"False Flags" - Massive Attack

Paris, London, in mirror... Riots, intranquillities.
Where are we now?
Paris is suffering. Thinking of London in 2005, in 2011.
2005-2015.

Thanks to 3D.

                                                               "False Flags"

Massive Attack

In city shoes of clueless blues
Pays the views and no man's news
Blades will fade from blood to sport
The heroin's cut these fuses short

Smokers rode a colonial pig
Drink and frame, this pain I think
I'm melting silver poles my dear
You bleed your wings and then disappear

The moving scenes and pilot lights
Smithereens have got 'em scaling heights
Modern times come talk me down
And battle lines are drawn across this town

Parisian boys without your names
Ghetto stones instead of chains
Talk 'em down 'cause it's up in flames
And nothing's changed

Parisian boys without your names
Riot like 1968 again
The days of rage, yeah, nothing's changed
Well pretty flames

In school, I would just bite my tongue
And now your words, they strike me down
The flags are false and they contradict
They point and click which wounds to lick

On avenues, this Christian breeze
Turns its heart to more needles please
Our eyes roll back and we beg for more
It frays this skin and then underscore

The case for war you spin and bleed
The cells you fill screen savers feed
The girls you breed, the soaps that you write
The graceless charm of your gutter snipes

The moving scenes and suburbanites
And smithereens got 'em scaling heights
Modern times come talk me down
The battle lines are drawn across this town

English boys without your names
Ghetto stones instead of chains
Hearts and minds, and U.S. planes
Nothing's changed

And English boys without your names
Riot like the 1980's again
The days of rage, yeah, nothing's changed
More pretty flames

More on this amazing song here:

http://massiveattack.ie/wiki/false-flags/

"False Flags, the most overtly political song Massive Attack have done up to this point was inspired by the civil unrest centered around Paris which resulted in fierce rioting in the french capital during October/November 2005. These events inspired 3D in the making of the track as it became a commentary on the state of the European Union, a far more direct message than the vague decade-old Eurochild image which had a similar idea behind it.

Originally there was no set timeline to release False Flags, as it was very much a track of the moment which would have lost its edge if included on the next proper album which was not due for at least another year. A digital download was the first obvious option but this was then changed in favour of releasing it on Collected, Massive Attack’s “Best Of”, when the idea of such a career retrospective was touched upon by Massive Attack’s management. It was also the b-side to the Live With Me single".

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3D on False Flags:

 “And we had another track called False Flags which was more political and, again, quite simple and it was written around the time of the riots around France. Again it was sitting around, we were thinking about maybe putting it online, y’know, do something digital with it, but that was obviously something which was surpassed by the idea of putting a collection out.”

[The Independent Newspaper - March 2006]

3D on both False Flags and it’s accompanying promo video:

“It’s very beautiful, it's very sad and it's very now.”

[Collected EPK - March 2006]

3D on the meaning behind the video for False Flags:

 “It is a still life portrait of someone were they’re forced to be in a riot situation – throwing a petrol bomb. And it’s done in ultra slow motion” 
[Collected EPK - March 2006]

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