After yesterday's songs about the beatified and canonised Joan of Arc, another Catholic and military connection, but with a twist – a cover band performing a new song written specially for them by a member of the band they cover. Ye Nuns, an all-female band from various other groups, have been doing songs by The Monks for over a decade, keeping alive the legacy of the 60s garage outfit formed by five American GIs who were stationed in Germany, but who then stayed there, shaved their heads into tonsures, and wrote witty, dark-humoured numbers, many protesting the Vietnam War and lampooning military life. A Monks number was previously highlighted on Song of the Day.
The Monks bass player, Eddie Shaw has long since following Ye Nuns with interest and more recently wrote new this new material and sent it to them to perform and record if they so wished – a rare occurrence of tribute and original combining. As well as a general life moan, it could more specifically, alongside levels of protest, echo the voice of a soldier pushed into unnecessary physical and mental suffering, as many have, martyred for absurd causes. Ye Nuns have rendered it with stompy aplomb, as with their other numbers, capturing the anarchic anger and humour of it all, with an added rant by singer Lolo Wood at the end, pertaining to cases where soldiers have been pushed in training towards injury or even death. "Forward march! … No! … Pain is not a sign of weakness leaving the body. Pain is a sign that something is very, very wrong …!" The single, along with another track, Don't Worry, as well as available to download, is now also out on special limited edition vinyl.
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