nerves The doctor said I could have some pills I need them to stay well I need my sleep I need my medication I was once a child, you know I was once loved You know Joe is still a scary man To those who fear the huge and sullen Joe is still a scary man To those who fear a man who swears But Joe knows no other language Than the language of prison and drugs Joe is the result of violence And torture
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CHERIE Cherie thought she was a prostitute Because she didnt recognise she was a writer Because no one recognised she was a writer Cherie thought she was a junkie Because she hungered for relief And someone to listen to her poems And someone to share her grief Cherie thought she was a loser Because people stole her closest possessions Her virtue and her pride But her virtue can never be stolen And her reputation cannot be further tarnished Cherie has been labelled and put down Drugged and crippled Robbed of her dignity Cherie has been diagnosed and put away To keep her from society To keep her problems to herself To keep her life in downhill spiral But her poems sing of freedom And beautiful places Her poems reveal truth And tender compassion And she throws them to whoever Will catch them
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Retrospective Diagnosis I ask as I read Your diagnoses of the dead Of the madness of artists And the ravings of poets Do you consider whats said? Do you think any poet sane? How can you understand such a brain? When you treat metaphor with disdain I ask as I read When you speak of van gogh Diagnoses are made And his brilliance fades Viewed as a freak Diseased imagination That glorified sunflowers And saw beauty in the mundane I ask as I read The criteria you make To call artists mad Synonymous with bad Prejudice rules Constructed by fools Your stupid textbooks Created by crooks With hidden agendas Arrogant and friendless Do you consider any poet Chemically balanced?
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Do you consider any artist Appropriately behaved? Or are poetry and art Themselves the diseases That you would Rid the human race of? The human race Tired of running Round in circles Driven ever faster The human race Sick of competing Climbing the ladder Deeper into the sewer Of greedy profiteering Relentless careering Artists exploited Poets tortured The victims cry out But fear to be clear They speak in metaphor To hide their horror They have seen the world as poets As sensitive people Not schizophrenics Romesh Senewiratne 1999
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CRUEL BETRAYAL
Escaping in terror from nazi eugenics the bewildered were herded onto the ship The British Empire promised to provide full protection asylum to those called insane defective greedy degenerate races judged by murderous monsters according to face, race and colour judged cruelly tortured prescribed euthanasia mercy killing by the merciless poisonous chemicals outright massmurder The poor people fled to escape the dread weeping as they left their dead behind weeping with their dead in mind they prayed for relief they trusted the soldiers his majestys army who told them they were safe told them theyd be safer in the great southern land Betrayed by the Red Cross they suffered more torture guinea pigs for ICI martyrs for humankind Australia the scene of countless betrayals but none forgotten by the true eye of history The news now resurfaced fifty years later army used disabled soldiers and interred Italians and also used Jewish refugees
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to test out new chemicals drugs to make profits for British and American Pharmaceutical companies The victims were tortured infected, injected with no less than malaria a fatal disease a disease that kills millions they now have a cure but far too expensive for nations kept poor by debts they incurred to the countries that raped them enslaved all their people destroyed all their treasures or took them away to keep in museums and private collections The third world cries out but nobody hears the stifled screams of children in horror the terror of war brings profits for companies producing the treatments for the problems they created Romesh Senewiratne 1999
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THE DOCTORS AND THE WAR MACHINE The machine was designed To drive people mad The greedy demons in the money-spinner Tales untrue Wagging the dog Bombs raining On defenceless children The machine cannot be satisfied Because it has no soul It feels no hunger It is programmed It operates It takes its orders without complaint Its resistance is inbuilt Its wires generate radiation Radiation is good for business It generates disease It creates revenue Income Tax for the poor man Bonus for the rich man Charity corporations Enslaving smaller nations Marlboro country Speed kills But Coke adds life Smoking kills But needles are promoted Profiteer professors Dangerous doctors Advising generals and presidents Treating kings and queens Operating on cardinals and archbishops
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THE SOUND OF YESTERDAY

Yesterday I laughed and I wept I talked and I slept I listened with enjoyment I listened with love I listened with anger I listened with dismay I observed in silence And spoke out loud I spoke from the heart Things I hadnt said before I spoke from the heart Because my heart was sore I spoke of cruel man-made disasters I spoke of AIDS and population control I spoke of eugenics and euthanasia I spoke of largactil and chemical warfare I spoke of the prisons they build in our city I spoke of freedom and I spoke of peace I spoke of revenge and reconciliation I heard what happened to the Aboriginal Nation I said that I thought they deserved compensation I spoke of mynahs and their place in the Southern Land I spoke of uranium and mining for sand I spoke of the times that I played in a band I spoke of relationships and marriage and children I spoke of dishonesty then I spoke of Bill Clinton I listened in anguish to new talk of war I closed my eyes to the headlines I saw But most of the day I sat there in silence And thought about ways we can stop all this violence.
Romesh Senewiratne 1999
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JOHNNY HAD A BAD DAY

1998 Romesh Senewiratne Johnny had a bad day Cause the people had their say Johnny had a bad day And it just wont go away Johnnys got a new ploy, its intelligence cannot be insulted Unlike the plans of yesteryear, the people will be consulted Election round the corner And hearts to be converted Taxes to be sold And attention to be diverted Johnny meets the people To woo them to his vision Blind to sins of past and present No Sorry his final decision I killed no-one, my conscience is clean A dying race, whats been has been The laws were cruel, the laws were mean But Johnnys rules are laws unseen Laws from above, laws from below Jobs for the boys, and the army wants some new toys The farmers weep The workers sigh Johnny even pretends to cry But actings easy for Honest John He grew up as a puppets pawn The strings that jerk the Prime Deceiver Are couched in words and doctors orders The habits of traditions The frocks of priests The wigs of judges And the vanity of fools Faced with hypocrisy Public indignation rises With anger at the short-term solution Of global military prostitution
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NEWS OF THE DAY

