Synopsis transcribed by Yvonne Kluitman		Dead Winter Dead

		In the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo, there is a town square surrounded by buildings that were constructed during the middle ages. The square has a beautiful stone fountain at its center and at one corner there is a thousand year old church with a gargoyle carved into its belfry. Now this gargoyle, for the last thousand years, has spent all his time trying to comprehend the human emotions of laughter and sorrow. But even after a millennium of contemplation, these most curious of human attributes remain a total mystery to our stone friend. (Sarajevo) Our story begins in the year of 1990; the Berlin Wall has just fallen, communism has collapsed and for the first time since the Roman Empire, Yugoslavia finds itself a free nation. Serdjan Aleskovic cannot believe his good fortune to be alive and young at such a moment. The future and the happiness of all seem assured in what must surely be "the best of times". (This Is The Time) However, even as Serdjan celebrates with his fellow countrymen, there are little men with little minds who are already busy sowing the seeds of hate between neighbors. (I Am) Young and impressionable Serdjan joins some of his friends in a Serbian Militia Unit and eventually finds himself in the hills outside of Sarajevo firing mortar shells nightly into the city. (Starlight) Meanwhile in Sarajevo itself, Katrina Brasic, a young Muslim girl, finds herself buying weapons from a group of arms merchants and then joining her comrades firing into the hills around the city. (Doesn't Matter Anyway) The years pass by and it is now late November 1994. An old man who had left Yugoslavia many decades before, has now returned to the city of his birth, only to find it in ruins. As the season's first snowfall begins, he stands in the town square, looks toward the heavens and explains that when the Yugoslavians prayed for change, this is not what they intended. (This Isn't What We Meant) As the old man finishes his prayer, the sun begins to set and the first shells of the evening's artillery barrage are starting to arc overhead. But instead of heading for the shelters with the rest of the civilians, he climbs atop the rubble that used to be the fountain and taking out his cello, starts to play Mozart as the shells explode around him. From this night forward he would repeat this ritual every evening. And every evening Serdjan and Katrina each find themselves listening to the thoughts of Mozart and Beethoven as the drift between the explosions across no man's land. (Mozart and Madness) Though the winter does its best to cover the landscape with a blanket of temporary innocence, the war only escalates in violence and brutality. (Dead Winter Dead) One day in late December, Serdjan, on a patrol in Sarajevo, comes across a schoolyard where a recent exploding shell has left the ground littered with the bodies of young children. It is one thing to drop shells into a mortar and quite another to see where they land. Long after Serdjan returns to his own lines, he cannot get the faces of the children out of his mind. Realizing that what he has been participating in is not the glorious nation building that their leaders had described, but rather a path to mutual oblivion, he decides right then and there that he can no longer be a part of this, that you cannot build a future on the bodies of others. (One Child) At the first opportunity, he resolves that he will desert. Sitting in his bunker on December 24th, he listens to the sounds of Christmas carols from the old cello player mingling with the sounds of war. Katrina, on the other side of the battlefield, is also listening. (Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24) It had just stopped snowing and the clouds had given way to reveal a beautiful star-filled sky when suddenly the cellos player's music abruptly ceases. Fearing the worst, Serdjan and Katrina both do something quite foolish and from their respective sides, start to make their way across no man's land toward the town square. Arriving at the exact same moment, they see one another. Instinctively realizing that they are both there for the same reason, they do not start to fight, but instead, together walk slowly to the fountain. There they find the old man lying dead in the snow, his face covered with blood, his cello lying smashed and broken at his side. Then without warning, a single drop of liquid falls from out of the cloudless sky, wiping some of the blood off the old man's cheek. Serdjan looks up, but he can see nothing except the stone gargoyle high up on the church belfry. Overcome by what he has seen this night, he decides that he must leave this war immediately. Turning to the Muslim girl, he asks her to come with him, but now all she sees is his Serbian uniform. Pouring out his feelings, he explains that he is not what she thinks that he is. (Not What You See) Eventually winning her to his side, they leave the night together.

