Roger Waters - The Bravery of Being Out of Range

This is a new recording and video of “The Bravery of Being Out of Range” from my 1992 album, ’Amused To Death’. It features part of Ronald Reagan’s farewell speech to the nation when he left office. I include the speech because the first verse of the song is about Reagan, he is the old man I am addressing. Reagan is still revered by many, even though he is a mass war criminal who, among his many other crimes, knowingly supported the genocide of the Mayan people of Guatemala when he was president of the United States. His Assistant Secretary of State at the time of the genocide, the equally homicidal Elliot Abrams, still works for unsavory elements in current US Government circles. Try to watch the Journeyman film about the Guatemala genocide and the US government involvement linked here (​), it is grueling but…. well look at the Guatemalan girls (), their mothers and grandmothers and fathers were slaughtered with Regan’s blessing. The second verse is about “Desert Storm“ so the second old man is Bush Senior who slaughtered all those disarmed Iraqi troops retreating from Kuwait on Bush’s orders on the road to Basra. The third verse was something I wrote when, disgusted as I was that “thirty years later“ the US is still dealing death to innocents in the name of freedom, we decided to do this song as an encore in Latvia. Trump? Biden? Still dropping bombs, still killing innocent people. Same disgusting war hawk puppets. Come on AMERICA, it’s time to MAN UP and say NO MORE KILLING THE CHILDREN TO GET OUR OWN WAY, NO MORE IMPERIAL WARS. LETS GO HOME AND PUT OUR OWN HOUSE IN ORDER! BECAUSE IT’S FUCKED UP. This new version features: Roger Waters: Piano and Vocal Dave Kilminster: Guitar Joey Waronker: Drums Lucius- Jess Wolfe and Holly Laessig: Vocals Gus Seyffert: Bass Jonathan Wilson: Guitar Jon Carin: Piano and Keys Bo Koster: Hammond Wrangled together by Sean Evans & Roger Waters Mixed by Gus Seyffert Mastered by Dave Gardner Edited by Andy Jennison This is the fifth in our lockdown series of videos, it is a gift from all of us to all of you. I love you all, thank you for everything. R. --- “The Bravery of Being Out of Range“ Ronald Reagan. “Back in 1980 When I was running for President It was all so different Some pundits said our programs Would result in catastrophe Our views on foreign affairs would cause wars Once you begin a great movement There’s no telling where it will end We meant to change a nation And instead we changed the world” You have a natural tendency to squeeze off a shot You’re good fun at parties you where the right masks You’re old but you still like a laugh in the locker room You can’t abide change you’re at home on the range You opened the suitcase behind the old workings To show off the magnum you deafened the canyon A comfort a friend only upstaged In the end by the Uzi machine gun Does the recoil remind you Remind you of sex Old man what the hell you gonna kill next Hey Old timer who you gonna kill next I looked over Jordan and what did I see Saw a US marine in a pile of debris I swum in your pools and lay under your palm trees looked in the eyes of the Indian Who lay on the federal building steps And through the rangefinder over the hill Saw the front line boys popping their pills Sick of the mess they find of that desert stage And the bravery of being out of range Yeah the question is vexed Old man what the hell you gonna kill next Hey old timer who you gonna kill next Thirty years later it’s the same old tune No closer to peace than the man in the moon The president’s still just as crazy as a loon Still picking fights in some foreign saloon Bombs still falling out of the sky The band’s still playing Miss American Pie The Gunner still sleeps in some foreign field And the boys are still coming home on a shield But nothing is real We’re still playing the game With the bravery of being out of range We still zap and maim With the bravery of being out of range Still strafing the train With the bravery of being out of range We still gain terrain With the bravery of being out of range Still fucking insane With the bravery of being out of range Still channeling John Wayne With the bravery of being out of range Still blowing out our own damn brains Yeah with the bravery of being out of range Ronald Regan. “At the big opening meeting All of a sudden just for a moment I saw that everyone Was sitting and looking at me. And then one of them Broke the silence Tell us about the American miracle He said.” Hey bartender over here Two more shots and two more beers Sir, turn up the TV sound The war has started on the ground Just love those laser guided bombs They‘re really great for righting wrongs You hit the target and win the game From bars three thousand miles away Three thousand miles away We play the game With the bravery of being out of range.