1999 Romesh Senewiratne News of the day The Presidents had his way Education for the nation Complete with radiation The open universe Becomes a closed university The corporate rule, new demons created Free radicals to be exterminated Dissidents are cases for study Communists the enemy And the GST friendly Reds under the bed But the goldens a dream Shades of colonial bungalows The whitewashed Whitehouse The laws of Whitehall Not news for this nation Thats fed programs with radiation The food we eat The ground under our feet The lies we were told The Earths six thousand years old! Gods in the stars And Jesus behind bars Electric shocks for the messiahs Injections for the dreamers Prison for protesters And promotion for professors
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EDUCATION FOR THE NATION

1999 Education for the nation Created with deliberation Truth to be avoided Products to be sold The campaign hard and cold The Presidents Corporation Provides a special education New tricks to play with cigars Tobacco leaves Enslavers plantations Too obvious for a story When every politician seeks his own glory But to start a war To raise popularity While hiding the cause Of deserved notoriety Guns for cocaine Or terror for profit The weapons may change But weve had enough of it
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WELL BOMB THEM AFTER CHRISTMAS

Words and music by Romesh Senewiratne 2002 Well bomb them after Christmas Could be the spark the economy needs To welcome the New Year in His security men behind him The President felt empowered To wage two wars on two continents To get his hands on the oil That his fathers hands were burned with To get his hands on the oil Well bomb them in the New Year The Commander-in-Chief declared We wont call this terrorism Though the whole world is more than scared Well bomb them after Christmas To welcome the New Year in
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THE PRESIDENT Words and music 2002 by Romesh Senewiratne I looked aghast at the TV screen At the son of the CIA chief At the son of the President At the President I looked aghast at his empty eyes At his smart suit and tie At his clean-shaven face At his actors smile I searched for compassion But found none to convince I waited for the answers But the media remained silent There will be no negotiations, he said The people must die Their children must go hungry And God is always on the side of the mighty With Bible on the bookshelf And Sunday School in parade Kissing babies for political points I looked aghast at the TV screen At the son of the CIA chief At the son of the President At the President
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THE PRESIDENTS MEN

Words and music by Romesh Senewiratne 2002 All the Presidents men Line up to be pinned With medals and commendations They line up to be pinned With the collective guilt All the Presidents men Turn to the CIA For the truth to be proclaimed By CBS and NBC All the Presidents men Are proud to drop bombs For their country And the protection of the strong All the Presidents men Have bunkers of concrete Harder than their hearts Hearts made of stone All the Presidents men Believe in Freedom and Democracy Blinded by the lies Of the nations oligarchy All the Presidents men Line up to die But far more do they kill As they fly through the sky The Presidents men Have weapons of stealth And turn to corrupt military doctors On matters of their health
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DECEPTION
Words and music by Romesh Senewiratne 2002 The reception The deception The leaders of nations congregate The rejection Of a peaceful solution The men of war say theyre not motivated Theyre not motivated by revenge As popularity rises As it always does in times of war A new enemy created The armys above the law The reception The deception The commanders of thousands Bring misery to millions As AIDS claims more lives The history of warfare hides Behind blind rhetoric The angel of death rides As fingers are pointed across the seas A family of innocents flees To be hunted down like common criminals For escaping from tyranny Escaping across the world To a land that writes the programs For another terrible war
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WITH ONE VOICE

Words and music by Romesh Senewiratne 2003 Looking at the sunshine But kept in the dark The weatherman said it would be fine Another glossy, casual remark For a new war looms and weve seen it all before A new war looms but weve seen it all before The TV talks up the conflict again It shows the friendly soldiers, and some were weeping It slows the lonely viewers, already sleeping Said the special correspondent The soldiers are despondent Again the administration has acted without consent And its time to voice some real dissent Cause a new war looms and weve seen it all before No longer hypnotized by lies The masses mobilized To stop the growth of arms in the skies The masses have been mobilized They dance and march and wave placards The poets and the singing bards They say with one voice No War They say with one voice Peace They say with one voice Peace
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IN BETWEEN
Words and music by Romesh Senewiratne 2003 In between wars was a moment of peace And in between noise was a moment of silence In between hatred was a moment of love In between sadness was a moment of joy And in between lies, a moment of truth In between moments of darkness is light And in between moments of blindness is sight As the spectrum of colours unites black and white As we see whats wrong and realize whats right In between wars were moments of peace And in between noise where moments of music In between nonsense were moments of logic And in between enmity were moments of friendship And in between sadness were smiles and laughter Then the moments became days And the days became years And the years became decades And the decades became history And we groaned under the burden Then in between lay more than a grain of truth Yes, in between lies the truth
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ANOTHER DAY IN WORLD WAR THREE

