Tell Me Lies

This great poem by poet and political activist Adrian Mitchell .
 Adrian Mitchell first read To Whom It May Concern (Tell Me Lies About Vietnam) at a protest in Trafalgar Square in 1964, London.
Adrian Mitchell - Tell Me Lies About Vietnam..


 Adrian Mitchell - Tell Me Lies About Vietnam
   Come all ye -
  wartbrain psychics
 with astroid sidekicks
  prostate agents
   and plastic Cajuns

  royal doggerellas
 cluster bombsellers
  alternative surgeons
   torturesport virgins


heavy vivisectionists
columnists, Golumnists,
priests of the beast
who are secretly policed
by highranker bankers
playing pranks with tankers

 ghost advisers
death advertisers
vampire preachers
sucked-dry teachers
beheaded dead bodies
of blank-hearted squaddies

billionaire beauticians
fishing for positions
from poison politicians
with obliteration missions –
I'm alone, I'm afraid
And I need your aid
  can't you see – can't you see – can't you see?

I was run over by the truth one day
Ever since the accident I've walked this way
    So stick my legs in plaster
    Tell me lies about Vietnam

Heard the alarm clock screaming with pain
Couldn't find myself, so I went back to sleep again
    So fill my ears with silver
   Stick my legs in plaster
    Tell me lies about Vietnam

Every time I shut my eyes, all I see is flames
I made a marble phone-book, and I carved all the names
    So coat my eyes with butter
    Fill my ears with silver
   Stick my legs in plaster
    Tell me lies about Vietnam

I smell something burning, hope it's just my brains
They're only dropping peppermints and daisy-chains
    So stuff my nose with garlic
    Coat my eyes with butter
    Fill my ears with silver
   Stick my legs in plaster
    Tell me lies about Vietnam

Where were you at the time of the crime?
Down by the Cenotaph, drinking slime
    So chain my tongue with whisky
    Stuff my nose with garlic
    Coat my eyes with butter
    Fill my ears with silver
   Stick my legs in plaster
    Tell me lies about Vietnam

You put your bombers in, you put your conscience out
You take the human being, and you twist it all about
    So scrub my skin with women
    So chain my tongue with whisky
    Stuff my nose with garlic
    Coat my eyes with butter
    Fill my ears with silver
   Stick my legs in plaster
    Tell me lies about –
Iraq
Burma
Afghanistan
BAE Systems
Israel
Iran

Tell me lies Mr Bush
Tell me lies Mr Blairbrowncameron

Tell me lies about Vietnam

Wholly Communion in London 

 (Recorded Liverpool's film director Peter Whitehead 1965)