belgrano

# belgrano

h22:23 mon24april2000, just recorded "Belgrano" into this laptop twice.
http://www.dicegeorge.com:8080/ramgen/stonehenge/belgrano.rm
I'm deleting the first version now. It's a flute piece I wrote years ago, to be the B side of my imaginary single 'Drunken Sailor' in the dream/nightmare where I became a popstar. I havent heard the tapes of it I made for years and years, I havent played the flute more than about an hour a month for years, but I just went for it, "as if I was live on Glastonbury Festival Stage One" - that's how I practice, I said that when jamming with Pok and Ruth last week before turning on this laptop.

Why "Belgrano"?

Because that's where "Dice George" comes from. The first use of my pen name "Dice George" in print was in the New Musical Express May 1983, my letter damning Margaret Thatcher for ordering the torpedoeing of the Belgrano offside, outside of the exclusion zone. They were conscripts, young peasant lads in that boat, Britain drew a line in the sand but then she ordered the submarine to kill them outside of that line. Lady Macbeth - does she often remember the Belgrano? I doubt it.

New Musical Express letters page 28May1983
Can I be the first to say that I won't vote for her?
John Connolly, New Barnett.
Feel Free - PH
The British Government's moral superiority over the Argentinean fascists was sunk with the Belgrano outside of the 200 mile exclusion zone. The bloodstains are offside. That's why we must all, - Liberal Labour and Loony - vote tactically to stop a five year Conservative majority
Dice George, Coventry
Seconded - PH

I had never agreed with Thatcher's politics, (tax cuts for the rich, education cuts, and god help the poor) but this was worse, the principle of the Falklands was stopping a load of invading bullys with guns, but by cheating and lying she threw away the British moral superiority, it became a battle of might against might, Or did the Americans tell her to do it? I think not. I might be a hippy but I was in the army cadets and the Young Liberals, I've talked to people who were in the army and navy at the time and I know they were angry with her. It was worse than tax cuts, the woman was dangerous. OK, it's a big dangerous world, as I wrote somewhere it's the Third World War, rich against poor, north against south, and I'm on the side of the planet, but even on the level of "our country against their country" she was a bad leader, a leader ordering sailors to kill offside, to be unethical, bad for moral. Perhaps the submarine commander should have refused, and been disgraced and courts martialled, and the honour of the British Navy - I know the Sun 'newspaper' would have condemned him, and perhaps things would have turned out worse, perhaps his family would have been paupered and victimised, but perhaps he'd sleep better at night and Thatcher would have been stopped earlier from damaging the mines and the railways and the people and spirit. and the 80's 90's yuppie rip off spirit

I remember I performed it live once, at a gig somewhere in Reading, a Daevid Allen gig, my friend Pogle was there, I played inbetween bands, me and a flute and a microphone,

www.dicenews.com/belgrano ?

Back to: Dice George's homepage at GeoCities/SoHo/9000

mailto: george@dicenews.com

End of http://www.phreak.co.uk/stonehenge/psb/belgrano.htm

Thanks for these webpages.