Words and music by Romesh Senewiratne 2004 Another day in World War Three and the news is getting worse The Presidential Ego is just about to burst Bristling with rhetoric and hatred for the poor Camouflaging cowardice with khaki and bravado Protesters wave their placards in the rain As the Commander-in-Chief hits the catwalk again Fifteen thousand bobbies to guard the Chosen One Fifteen thousand bobbies, each with a gun The gray men ask the Queen for bullet-proof curtains To screen the boss of the Free World from assassination The Queen suspects a plot, but isnt quite certain She asks her aging son, whose reputation worsens The plan unfolding hasnt yet been foiled Invade for oil, divide the spoils, buy more missiles to protect the Royals Build a base, just in case, to win the race to rule the place Fire a rocket and another to stop it Fire a missile, and more bombs in a short while The Administration has a Grand Plan for the nation Total decimation The Prime Minister, Mr Howard, has made a Big Decision All the way with the USA, united in division And so the Immigration Minister, a man of such compassion Is now in charge of justice, and the Senator of Slavery has moved into position To terrorise the public with grave warnings of invasion By poor and homeless people fleeing wars in other nations The media mogul hold the politician in his fist Frightened of the falling polls, the Party wont resists Cause the Administration has a Grand Plan for the Nation Total decimation So Johnny grins with pride at the young men fresh from battle Commending their obedience, just like cattle Inflated with salutes and the praises of warmongers Supplicating cronies make sure that his ego never hungers The weak-willed moneyman now fancies himself as a soldier Appointing a general to represent his Queen Seizing every opportunity to be seen with the men in green Sucking at the nozzle of the oily war machine His hands would drip with blood, were it not that others do his killing No, he and his masters keep their actual hands clean Their souls may burn with hatred, but their souls cannot be seen
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HALLIBURTON
Words and music by Romesh Senewiratne 2004 The Company hires cannonfodder Idols to keep an eye on the sea and the air And the oil rigs are rigged to explode The Company has the deal But the deal was concealed The silent men of the East Bow down again and again to the beast As the dragon belches toxic fire And more processed rubber for the tyre Company whose bored Board of Directors Seek defectors and deflectors The stars they seek protectors While governing actors build nuclear reactors And the President-in-waiting Skilled at posing, not debating Sucks up to the selectors and editors Who misinform the electors And the media baron tells all how to vote For the men of the bull or the men of the goat As the armies of the Southern Cross Aim at the Red Square And the Red Star lights up the Red Planet And robots dig deep on the Dead Planet How the Red Cross heads down to the 68th parallel And writes an internal memo to the armies of terror As they follow their orders to complete the Crusade Where the white, blue and green cross gases failed Like their memories forget how the poisonous yellow Was used in the crushing of the Red Dragon When the all jumped up on the crazy wagon The Company has the Deal But the deal was concealed The company has the Deal But the deal was concealed
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FREEDOMS NOT GIVEN ON A PLATE

Words and music by Romesh Senewiratne 2003 War at the dawn of a peaceful age Peace can be won, but not by rage Or by sacrificing soul to the industrial cage Peace can be won by courage Bound by the ropes of the police machine The violent machine that is ruled by hate Breaking the chains that are so hard to see Knowing that freedoms not given on a plate Constrained by the rules of the rich boys, the old boys, the white boys Governed by crooks who fill their own pockets The Minister for Defence likes them shiny new toys That fire fast missiles from shiny new rockets The minister for Defence buys them shiny new toys While he pockets the dockets Bound by the fear of the terror machine The war machine that has ruled of late Breaking the locks that are so rarely seen Knowing that freedoms not given on a plate No, freedoms not given on a plate Freedoms not given on a plate
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REALITY TV
Words and music by Romesh Senewiratne 2004 The Green Guide told us to watch TV It claimed that we would finally see Reality Under the impression that truth is not a digression I had to ask the question As to why the strange things I saw that night Were advertised as Real and Right So I waited for the commercial break To lose my concentration As my attention wandered away From the packet filled with cornflakes on the screen To reality as it really has been So I looked out of the window and saw that things were good The tree that I had planted was still standing where it should I thought that it seemed real enough, I didnt need to check Then I saw a purple flower, though in the shade it looked black Then I looked up at the sky where the moon had been last night The moon had gone and in its place was a glowing ball of light Could this be real I wondered as I looked on with delight As the cotton clouds changed shape to make the form of a pig in flight But I knew it was a cloud and I knew it was the sky I didnt wave my arms about and think that I could fly I didnt watch the box that night To tell me what is wrong or right But Reality TV blazed bizarre beams Into other minds and other brains And I wonder how many were sane With this reality in their brains I wonder how many stayed sane With reality TV in their brains
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THE IDLE GAZE AT THE IDOLS Words and music by Romesh Senewiratne 2004 The face on the screen Is next years has-been Or so it seems To one who dreams Until the next generation Perhaps the X-generation Look back with less veneration At the idols of the disunited nations Where old men with play stations Send muscle men to train stations Seeking security with slick technology As they train our children to view geology and geography As a battle for more power A fight between Superpowers Whose commanders cower In cement holes, caves, cellars and tunnels Bunkered down while they send out their sons and daughters To command the slaves of the New Empires The Right Empires, the White Empires Where Uncle Toms justify the bombs with such aplomb And digital pictures of models and projections The General Assembly swallows it whole with few objections And the Right Wing gets some more defections From the defective ism, Communism Raising up the phoenix of Nietsche and his nihilism Raising up more statues of Churchill and his pessimism Radiating warnings of the global threat of terrorism While the horror of war is hallowed in shrines As the masses stand in line to pay tribute To the fallen idols of Church and State When they finally wake, will it be too late?
Anzac Day 25.4.04
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THE IVORY TOWER