		Overture Sarajevo In the town of Sarajevo There's an old medieval square There's a church aside one corner Most believe was always there It was built a thousand years before Any now were born And its glory was its belfry With its stones all gray and worn Now there's a gargoyle on that belfry And he's been up there for years And he has watched and he has pondered What is laughter What are tears For these peculiar institutions That are so well known to man When your heart is made of stone Are quite hard to understand And he's never found his answers As he sees the years go by But he watches and he wonders With his stone unblinking eyes It was the year of nineteen-ninety and the Berlin wall was down and a thousand years regretted now laid burried in the ground and the prophets read the future and the omans all seemed kind in the classic words of Dickens it surely was the best of times This is the time (1990) Watching in silence I hesitate It was not in the plan All of our lives we could Only wait It was not in our hands And every war where we took the day They were all in our head And though in the dark we could dream at night They were better unsaid But this is the time And this is the place And these are the signs That we must embrace The moment is now In all history The time has arrived This is the one place to be We placed our years in the hourglass They were never unearned Still we seemed destined to watch them pass It was never our turn But this is the time And this is the place And those are the years That we must erase The moment is now In all history If we had to choose This is the one place to be And a wind came across Europe that would twist and turn our fate for as well as bringing freedom it had let loose men of hate now these men were few in number and the people threw them out but in the mind of each man's neighbour they had planned seeds of doubt The answer you seek / I am I see a little man Sitting and he's wondering If over his little plot He might be king And he finds his present world A little boring There's no Land that is so small That it cannot be divided So come, I'll draw the line And you just pick your side Ignoring anyone who gives a warning For I am The answer you seek The dream in your sleep You never wanted to awaken I have the plan that won't fail The crime without trail And all I really need right now is you I see a little man thinking That he might need more And so his eyes are drifting To the house next door And he wonders if his neighbours Might be leaving So he makes a little offer That they'll understand There is no point in letting Things get out of hand For no one wants to see Their windows grieving For I am The answer you seek The dream in your sleep You never wanted to awaken I have the plan that won't fail The crime without trail And all I really need right now is you I see a little man sitting And he's wondering I see a little man sitting And he's wondering All I really need right now is you All I really need right now is you All I really need right now is you In every book of history it is written how it's done if you want to change the world you need only change the young and Serdjan Aleksic stared deeply through the night but your vision's not the same when you're staring through a sight and a riffle's not enough when you don't wish others well so he angled out his mortar and he dropped in his first shell Starlight We never fear the night We bring our own starlight Dropped on the world below Wait for the afterglow And in the dark they wed We're dancing with the dead And if the ground's been stained colors run int the rain Run away No delay Do we have to show you Don't expect Mercy yet We don't even know you Hear the press Nothing less Saying that we don't care Understand It's the land And you'd have to Be there We never contemplate We only offer fate And in the night they are Flowering the dark Filling the sky with red Till all their needs are fed Then like a childhood tear They quickly disappear Run away No delay Do we have to show you Don't expect Mercy yet We don't even know you Hear the press Nothing less Saying that we don't care Understand It's the land And you'd have to Be there In the world of death and murder they're those who do the deed but waiting in the shadows are the men sho sewed the seeds they make their thirty-pieces selling guns to all who pay and when bullets pierce the flesh they are safely far away and back in Sarajevo a girl stood inside a room listening to men calling merchants offer guns to forestall doom they said they came to help when muslims plight they'd heard but what they had some how failed to mention was they said the same things to the serbs Doesn't matter anyway It don't matter What you said In the mind of some one You are now dead And what makes it bad Is there living next door So you'll need some weapons And that's what I'm here for Seems we got us a war AK-47 Tom Cat, F-11 Hardly ever used Tell me what am I bid You on the back wall This is the last call Better buy 'em now Or you'll wish that you did You'll wish that you did I know You know In this world you gotta pay It's all for sale What's your side You couldn't say It doesn't matter anyway Claymore land mines Anti-personal kind Good for marking borders And they're easy to hide Buried once in the ground Only one way they're found Another fine product We deliver with pride We'll made a deal on the side M-ones Ammo too Stinger Missiles Got a few Better get 'em now While we have 'em in store Good for a last stand Straight out of Afghanistan If you never use 'em You can save 'em Till your next civil war Cause that's what they're for I know You know In this world you gotta pay It's all for sale What's your side You couldn't say It doesn't matter anyway The old man had toured the earth playing cello for the learned of a thousand foreign cities only now he had returned to the city he had left once to the place where he was raised in the house where he was born in at the fires he now gazed This isn't what we meant We dared to ask for more But that was long before The nights began to burn You would have thought we'd Learned you can't make promises All based upon tomorrow Happiness, security Are words we only borrow For is this the answer to our prayers Is this what God has sent Please understand this isn't what we meant The future couldn't last We've nailed it to the past With every word a trap That no one can take Back from all the architects Who find their towers leaning And every prayer we pray at night Has somehow lost its meaning For is this the answer to our prayers Is this what God has sent Please understand this isn't what we meant A long time ago When the world was pretty Standing right here In a different city They're not coming back anymore They're not coming back any.... Is this the answer to our prayers Is this what God has sent Please understand this isn't what we meant Then he climed atop the rubble of the fountain in the square and he took his cello out in the cold november