The
Human League are an English synthpop band. Formed in Sheffield in 1977, they achieved popularity after a key change in line-up in the early 1980s. They have continued recording and performing with moderate commercial success throughout the 1980s up to present day. Originally an avant-garde all male synthesizer-based group from Sheffield, the only constant band member since 1977 is vocalist and songwriter
Philip Oakey.
"
The Lebanon" was released as a UK single in April 1984. It was a radical departure from what was accepted as the soft synthpop sound of the Human League and could almost be described as rock. The lyrics were an attempt to make a political statement on the Lebanese civil war which had been exacerbated by Israeli invasion of southern Lebanon of 1982. The song tells the story of a man who joins a militia to help his community and ends up fighting in the civil war.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEsRYkRpySYHuman League - The LebanonShe dreams of nineteen sixty-nine
Before the soldiers came
The life was cheap on bread and wine
And sharing meant no shame
She is awakened by the screams
Of rockets flying from nearby
And scared she clings onto her dreams
To beat the fear that she might die
And who will have won
When the soldiers have gone
From the Lebanon
The Lebanon
Before he leaves the camp he stops
He scans the world outside
And where there used to be some shops
Is where the snipers sometimes hide
He left his home the week before
He thought he'd be like the police
But now he finds he is at war
"Weren't we supposed to keep the peace"
And who will have won
When the soldiers have gone
From the Lebanon
The Lebanon
The Lebanon
From the Lebanon
I must be dreaming
It can't be true
I must be dreaming
It can't be true
And who will have won
When the soldiers have gone?
From the Lebanon
The Lebanon
The Lebanon
From the Lebanon