Words and music by Romesh Senewiratne 2004 The man in the suit watched An Hour of Power He winked at his wife and he gave her a flower He had a double chin and a toothy grin He was ready to climb the Ivory Tower As the acid rain fell, he walked in the shower With his nuclear family and nuclear umbrella As he eased his way in the corridors of power As he greased his way up the Ivory Tower He bought a new car and a two-story house He noticed injustice but was quit as a mouse When his bosses commanded he jumped up to please When they asked him to beg, well he sank to his knees When they told him to shout, he yelled at the slaves When they wanted obedience he gave and he gave He gave up his soul to the men wielding power As he rose like hot wind up the Ivory Tower The man with the task to be master of the mask He smiles with guile as the mercenaries file past The managers build a ladder to the top of the tower A dangling carrot leads them higher and higher But the solar wind blows down with more light To warm the hearts of men who fight For money and land and status and power While forests grow silent and dark is the hour And the slaves look with hope at the Ivory Tower
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LANDMINES
Words and music by Romesh Senewiratne 2004 A tranquil field now littered with landmines Along with the path to the river A cynical charity calls for donations Thousands of children, they need new limbs But the making of landmines is still not illegal The sole Superpower, well, they have decided That the interests of magnates can be counted in millions And that courting the generals might bring new dominions The forest playground holds nasty surprises When the warring parties use the latest in weapons A walk by the stream, a cruel explosion And another child weeps for the loss of a limb But the making of landmines is still not illegal The sole superpower, they have decided That the interests of magnates can be counted in millions And that courting the generals might win new dominions The spoils of war can be counted on one hand A curious child finds a grenade, unexploded A bolt of pain and a life has been shattered But do the men who cause this think that it matters? Cause the making of landmines is still not illegal Along with these other weapons of violence The sole superpower now threatens with terror And talk of disarming a deafening silence
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NEWS OF THE DECADE

Words and music by Romesh Senewiratne 2004 I turned to the girl at my table And asked if she knew a hopeful fable She looked far away and her eyes seemed so sad She said she was troubled, and that troubles are bad We live in a world she said, Full of violence and despair We live under rules she said, which were never fair How can we be happy unless we, too, dont care? So long ago that the traces have almost faded away A lonely child sat alone, where her parents had played A field of flowers replaced by a wilderness Of concrete and mortar, the creek now polluted We live in a world full of toxins and tyrants We live under laws that are cruel and unfair How can we be happy unless we, too, dont care? So far away that I cant even guess the time Hydrogen and helium glow with a warmth and light sublime The spiral galaxy that we call home It spins in the silence of the expanding vacuum We live in a world where the night turns to day Where hope springs eternal and the children will play When the fear turns to hope at the news of the hour That the final connection has been found and its power Dwarfs the dwindling reserves of the moguls Who drill for black gold at the expense of our health Though the sun provides all that we need for our wealth The news of the year, the news of the decade A global grid that taps the light and the shade The news of the year, its the news of the decade A solar grid that taps the light and the shade
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TONYS STORY A STORY OF A STOLEN CHILD

Words and music by Romesh Senewiratne 2000 He met her on a train And never saw her again A lonely child on the run Longing for home, home in the sun He never knew a loving smile He never knew a parents warmth From foster home to foster home Punishment for his urge to roam He saw the colour of his skin Darken, like the scars within From being a brother he became the other A stolen child, a cruel sin His crime was evident on his face The flat nose of an ancient race His crime was evident on his face The dark skin of an ancient race Tormented by guardians The line between guard and parent became fine Presumed protectors turned punitive inspectors A prisoner cannot cross the line Running from anger, running from pain Running from torture, he was running again Running from betrayal, running from pain Running for his mother, he found her on a train Told he was worthless, an uncontrollable child The punishments meted were never mild Told he was turning black because of his friends Children with dark skin with pride to defend His crime was simple, there on his face The deep set eyes of an ancient race His crime was judged by the skin on his face The brown skin of an ancient race
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As he looked at the walls Of the cold cell that surrounded The lonely boy saw visions Of a future confounded By prison and punishment for accusations unfounded By stealers of children and merciless magistrates By laws hypocritical and courts diabolical By mandatory sentencing and racist policing As he looked at the walls of the cold cell that surrounded The weeping boy saw visions of a destiny confounded He thought of his mother Of a meeting so short He thought of the train And the ticket hed bought He thought of escaping Of the freedom he sought He thought of the woman Who once showed him love He thought of the sun, of the bright Queensland sun He thought of the joyful things he could have done He wept for a past, present and future of strife He wept for his family and wept for his life This is the story of Tony A stolen child
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FIVE HUNDRED YEARS

