Language   

Bless the Beasts and Children‎

The Carpenters
Language: English


The Carpenters

List of versions


Related Songs

Ohio
(Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young)
The Massacres of My Lai (Song My) and Truong An, March 1968
(Tom Parrott)


‎[1971]‎
Scritta e composta da Barry De Vorzon e Perry Botkin Jr. per la colonna sonora dell’omonimo film ‎diretto da Stanley Kramer.‎

carpenters-bless-the-beasts-and-children-am


‎“Bless the Beasts and Children” è la trasposizione cinematografica di un racconto dello scrittore ‎americano Glendon Fred Swarthout (1918-1992) nel quale protagonisti sono alcuni adolescenti ‎problematici che vengono spediti dai genitori ad un campo estivo il cui inquietante motto è "Send ‎us a boy - we'll send you a cowboy". I ragazzini vengono subito presi di mira dagli altri ospiti ed ‎isolati. Nel campo gli animatori impongono quotidianamente attività virili e nemmeno tanto ludiche ‎tutte incentrate sul confronto fisico, sull’affermazione dei più forti, sulla conquista e la spoliazione ‎dei perdenti. Ovviamente i nostri all’inizio soccombono ma un giorno, dopo essere stati trascinati ad ‎assistere all’uccisione di alcuni bisonti catturati, decidono di passare all’azione e, nottetempo, ‎scappano dal campo per andare a liberare i bisonti rimasti. Il libro – non so se anche il film – si ‎conclude tragicamente: le bestie non ne vogliono sapere di essere liberate, il leader dei “disadattati” ‎muore fuggendo agli inseguitori e gli altri ragazzini vengono riacciuffati…‎



‎‎

Presentato in competizione al Festival di Berlino, “Bless the Beasts and Children” fu ‎inevitabilmente letto come un’allusione ai massacri della ‎‎Kent University o di ‎‎My Lai, come una condanna della ‎guerra in Vietnam e della ‎‎“cultura della pistola” e della violenza che permeava la società americana.‎

Although Bless the Beasts and Children, published in 1970, touches upon many ‎themes that transcend time and place, it also speaks to many particular elements of American ‎society in the late 1960s. A time of great social upheaval, the 1960s provided a transitional period in ‎American history. Author Glendon Swarthout draws a parallel between the country's period of ‎transition and the Bedwetters' own personal transformations from boys to men, and their negotiation ‎of new challenges and questions. Written in the midst of the Vietnam War, the aftermath of several ‎political assassinations, and in an environment in which youth culture fundamentally challenged ‎societal assumptions, this novel speaks to the ideological movements of the period as well as to the ‎popular culture that reflected these societal struggles. Despite the idealistic nature of the ‎Bedwetters' mission, the tone of cynicism that runs throughout the novel echoes the larger society's ‎disillusionment during a time of a disheartening war and domestic conflict—racial, generational, ‎and sexual.‎

Elements of popular culture appear throughout the novel. The radios that accompany the Bedwetters ‎during their mission constantly blare the latest hits in Motown and rock music. Westerns, with their ‎cowboy heroics, in part provide the appeal of the adventure for the boys. On one night in particular, ‎the Bedwetters escape to the local drive-in to see The Professionals. Swarthout does not select this ‎film by accident; it has relevance to the boys' struggles, as it recounts the story of four misfit ‎cowboys crossing the desert on a doomed mission to free a kidnapped woman. Allusions to ‎television programs and to hippies also reflect the boys' awareness of the surrounding culture.‎

In addition, Swarthout speaks to the growing influence of environmentalism and animal rights ‎during this time in the United States. The buffalo killings Swarthout depicts in this novel truly ‎happened. The publication of this novel resulted in an outcry of public support to end the shootings, ‎and the press responded with several articles. The government altered its methods slightly, but did ‎not terminate the killing. Swarthout also demonstrates his appreciation for the natural world through ‎his descriptions of the Arizona landscape. Environmentalism became a very powerful movement in ‎the late 1960s, with the cultural trend to "get back to the land" and to embrace the natural world.‎

Glendon Swarthout's own son attended Hidden Valley Ranch for Boys, a camp for affluent boys ‎that provided the basis for the author's depiction of the Box Canyon Boys Camp. Both a camper and ‎a counselor at Hidden Valley Ranch, Miles Swarthout recounted his experiences to his father. ‎Recognizing the power of his experiences and their adaptability to a literary context, Swarthout ‎began to reconstruct and elaborate upon what his son had told him. He even dedicated the novel to ‎his son, writing, "For Miles, who was there, and told me." Swarthout also completed lengthy ‎research on the psychological problems of adolescent boys to create the main characters, each of ‎whom has a distinct psychological problem. Swarthout pays particular attention to these problems ‎in his italicized passages that elaborate on the characters' backgrounds.‎

William Golding's “Lord of the Flies”, written in 1954, provides the most apparent literary ‎comparison to Bless the Beasts and Children. However, it differs from it in essential ways, and ‎provides more of a response than an agreement with Golding's conceptions of man and beast. ‎Swarthout himself asserted, "This book has the idea that people are not bestial in nature. It is just ‎the opposite of Lord of the Flies. The idea is, if you isolate boys with the right combination of ‎circumstances, they will do great things. So much is now anti-hero. This is a 'yes' book." (fonte. ‎‎Sparknotes)
Bless the beasts and the children
For in this world they have no voice
They have no choice

Bless the beasts and the children
For the world can never be
The world they see

Light their way
When the darkness surrounds them
Give them love
Let it shine all around them

Bless the beasts and the children
Give them shelter from the storm
Keep them safe
Keep them warm

Light their way
When the darkness surrounds them
Give them love
Let it shine all around them

Bless the beasts and the children
Give them shelter from the storm
Keep them safe
Keep them warm

The children
The children
The children

Contributed by Dead End - 2012/7/4 - 15:04



Language: Italian

Versione italiana di Lela Mee
BENEDICI GLI ANIMALI E I BAMBINI

Benedici gli animali e i bambini
Perché in questo mondo loro non hanno voce
Non hanno scelta

Benedici gli animali e i bambini
Perché il mondo non può mai essere
Il mondo che loro vedono

Illumina la loro via
Quando l’oscurità li circonda
Dà loro amore
Lascialo risplendere tutto attorno a loro

Benedici gli animali e i bambini
Dà loro riparo dalla tempesta
Tienili al sicuro
Tienili al caldo

Illumina la loro via
Quando l’oscurità li circonda
Dà loro amore
Lascialo risplendere tutto attorno a loro

Benedici gli animali e i bambini
Dà loro riparo dalla tempesta
Tienili al sicuro
Tienili al caldo

I bambini
I bambini
I bambini

Contributed by Lela Mee - 2015/4/21 - 20:37




Main Page

Please report any error in lyrics or commentaries to antiwarsongs@gmail.com

Note for non-Italian users: Sorry, though the interface of this website is translated into English, most commentaries and biographies are in Italian and/or in other languages like French, German, Spanish, Russian etc.




hosted by inventati.org