Martians On Mandies
They’re pissed, real pissed,
Coz the Martians got there before they did.
But just like the Martians they’re taking over.
But you wouldn’t know it from reading the paper.
They’re Martians on mandies,
Not talkin’ about marshmallow candies.
I’m talkin’ about Martians on mandies.
They’re disrespecting sovereignty,
They seem to lack humanity,
It’s historical irony.
(That’s what I’m talking ‘bout)
They got a wall, it’s a big wall.
And unlike the Berlin it’s never gonna fall.
They do it slow, so you don’t even know.
They got their settlements lined up all in a row.
And they grow like Martians on mandies,
Not talkin’ about marshmallow candies.
I’m talkin’ about Martians on mandies.
They’re disrespecting sovereignty,
They seem to lack humanity,
They’re treating people so badly,
It’s historical irony.
(That’s what I’m talking ‘bout)
YOU’D THINK THEY’D KNOW BETTER!
Let’s take a trip, down on the Strip…
They ain’t got no heat rays,
And don’t need machines.
Just round up them suckers and put them into teams.
They like to quote Dinah,
There’s nothing finer.
And that story’s big with all the hardliners.
They’re pushin’ em out, they’re pushin’ em out.
They’re push-push-push-push-pushin’ em out.
They’re pushin’ em out, they’re rubbin’ em out.
They’re push-push-push-push-pushin’ em out.
They’re Martians on mandies,
Not talkin’ about marshmallow candies.
I’m talkin’ about Martians on mandies.
They’re Martians on mandies,
Not talkin’ about marshmallow candies.
There’s a Martian invasion,
Complete with disguised Austr/alien.
(That’s what I’m talking ‘bout)
Dinah, Dinah show us yer leg…
There’s a story in the Bible that’s relevant to this song. It’s the story of the rape of Dinah. I didn’t actually encounter it in the Bible, I read about it in an interesting book called The Harlot On The Side Of The Road, by Jonathan Kirsch. It’s a collection of the more salacious bible stories, with a helpful and informative commentary about the meaning and significance of the stories. The Dinah story relates how Dinah, the daughter of a Jewish leader called Jacob, is raped by the son of a Canaanite chieftain. Later, it turns out that the son falls in love with Dinah and wants to marry her. Jacob insists that all the Canaanites be circumcised before the marriage can take place, and they agree. But while the Canaanites are still sore from their operation, Jacob and his sons sneak into their camps and massacre them all. Kirsch relates afterward how the story has great resonance for many Jews, particularly the more hardline Zionists for whom the creation of Israel and its ‘settlement’ program is akin to the ‘revenge of Jacob’ – ie, a good thing.
I’d put all of this out of my mind until recently when I was watching an episode of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. In the course of the episode the ‘good’ cyborg character, Cameron, relates the Dinah story to Sarah and finishes with “That’s my kind of story”. Frankly, I was stunned to encounter this savage revenge fantasy given a seal of approval on national television, and it made me angry and inspired the song.
So the song is a critique of Israel and its ‘settlement’ program. If you don’t like that, too bad: I don’t believe the Israeli government, or any government, is above criticism. In the song they are the Martians – like HG Well’s Martians – but their invasion is much slower. The thing about the settlement program is how slowly and methodically (and silently – the media seems to ignore it) it’s progressing. And they’re on mandies (ie, mandrax) because, well, do you know that Robin Williams joke about the sport of cricket? It’s baseball on quaaludes (ie, boringly slow – yuck yuck!). And Martians On Mandies (similar drug) just scanned better than Martians On Quaaludes.