Words and music by Romesh Senewiratne 1994 Five hundred years of exploitation Ah, but still we teach it in our schools As the brave deeds of men of might Bringing God to those who lacked the light Five hundred years of exploitation The treasures of the Aztecs never seen Cause they were melted into gold bars And shipped back to the coffers of the king And so we sing Its got to change (cause just one week) Its got to change (of military spending) Its got to change (would wipe the Third World debt) Its got to change (then our troubles would be ending) Its got to change Five hundred years of exploitation Independence is the only cause for joy But as we struggle on to pay the debt The peoples needs are never met Five hundred years of exploitation Has led to all the starving in the world Their only crime is being poor And we can find a simple cure Its got to change Cause just one week of military spending Could wipe the Third World debt Then our troubles would be ending But still we pour our money in to those we have elected In this strange world where the wise are not selected Its got to change
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MONEYMARKET Words and music by Romesh Senewiratne 1987 Is the day seeming grey or are you feeling fine? Are the years running short or do we have the time? Have we paid all our dues if apathy is a crime? Will we act while we can or wait for some magic sign? Moneymarkets taken over, hear the call We can shake it, we can break it, we can laugh at it all Politician takes another slice of pie Lines his pocket, hides the docket, signs a lie Well, we all turn up to vote but I sometimes wonder why When were governed by those with the most votes they can buy Moneymarkets taken over, hear the call We can shake it, we can break it, we can laugh at it all As we see what they built With the lies and the guilt Why do we seem somehow left in between So the banks had a good a year Are we to celebrate While the poor are, once again, left to their fate? As the world falls apart and we just stand around Well we dont want to watch so we bury our heads in the ground Moneymarkets taken over, hear the call We can shake it and remake it, we can laugh at it all The moneymarket We can shake, we can break and remake the moneymarket
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WHEN BANKERS MAKE THE RULES Words and music by Romesh Senewiratne 2001 As traffic burns more fossil fuels In their offices, bankers make the rules And the ship they sail is a ship of fools And white lies are taught in the schools As atoms are split to unleash their power Humanity rushes to its final hour The banker sits there in his tower And the taste of success grows sour As grasslands turn to deserts The forests are laid waste The bankers bring a new terror As people are driven to haste As they rush and they worry, plot and prepare For war and conflict with so little care The Bankers rule that the worlds in debt And the ignorant rulers are also inept As the aged cry for mercy And the children cry for food The bankers rule that revolution However noble, is never good As bellies grow empty and faces grow thin We ask again, why this should be The poor of the world have committed no sin As wicked as those who control the money
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WALKING DOWN THE FINE LINE Words and music by Romesh Senewiratne 2003
Walking down the fine line in an age of confusion Walking down the fine line between truth and illusion They argue for war, but if theyd seen what we saw They break the law, but were not the fools they take us for Though were walking down the fine line, whoah Were walking down the fine line Even the church has backed away from the debate of the day Not a just war this time, they say Not worth the price wed have to pay Even the rabid warmongers wait They dont want to be viewed with hate But they quietly terrorise the State With warnings that time is getting late And were walking down the fine line, whoah Walking down the fine line As politicians raise the alarm The people are frightened of the calm The bishop reads another psalm And searches for words to serve as a balm As more people march for peace The prisoners and captives will be released As shackles are disregarded and destroyed Along with the armys brand new toys And maybe the generals will be detained For crimes against humanity and acid rain The generals have had their day Now its time to find a better way The warmongers have had their say Now its time to find a better way They dont care how many they slay The priest commands the congregation to pray But theres got to be a better way, yes theres got to be a better way The taxman says weve got to pay For the troops, and the wars and the games they play The taxman says weve got to pay but theres got to be a better way The bureaucrat says we ought to delay And save up for a rainy day The bureaucrat sees shades of gray But theres got to be a better way Yes, theres got to be a better way
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HEADLINES
Words and music by Romesh Senewiratne 2004 The headlines say it all And what the headlines say the talking heads repeat The headlines plastered on the wall And these headlines glorify defeat Cause we dont need more weapons if were winning The fight for peace and the search for security We dont need more guns if were winning The fight for freedom and the quest for democracy When I read the news to day I was lost of words to say I read the government has pledged to pay Billions of dollars over the next decade The grinning goof on the box he reads his lines They told him to say that we needed the missiles The program from Fox is littered with signs That the men who sell wars sure know how to advertise But we dont need more weapons if were winning When I read the news today To give the war machine a bigger slice of the pie To buy us some safety with robots in the sky To patrol the airwaves with radars and scanners To patrol the oceans with submarines and destroyers To rule the seas with the harpoons of tycoons To rule society with the agendas of the loons To rule the streets via coppers and bruisers To divide us all into winners and losers To rule the skies with the gods of retribution To rule the world via greedy constitutions To rule our hearts with hatred and fear To extinguish all that we hold dear We dont need more weapons if were winning No, we dont need more weapons if were winning
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THESE DAYS
Words and music by Romesh Senewiratne 2003 You can smile, if you want to For the sound shining through You can laugh when it hits you Its a nice thing to do Cause these days we need our wits about us As the war machine gears up and around us As the space cadets plan a move to mars To avoid the poisons produced by our cars You can laugh if you want to When youre told what to do You can think for yourself Its a wise thing to do Cause these days we need our senses with us As the magnates move their armies among us Armed with magazines and briefcases Armed with slogans and bullets and banners You can shout if you want to When you find that its true There was no need for the suffering Just the greed of a few These days we need our eyes and our ears To filter out the lies and the fears These days we need our brains and our hearts And the will to love when the hatred starts You can look for the reason And the answers are there In the flight of the seasons And the fact that you care
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BURKES BACKYARD
2000 Romesh Senewiratne They tell me a young boy was sent to jail For stealing some pens on Christmas Day He was not given bail A few dollars and cents For the life of a child A fifteen-year-old From a tropical isle Jamies now dead And Burke nods his head He stands by the laws of a barbaric state The territory ruled with laws shaped by hate The life of a boy imprisoned in hell In the lifeless waste of a prison cell The suffering grows as the rulers grow hard In Burkes Backyard They tell me a mother was sent to prison For accepting a drink from a stolen can of beer The beer had been stolen The White Mans poison Corrupting the hungry The lonely become destitute A dead tree bears no fruit The ground and the climate grow dry and hard In Burkes Backyard They tell me a young man was sentenced To a year in a penal institution Hed stolen a towel To wipe off the shame Inflicted on his people People who smile At home on a tropical isle But die when deprived Of sun, light and sea Who die when imprisoned in cold cells with bars Who die when subjected to punitive laws Laws made by racist men with double standards In Burkes Backyard
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HISTORY LIES
2000 Romesh Senewiratne The history that they taught us Tells of enemies who have fought us The history they taught us A web of lies that has caught us The books that they read from Ignores the truth of the atom bomb No mention of Maralinga And the innocent people who lived there The lies they force-feed Our children, that they need Skin creams and medicines Insurance and magazines A corporate future Presented on every screen The news they eulogise Of Smart Bombs and War Heroes The Cold War resurrected And millions infected The old are rejected The young are subjected To orders and disorders By companies crossing national borders And nature dissected Searching for its soul As science becomes a black hole
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BLACK HOLE 2000 Romesh Senewiratne Machines moulding minds Machines with no soul We seek what we find And science becomes a black hole Institutions corrupt The slaves do what theyre told As numbers self-destruct Science becomes a black hole As Star Wars becomes myth And actors play their role New words to shape physics with But science sees more black holes For many years they laboured And questioned with their souls But nihilism became favoured And science became a black hole We seek it in the stars While it hides inside the whole The secret of life not out in quasars And not inside a black hole
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MISNOMER 2000 They say its a misnomer Not a whole generation was stolen No, others were killed Imprisoned, tortured, enslaved They say its a misnomer Not genocide just massmurder The killing was based on colour and race, not genes Though eugenics lurked behind the scenes They say its a misnomer Reconciliation to assimilation Reconciliation to decimation And betrayal of the nation Reconciliation to desecration Reconciliation to denial, to history rewritten An apology was never enough To people now dead How can we apologise?
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SACRIFICE
2000 Romesh Senewiratne Then we listened to the whisper And the mouse began to roar As it ran around the cage As it pressed the lever down As it wriggled on the hot plate As its dry eyes wept No tears, no hate As it ignored The men in white coats Tested pain response The blind mind-manipulators Peered through the bars And the tables turned From analog to digital The mouse it screamed Its pain not virtual An electronic shock Painful in any language An electric shock To test response A life imprisoned For human cruelty No voice for the meek No voice for the timid A child born captive In cages no gilden Like lambs to the slaughter A sacrifice for science And the rabbit that cries So shampoo wont burn our eyes Dies
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THE BELL RINGS

