OK then...
Top 5 Midnight Oil songs
1) Short Memory ( 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 )
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Conquistador of Mexico
The Zulu and the Navaho
The Belgians in the Congo
Plantation in Virginia
The Raj in British India
The deadline in South Africa
The story of El Salvador
The silence of Hiroshima
Destruction of Cambodia
Short memory, must have a short memory
The sight of hotels by the Nile
The designated Hilton style
With running water specially bought
A smallish man Afghanistan
A watch dog in a nervous land
They're only there to lend a hand
The friendly five a dusty smile
Wake up in a sweat at dead of night
And in the tents new rifles, hey, short memory
2) Beds Are Burning ( Diesel and Dust )
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Out where the river broke
The bloodwood and the desert oak
Holden wrecks and boiling diesels
Steam in forty five degrees
The time has come
To say fair's fair
To pay the rent
To pay our share
The time has come
A fact's a fact
It belongs to them
Let's give it back
How can we dance when our earth is turning
How do we sleep while our beds are burning
Four wheels scare the cockatoos
From Kintore East to Yuendemu
The western desert lives and breathes
In forty five degrees
3) Power and the Passion ( 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 )
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People, wasting away in paradise
Going backward, once in a while
Moving ahead, falling behind
What do you believe
What do you believe
What do you believe is true
Nothing they say makes a difference this way
'Cos nothing they say will do
Take all the trouble that you can afford
At least you won't have time to be bored
Oh the power and the passion
Oh the temper of the time
Oh the power and the passion
Sometimes you've got to take the hardest line
I see sunburnt faces around
With skin so brown
Smiling zinc cream and crows
Sundays the beach never a cloud
Breathing eucalypt, pushing panelvans, stuff and munch junk food
Laughing at the truth, 'cos Gough was tough till he hit the rough
Uncle Sam and John were quite enough
Too much of sunshine too much of sky
It's enough to make you wanna cry
I see buildings, clothing the sky in paradise
Sydney, where the nights are warm
Daytime telly, blue rinse dawn
Dad's so bad he lives in a pub, underarms and football clubs
Flat chat, Pine Gap in every home a Big Mac
And no one goes back, that's that
You take what you get and get what you please
It's better to die on your feet than to live on your knees
4) Only The Strong ( 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 )
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When I'm locked in my room
I just want to scream
Now I know what they mean
One more day of eating and sleeping
Speak to me, look at me, I've been broken up and shaken down
Speak to me, speak to me, I'm at the edge of myself, I'm dying to talk
Look at me, won't you look at me, back once more at the point of no return
When I'm locked in my room
I just want to scream
Now I know what they mean
Only the strong
5) Blue Sky Mine ( Blue Sky Mining )
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There'll be food on the table tonight
There'll be pay in your pocket tonight
My gut is wrenched out it is crunched up and broken
My life that is lived is no more than a token
Who'll strike the flint upon the stone and tell me why?
If I yell out at night there's a reply of blue silence
The screen is no comfort I can't speak my sentence
They blew the lights at heaven's gate and I don't know why
But if I work all day on the blue sky mine
(There'll be food on the table tonight)
Still I walk up and down on the blue sky mine
(There'll be pay in your pocket tonight)
The candy store paupers lie to the shareholders
They're crossing their fingers they pay the truth makers
The balance sheet is breaking up the sky
So I'm caught at the junction still waiting for medicine
The sweat of my brow keeps on feeding the engine
Hope the crumbs in my pocket can keep me for another night
And if you blue sky mining company won't come to my rescue
If the sugar refining company won't save me
Who's gonna save me?
But if I work all day on the blue sky mine
(There'll be food on the table tonight)
And if I walk up and down on the blue sky mine
(There'll be pay in your pocket tonight)
And some have sailed from a distant shore
And the company takes what the company wants
And nothing's as precious
As a hole in the ground
Who's gonna save me?
I pray that sense and reason brings us in
Who's gonna save me?
We've got nothing to fear
In the end the rain comes down
Washes clean the streets of a blue sky mine