air and as the twilight started setting on the remnants of this day as the shells began to fall the old man began to play and in the darkness of that night each on their own respective sides the muslim and the serb would watch their country's suicide but now inside each evening they had found a moments calm when they'd hear the thought of Mozart as they filtered through the bombs Mozart and Madness (Instrumental-the old man plays his cello as the shelling starts, the orchestra comes in representing the muslims, followed by the band representing the serbs. During the occasional lulls, in the fighting, the lone cello drifts across the battlefields.) And who will love the incest child of ignorance and hatred who though she's standing in the rain no tear has penetrated for while they banter bout their words you must be careful where your tread for no matter what they promise rumor is that dead is dead Memory / Dead Winter Dead intro Dead Winter Dead Feel the rush Feel the rush In the back of your head Breathe it in Breathe it in Isn't that what they said As you stood in the night Neath the glow of their fires Watch it burn Watch it burn Watch it reach through the night Feel the heat Feel the heat As you bask in its light And the puppets hang upon their wires I've lost my way Kneel down and pray It all decays It takes me Down Down Down Like the minister said Like the minister said Where this all has led Dead winter dead Can you hear what I hear In the back of your mind When you stand on the stage And they tell you it's time To read words from a past You can't remember Gotta keep What you have Tell me what is it for If it made sense my friend Well then not anymore Every dream I'm told has its december I've lost my way Kneel down and pray It all decays It takes me Down Down Down Like the minister said Like the minister said Where this all has led Dead winter dead And when he came upon the schoolyard there were bodies on the floor every war must have its bodies but this my friend was so much more for the mind get's used to bodies whether singly or in piles but it cuts the mind more deeply when the body is a child's One Child One child stood before the altar One child stood out in the rain One child spent his time imagining And I don't believe he's coming home again Home again Home again Home a Right here in the earth I've been drawing a line I'm digging it deep Don't know if I'll find A tunnel out so we all can be saved? If not just take that earth And bury me Cause this will be my grave One child hid inside the darkness One child never said a thing One child closed his eyes and disappeared But at night I still can hear him whispering Whispering Whisper Right there in the earth I've been drawing a line I'm diggin it deep Don't know what I'll find A tunnel out so we all can be saved? If not just take that earth And bury me For this will be my grave I will believe in you If you still want me to Or tell me I'm on my own There on your other side Tell me the pilate's died And we're no longer alone Take your answers And your promises Believe me I don't care I have held on to your words Until I found them only air I have held on to your words Until I found them only air What good are your promises If you can always take them back Still I've hang on every word Till my hands are bleeding I will believe in you If you still want me to Or tell me I'm on my own There on the other side Tell me the pilate's died And we're no longer alone We had no choice but to stay and follow We have nothing left except tomorrow We have nothing left except what will be What we need there are some real decisions While you only offer mindless visions Visions that no one else here can see We're on our own We're on our own We're on our Right there in the earth I've been drawing a line I'm digging it deep Don't know what I'll find A tunnel out so we all can be saved? If not just take that earth And bury me For this will be my grave Now though the old are oft forgotten they tend not to forget and the old man came each night and played his soul's regret but this night the sound cut deeper as if the soul itself would leave for snow covered the ground and the night was Christmas-eve Christmas Eve (Sarajevo 12/24) (Instrumental-The old man has been returning every night since november and playing his music, as if to prove that the soul of his country, of humanity, was not dead) When the shells had ceased their falling the young muslim and the serb listened for the old man's music but now not a note was heard and fearing what had happened each did, what should not be dared and made their way through no man's land to the old medieval square they arrived at the same moment in the cold december air but neighter pulled a weapon for each knew why they were there and they walked over to the fountain and found him laying there in death there was blood upon his face the smashed cello on his chest but then a single drop of liquid fell from out the cloudless sky and it fell upon the cheek of the man who had just died and the soldier felt a shudder for the worst had come he feared when the only sign of pitty was a single gargoyle's tear he turned to the young woman and he said let's leave this was but a soldier and his uniform was all that she now saw Not What You See No life's so short it can't turn around You can't spend your life living underground For from above you don't hear a sound And I'm out here Waiting I don't understand what you want me to be It's the dark you're hating It's not who I am But I know that it's all that you see No life's so short that it never learns No flame so small that it never burns No page so sure that it never turns And I'm out here Waiting I don't understand what you want me to be It's the dark you're Hating It's not who I am But I know that it's all that you see Can you live your life ia a day Putting every moment in play Never hear a word that they say As you watch the wheels go around Tell me if you win would it show In a thousand years who would know As a million lives come and go On this same piece of ground I've been waiting I don't understand what you want me to be It's the dark you're hating It's not who I am But I know that it's all that you see Tell me would you really want to See me leave this night without you Would you ever look about you Wondering where we might be New York is so far away now Tokyo, Berlin and Moscow Only dreams from here but somehow One day that world we will see I don't understand I don't understand I swear on tomorrow If you take this chance Our lives are this moment The music, the dance And here in this labyrinth Of lost mysteries I close my eyes on this night And you're all that I see You're all that I see Then they left the square together neath the fading fires light and the gargoyle watched and wondered on that winter's silent night and so our story's over and for any one who cares as for the old gargoyle I believe that he's still there THE END

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