2001 Romesh Senewiratne While the bell rings And time goes through the weak The dog performs as ordered And his salivation is measured With a ruler and a machine The bell produces the desired response And children stand, motionless, in line They sit when and where theyre told to They raise their hands to speak And always wait their turn They mind their manners They know not to climb too high Till the bell sets them free and back to work The morning bell heralds A new program of boredom As minds grow tired And free thought is desired The prison conforms To expectations With walls of relativity And dogma and tradition And black holes to fall in The abyss of uncertainty And on the hypnotic TV No news or news of calamity As repetition kills individuality The bell rings And the toll is high
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ATOMIC PEACE
2001 Romesh Senewiratne When guns find peace And noise finds quiet When the arrow of time Meets the circle of revolution And chaos starts to riot Among the masses There in the certainty Of the theory of relativity There in the nucleus Of explosive umbrellas There we will find it The source of our troubles There we will find it There, in the rubble When nations find peace And freedom finds expression When honesty finds truth And logics freed from digression There we will find it The answer we seek The facts of the weary The meaning of the meek There we will find it The truth of the atom The truth of the planet The truth we can fathom
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PETROCHEMCAL CONSPIRACY?
1998 Romesh Senewiratne Has there been a conspiracy To misinform the public? To misinform doctors and politicians What are the real environmental benefits Of unleaded petrol? It allows people to convince themselves They are doing their bit To save the world By buying a new car That crumples like a house of cards At the slightest impact Were supposed to be convinced That this, too, is a health benefit And not a way for the car manufacturers to save on costs And earn from spare parts and repairs And make more money for the petrochemical industry For sure, lead is bad for ones health When breathed into the lungs But as for links with learning problems in children Which pulls at the heartstrings Of concerned parents and grandparents Surely banal, violent TV And the stress of learning crap at school Antibiotics and hormones added to chicken, cattle and swine Insecticides and herbicides sprayed on cereals, fruits and vegetables And Macdonalds in the Royal Childrens Hospital Are a bigger risk to our kids health
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EUGENIC MISCALCULATION 2000 Romesh Senewiratne Miscalculation Statistical manipulation Not decimation A tenth was not left Of the dying races Racial classification For economic castration Not suitable for life Nor fit for population Eugenic preoccupation In another White Nation New tricks and new tools Old lies of old fools With fear of colour And fear of anger With fear of brothers And fear of mothers Memorisation Belief in Freud and Kraepelin And Thomas Malthus deception Too little food for the greedy While the priest plots poverty for the needy To little good in the greedy When the doctors teach torture for the needy And the drug lord sells poison for the speedy
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THE DEATH OF FREE WILL ABSTRACTED

Words and music by Romesh Senewiratne 2002 I signaled to the satellite Theres one on every corner I signaled to the satellite Theres one on every corner The actors on the stage Were just shadows of their masters Copycats and clones Robots, slaves and servants I narrated my lifes story To the microphone in my mouth Digested in a troubled mind Remembering a single tear That fell out of my eye The nurse who held my hand When she thought she saw me cry But that was long ago Now the scene is not a stage Nobody observing, cause no one really cares Nobody escaping, cause no one really dares The actors on the stage Were just shadows of their masters Copycats and clones The death of free will abstracted
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QUEST FOR THE ATOM

