Love Songs When You’re in a Country at War

Reem Tombokti
Sep 3, 2018 · 2 min read
Make Candy Not War by Reem Tombokti

Imagine sitting on your bed listening to love songs, while typing a blog post with the image of dying under the heavy artillery you hear being fired in the distance.

Imagine listening to love songs and thinking how far fetched and foreign their words and scenarios are; or imagine taking the lyrics too literally.

Imagine adjusting these songs to your current reality; making them more relatable.

Imagine being transported to the world of The Smiths because you want to see people, and you want to see life. Imagine questioning one fact of that world; imagine that there is indeed a light that never goes out. Imagine doing that as the lights where you are go out.

The Smiths — There is a Light that Never Goes Out

Imagine driving with your lover, in a car, in familiar streets; streets where there is no double decker buses or ten-ton trucks. Imagine that the heavenly way to die by their side is the one where you get stuck in a crossfire. Imagine being able to actually be in the same car as your lover; the two of you alone; and the only strange fear that would grip you is the fear that they do not love you as much as you love them.

Nancy Sinatra — Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)

Then imagine your baby taking up arms. Imagine knowing the real sound of a gun when you are five. Imagine being shot to death one day as they accidentally pull the trigger mistaking a gun for a toy. Imagine your baby shooting you down.

Lady Gaga — Bad Romance

And now imagine yourself thirsty for belongingness; lost in a world of hegemonic state of affairs that classifies you as an unwanted; imagine yourself thirsty for belongingness; imagine wanting the love of a torn county; imagine wanting its horror, its ugly and its disease. Imagine settling for a bad romance.

Imagine.

Imagine living all that, when all you truly want; all you truly desire is to love in peace; away from arms.

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