Post by Catsmate on May 23, 2022 13:12:21 GMT
A odd little quickie inspired by my random background music.....
I've mentioned the Congo before, but this is one specific story.
Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner
From wiki:
The song is inspired by Lindell's time as a mercenary in Africa, specifically the Nigerian Civil War (wiki) and "Congo Crisis", a series of civil1 wars in the former Belgian Congo that began shortly after the Belgians pulled out abruptly in 1960. This led to literally millions of deaths2 and incessant foreign meddling, with various mining companies and governments attempting to gain control of the vast mineral wealth of the area, especially Katanga.
The song is about a fictional mercenary, a Norwegian named Roland, who fought in the Congo in 1966 and 1967, historically the period of the mercenary led Kisangani Mutinies.
Roland is betrayed and killed by a fellow mercenary, named Van Owen, who blows off his head but that doesn't stop Romand's quest for revenge as be becomes the "headless Thompson gunner". But revenge3 doesn't end Roland's career of violence and be continues to wander "through the night", becoming involved in the minor wars in Lebanon, Palestine and Northern Ireland, as well as a visit to Berkeley in California.
Now as anyone who's studied the history of the Congo Basin even briefly knows the place has a history of weirdness and violence. Most of the uranium for the Manhattan Project originated there, the Oklo uranium deposits seem to have naturally gone critical around 1.8 billion years ago, creating natural fission reactors (and plutonium) at perhaps twenty sites. Before independence the Congo was mostly a Belgian colony, supplying natural resources, and before that it was the "Congo Free State", Leopold II's private slave state4.
There are stories of monsters and magic, aliens and lost kingdoms, UFOs and dragons.
So what of Roland? Was he cursed by something he found in the jungle, or a marketplace, or dosed with some experimental serum by his sponsors, experimenting on expendable mercenaries to develop a new force multiplier for the Cold War?
And where is he now?
The song.
Lyrics.
Comments?
1. Very uncivil civil wars. Perhaps two million civilians died of starvation during the suppression of the Biafran independence movement, a deliberately created food shortage.
2. Including UN Secretary General Dag Hammarskjöld.
3. He guns down Van Owen in a bar in Mombasa.
4. Perhaps ten million died under Leopold's rule.
I've mentioned the Congo before, but this is one specific story.
Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner
From wiki:
"Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner" is a song composed by Warren Zevon and David Lindell and performed by Zevon.
The song is inspired by Lindell's time as a mercenary in Africa, specifically the Nigerian Civil War (wiki) and "Congo Crisis", a series of civil1 wars in the former Belgian Congo that began shortly after the Belgians pulled out abruptly in 1960. This led to literally millions of deaths2 and incessant foreign meddling, with various mining companies and governments attempting to gain control of the vast mineral wealth of the area, especially Katanga.
The song is about a fictional mercenary, a Norwegian named Roland, who fought in the Congo in 1966 and 1967, historically the period of the mercenary led Kisangani Mutinies.
Roland is betrayed and killed by a fellow mercenary, named Van Owen, who blows off his head but that doesn't stop Romand's quest for revenge as be becomes the "headless Thompson gunner". But revenge3 doesn't end Roland's career of violence and be continues to wander "through the night", becoming involved in the minor wars in Lebanon, Palestine and Northern Ireland, as well as a visit to Berkeley in California.
Now as anyone who's studied the history of the Congo Basin even briefly knows the place has a history of weirdness and violence. Most of the uranium for the Manhattan Project originated there, the Oklo uranium deposits seem to have naturally gone critical around 1.8 billion years ago, creating natural fission reactors (and plutonium) at perhaps twenty sites. Before independence the Congo was mostly a Belgian colony, supplying natural resources, and before that it was the "Congo Free State", Leopold II's private slave state4.
There are stories of monsters and magic, aliens and lost kingdoms, UFOs and dragons.
So what of Roland? Was he cursed by something he found in the jungle, or a marketplace, or dosed with some experimental serum by his sponsors, experimenting on expendable mercenaries to develop a new force multiplier for the Cold War?
And where is he now?
The song.
Lyrics.
Comments?
1. Very uncivil civil wars. Perhaps two million civilians died of starvation during the suppression of the Biafran independence movement, a deliberately created food shortage.
2. Including UN Secretary General Dag Hammarskjöld.
3. He guns down Van Owen in a bar in Mombasa.
4. Perhaps ten million died under Leopold's rule.