Words and music by Romesh Senewiratne 2002 While chemicals do chemical reactions Attention is freed from distractions Astronomers do additions and subtractions And every cause leads to actions Because time doesnt run and time doesnt fly And physics has changed through the ages Memories may deceive and history can lie But nothing escapes the cold eye in the sky And even today its hotly debated As to whether we evolved from apes or were created While rival religions denounce what theyve always hated Though countless destroyed their blood-lust not sated Yet When chemical empires peer inwards theyll see The flickering flames of scientific curiosity And honest workers deceived by blinkers For years theyve only been shown The next rung of the ladder The next rung of the ladder The Great Minds of Chemistry focused on the atom Magnificent Power released from its fission Did they aspire to bring peace, hope and freedom? Did they weep with real anguish when they saw what theyd done?
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SPINNING SHIP OF FOOLS

Words and music by Romesh Senewiratne 2002 Spinning round the world A panorama unfurled Spinning round the world In the spinning ship of fools The journey begins At a point in the past The accident of birth Geographical location From crawl to tottering steps From walking and then running The journey continues With modern locomotion Crossing over boundaries And walls between nations Crossing through the classes The doctrines and the schools Pausing at the border Of behaviour shaped by rules Sailing in the ship Sailing in the spinning ship of fools
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SHOCKS AND STARES

Words and music by Romesh Senewiratne 2002 When I woke up to find That I had been deceived My disbelief turned to anger My anger to disappointment Embarrassment to sadness And my sadness turned to pain So I walked around slowly And I sat down again When I woke again to find That I had been deluded I looked at the list of the crooks who colluded I read in the newspapers and I concluded That the scam was confirmed And the bosses had engaged in unfair trade practices And the hidden agendas were shapes by vested interests Stocks and shares Shocks and stares Stocks and shares Shocks and stares
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IDENTITY LABEL
Words and music by Romesh Senewiratne 2002 It was on a wooden floor Not that far from the door Heavy and yet light as rain Colourful and patterned Yet somewhat plain Spinning, spinning as it hit the waves again Located underneath the sky Looking straight up at the ceiling Without wings and unable to fly Incapable of action but capable of feeling It crept towards the shadow Cast by the towering columns of cloud A buzzing sound grew louder And rumbled through the humbled crowd And when all the cards were placed on the table And they picked up as many as they were able Each pinned on an identity label That pierced them to the core
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THE EMPTY THING

Words and music by Romesh Senewiratne 2002 The empty thing inside my soul Is not as large as a small black hole The empty thing inside my soul Does not prevent me from feeling whole Of feeling bold Of feeling love Or feeling peace Of feeling joy Or seeing beauty Or seeing truth The piece of peace that surrounds me Whispers when I see the sea The piece of I thats in my brain Told me I could see again A grain of salt to small to see By a blind mans buff or a hopping flea An ancient rock looms over the tree That nourishes and shelters me The empty thing inside my heart Aches sometimes, but doesnt smart The pain is soft and slow and tired The pain is soft and slow and tired The pain is tired
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CHURCHILL
2002 Romesh Senewiratne Peace is all around us But not on TV War confounds us V for Victory Hell fight them on the beaches And order them to die in trenches The man in the top hat Cigar in mouth Hero of the Empire Minister of War Eugenics Vice-President Masonic supremo Writing the Empires history His story rewritten Grandiose grandiloquence Of how to kill for Queen and Country Hell fight them on the high seas Court the Arsenal of Democracy Fight for the might of the white And damn the black dog of depression The twenties tremendous and terrible Between the Great Wars of Imperialism Hungry queues of workers Inspired by the words of red writers The forties brought the fate of millions To despair and desolution The rising sun of fortune Exploding in a mushroom cloud As east aimed to emulate west With exploitation and slavery Bold hearts were beating in many chests But deceived as to what is what is bravery
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SPACE 2002 Stretching ever on Into times no one has seen before Or ever will Space Black and empty Trillions of stars away Back and empty But full of things of matter Space Radiation Light years Time Entropy Half full and half empty Worm holes Black holes From a singularity To infinity
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A JOKE NO MORE
Words and music by Romesh Senewiratne 2002 I opened the issue I reached for a tissue I expected tears I expected fears To many years, too many years Exhorting to join the army For the salvation of Democracy and Freedom To fight the black menace of terrorism The biggest bombs win the propaganda war And the Australian Government wants in on the deal Were buying ten stealth bombers The borders need protection, you see While tired, hungry children Peer out from behind barbed wire They peer out with their parents At the harsh sands of the outback From their prison in the wilderness Not the beautiful Wilderness of Wilderness Society postcards But the harsh wilderness of disused army barracks The minister responsible for the treatment of these souls Claims to speak for multiculturalism and reconciliation Kunderas Joke a joke no more Kunderas Joke a joke no more In the land where reconciliation without truth Becomes a white-wash for the racists in office
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ASYLUM
Words and music by Romesh Senewiratne 2002 Behind barbed wire Sad faces cry for freedom The empty continent With xenophobic government Behind razor wire The flag is flown at half-mast Rules enforced by the threat of needles In an alien land the die is cast With love of family and friends long in the past Long in the past As the navy patrols And black people fill the jails The nation fixated on Brazilian goals And the ironys not lost on those who fail To qualify for asylum To qualify for humanity To qualify for a safe place To qualify for freedom
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GREENWASH
Words and music by Romesh Senewiratne 2002
Ive heard that Rio Tinto Mining Have set up an Aboriginal Foundation And Coca Cola have a new deal with Greenpeace That MacDonalds has set up an environmental charity While the Rockfeller Corporation preaches about philanthropy And its time for us all to be pleased The corporations are on the bandwagon The green bandwagon of environmental concern The corporations are milking the charity dollar And sending green messages for children to learn We beat Pangaea he said And well fight the nuclear reactor The main problem is dioxins So we campaign against incinerators The man from Greenpeace With the business degree He told me how green I could be Im a vegan and I feel quite well Could earn three times as much with my degree But might end up in hell His bob haircut parted in the middle The likely lad from Greenpeace Listened to talk of war and weapons With not a trace of a smile His institution, though, not capable of guile Sailing Rainbow Warriors more to their style Photo opportunities and deals with Coca Cola Sorry, not deals, just a just cause gone right But whats left is not wrong We gave them our new technology Gave it to the Coca Cola company for free he said Theyve fitted it in all their vending machines Now they can sell their Coke and Fanta without added CFCs The chap with the business degree He knew how to sell the environmental lobby Paid by the hour, galvanized with piety He was a vegan and proud as he could be Theyre all into recycling And talking about the ozone layer While billions die destitute cause of globalised exploitation
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1995
2001 Romesh Senewiratne I was sucked into the vacuum I was born into a role I descended into darkness As Hawking predicted black holes Then chaos presented beauty As the fractal showed its colours And time grew in dimension And evolution grew new flowers As I wandered in society And wondered about its meaning As the words revealed their secrets And dictionaries their corporate leaning When concern became confusion And truth became delusion When the ground had turned to water And the roads become a jungle When the eyes of every hand Were as open as a beach of sand The song we sang It spoke of freedom And the voice we heard Was that of wisdom
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IVE HEARD IT SAID

