Songs That Grabbed Me – Goanna, Solid Rock

This is a protest song about the treatment of the Australian indigenous people during the time of the first European settlement and the whole invading-the-country thing. It’s suggesting the accepted history is inaccurate and that it wasn’t the relatively peaceful encounter many are led to believe.

As a child of European immigrants, I feel a little shame for those acts, the documentation of which was no doubt watered down and “justified” for the official text books. I’m not alone.

After much pressure the Australian government issued a statement on February 13, 2008 saying sorry to our Aboriginal citizens. This is a great start. An acknowledgement of past wrongs.

Th aboriginal civilisation and cultures have survived for at least 40,000 years, the oldest known civilisation on earth. At the rate Western civilisation is going and taking the beginning of the industrial revolution as a baseline, we’d be lucky to last 1% of that time.

Here’s a video of the song featuring clips from the 1971 movie “Walkabout”, directed by Nicolas Roeg.

Out here nothin’ changes
Not in a hurry anyway
You can feel the endlessness
With the comin’ of the light ‘o day
You’re talkin’ bout a chosen place
You wanna sell it in a marketplace
Well
Well just a minute now

You’re standin’ on
Solid rock
Standin’ on sacred ground
Livin’ on borrowed time
And the winds of change
Are blowin’ down the line

Right down the line

Well round about the dawn of time
The Dreaming all began
A crowd of people came
Well they were lookin’ for their promised land
We’re runnin’ from the heart of darkness
Searchin’ for the heart of light
It was their paradise

Well they were standin’ on
Solid rock
Standin’ on sacred ground
Livin’ on borrowed time
And the winds of change
Were blowin’ cold that night

No!

Well they were standin’ on the shore one day
Saw the white sails in the sun
Wasn’t long before they felt the sting
White man, white law, white gun
Don’t tell me that it’s justified
Cause somewhere
Someone lied
Yeah, well someone lied
Someone lied
Genocide
Well someone lied

And now you’re standin’ on
Solid rock
Standin’ on sacred ground
Livin’ on borrowed time
And the winds of change
Are blowin’ down the line

Solid rock
Standin’ on sacred ground
Livin’ on borrowed time
And the winds of change
Are blowin’ down the line

Solid rock
Standin’ on sacred ground
Livin’ on borrowed time
And the winds of change
Are blowin’ down the line
No!