MEET ME ON THE WASTELAND

The Waste Land is originally a poem written by U.S.-born British poet T. S. Eliot in 1922. One of the 20th century’s major poetic works, it portrays the disintegration of western values, the soullessness of modern society, and humankind’s desperate search for salvation. It consists of five seemingly disconnected sections made up of fragmented verses written in a variety of styles but linked by imagery, symbols, and diverse literary and historical references.

Wasteland is a song written by English singer-songwriter Paul Weller in 1980 for the very dark album Setting Sons by The Jam. I don't know if it's related to the poem, I would be very surprised if it wasn't. The Jam were then the moral leaders of the anti-Thatcherism movement, and Setting Sons describes the land in ruins and the spiritual dereliction directly caused by the permed bitch's policies.

A wasteland stands for all that is barren. It is a dry oh so pretty vacant lot from where nothing can and will ever grow. It's like the belly of an infertile woman, a one-night stand, a gay marriage, a discussion about Michael Moore's lies.

It also stands for all that will come out of nowhere without having grown, like the Tartars suddenly invading The Tartar Steppe in Dino Buzzati's novel, the passion of an affair suddenly disrupting the normal flow of the humdrum, reality silently happening to you while you're busy doing other things.

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Meet me on the wasteland - later this day,
We'll sit and talk and hold hands maybe,
For there's not much else to do in this drab and colourless place.

Paul Weller (Wasteland)



Come in under the shadow of this red rock,
And I will show you something different from either
Your shadow at morning striding behind you
Or your shadow at evening rising to meet you;
I will show you fear in a handful of dust.

T.S.Eliot (The Waste Land – The Burial of the Dead)



We'll sit amongst the rubber tyres,
Amongst the discarded bric-a-brac - people have no use for,
Amongst the smouldering embers of yesterday.
And when or if the sun shines,
Lighting our once beautiful features,
We'll smile, but only for seconds,
For to be caught smiling's to acknowledge life,
A brave but useless show of compassion,
And that is forbidden in this drab and colourless world.

Paul Weller (Wasteland)



Here is no water but only rock
Rock and no water and the sandy road
The road winding above among the mountains
Which are mountains of rock without water
If there were water we should stop and drink
Amongst the rock one cannot stop or think
Sweat is dry and feet are in the sand
If there were only water amongst the rock

T.S.Eliot (The Waste Land – What the thunder said)



And there amongst the shit - the dirty linen,
The holy Coca-Cola tins - the punctured footballs,
the ragged dolls - the rusting bicycles,
We'll sit and probably hold hands.
And watch the rain fall - watch it, watch it -
Tumble and fall - tumble and falling -
Like our lives - like our lives -
Just like our lives.

Paul Weller (Wasteland)



Falling towers
Jerusalem Athens Alexandria
Vienna London
Unreal

T.S.Eliot (The Waste Land – What the thunder said)



We'll talk about the old days,
When the wasteland was release, when we could play,
And think - without feeling guilty -
Meet me later but we'll have to hold hands.
Tumble and fall - tumble and falling -
Like our lives - like our lives -
Exactly like our lives.

Paul Weller (Wasteland)



'My nerves are bad to-night. Yes, bad. Stay with me.
'Speak to me. Why do you never speak. Speak.
'What are you thinking of? What thinking? What?
'I never know what you are thinking. Think.'

T.S.Eliot (The Waste Land – A game of chess)