Words and music by Romesh Senewiratne 2003 Ive heard it said That the world was created by a man in the sky with a beard And Ive heard it said That God is a ghost who kills pagans and is to be feared And Ive heard it said That the fate of non-believers is to burn in the eternal fires of hell And Ive heard it said That the state of the world will improve if we buy oil from Shell But its time to be free of the lies, the lies of hate To be free of the lies and celebrate To be free of the lies, the lies of hate To be free of the lies and celebrate, because Propaganda, propaganda, propaganda, Can be recognized Ive heard it said That the atom bomb brought freedom and a new age of security And Ive heard it said That the media inform and rise above mediocrity Ive heard it said That the trickle down effect will eventually bring money to the poor And Ive heard it said That the sacrifice of lives is justified by the gaining of power But its time to be free of the lies Ive heard it said that TV rules the world And Ive heard it said that computers rule the world But Ive also heard it said That the world was created by a man in the sky with a beard And Ive heard it said that God is a ghost who kills pagans and is to feared But its time to be free of the lies
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Contact Details: Dr Romesh Senewiratne-Alagaratnam Director Holistic University Network 76 Fegen Drive Moorooka Australia 4105 GONDWANA phone: 617-3277-2010 mobile: 614-1271-0228 romeshsenewiratne@gmail.com Websites: www.youtube.com/romeshsenewiratne www.scribd.com/romesh_senewiratne www.facebook.com/romesh.senewiratne
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ONE WORLD in ONE UNIVERSE by DR Romesh Senewiratne-Alagaratnam Arya Chakravarti

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ONE WORLD in ONE UNIVERSE by DR Romesh Senewiratne-Alagaratnam Arya Chakravarti

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ONE WORLD in ONE UNIVERSE

POEMS AND LYRICS

1999 Romesh Senewiratne

words & music 1997 R.Senewiratne

1998 Sara Di Genova and Romesh Senewiratne

AMAZON AND TIMOR

1999 Romesh Senewiratne

1999 Romesh Senewiratne

DANGER GAMES Words and music 1988 by Romesh Senewiratne

BUREAUCRACY Words & music 1989 by Romesh Senewiratne

Words & music 1986 by Romesh Senewiratne

OLD SCHOOL TIE

1998 Romesh Senewiratne

1999 Romesh Senewiratne

INDIVIDUAL HUMAN MINDS

1999 Romesh Senewiratne

1999 Romesh Senewiratne

1999 Romesh Senewiratne

The rule here is clear

1999 Romesh Senewiratne

1999 Romesh Senewiratne

1999 Romesh Senewiratne

THE SOUND OF YESTERDAY

Romesh Senewiratne 1999

JOHNNY HAD A BAD DAY

NEWS OF THE DAY

EDUCATION FOR THE NATION

WELL BOMB THEM AFTER CHRISTMAS

THE PRESIDENTS MEN

WITH ONE VOICE

ANOTHER DAY IN WORLD WAR THREE

FREEDOMS NOT GIVEN ON A PLATE

Anzac Day 25.4.04

THE IVORY TOWER

NEWS OF THE DECADE

TONYS STORY A STORY OF A STOLEN CHILD

FIVE HUNDRED YEARS

THE BELL RINGS

THE DEATH OF FREE WILL ABSTRACTED

QUEST FOR THE ATOM

SPINNING SHIP OF FOOLS

SHOCKS AND STARES

THE EMPTY THING

IVE HEARD IT SAID

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