Irish musician Paddy Sherlock has been tormented and filled with desperation and desolation since Hamas’s deadly attacks in Israel on October 7 and the subsequent, ongoing war.
His feelings were further exacerbated when Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich told Army Radio in December: "What needs to be done in the Gaza Strip is to encourage emigration. If there are 100,000 or 200,000 Arabs in Gaza and not 2 million Arabs, the entire discussion will be totally different."
Smotrich added that if the 2.3 million population were no longer there "growing up on the aspiration to destroy the state of Israel," Gaza would be seen differently in Israel.
"Most of Israeli society will say 'why not, it's a nice place, let's make the desert bloom, it doesn't come at anyone's expense'."
The words of Sherlock’s song "All the World Looks On," which he wrote sometime before Smotrich’s comments in December, for the people of Gaza, played repeatedly in my mind. The couplet “And everything all comes undone, as two Lands become one” foreshadowed Smotrich’s shocking words.
“The daily and nightly horrors that people are suffering in Gaza” made Sherlock pick up his pen and guitar. He sang his new song for the very first time on Turning Points on World Radio Paris - you can hear the whole interview online here.
“I had to write something," Sherlock told Turning Point.
He will have it recorded properly in a studio soon, however, he surmised: “Unfortunately I don’t think there is any rush. This horrific situation is going to go on and on...”
"All the World Looks On" by Paddy Sherlock
Oh-oo, Oh-oo, Oh-oo, Oh-oo …We're driven from our homes
Oh-oo, Oh-oo, Oh-oo, Oh-oo …Our world is filled with bombs
Our children, Our Children, Our Children dead and gone
Their words all come from the mouth of a gun
And we’ve nowhere we can run
Oh-oo, Oh-oo, Oh-oo, Oh-oo
And all the world looks on
Our Children, our Children, Our Children dead and gone
And everything all comes undone
as two Lands become one
Oh-oo, Oh-oo, Oh-oo, Oh-oo
And all the world looks on...
"All the World Looks On" blew my mind, not only because of the strength of the lyrics and music, but the rhythm and the anaphoric echoes of “Our Children, our Children, Our Children Dead and Gone” stopped me in my tracks. It was also the first time I’d heard Sherlock sing a song with a political slant.
Sherlock was very taken with UK lawmaker Sir Gerard Kauffman's speech to Westminster back in 2009 about the Israeli attack on Gaza, on 15 January 2009.
During his speech, Kauffman, who was raised as a Zionist Jew, pointed out that his own granny had not been shot by the Nazis to provide cover for Israel to kill Palestinian Grannies in Gaza.
Kauffman pondered on why Jewish lives were considered precious but Palestinian lives did not seem to count. His words unfortunately have even more relevance today.
Sherlock also pointed out how today Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), a group comprising Jewish people around the world, horrified by what is happening in Gaza, are raising their voices. They are demanding an immediate ceasefire to bring a stop to the Israeli government’s genocide of the people of Gaza, They refuse that the horrors are committed in their name just because they are Jewish. Sherlock believes JVP merits attention and support.
Sherlock loves history and is highly articulate. He is also a fantastic entertainer and has been described as a dynamic frontman, actor, singer, prolific songwriter, and trombone hero. A tireless performer, always juggling several exciting projects, he has also been a songwriting and performing member of the famous French Band FFF for more than 25 years. He is considered one of Ireland's coolest and most original Irish artists abroad. His 2021 album "Dusk," produced by Brisa Roché for Black Ash Records, and recorded by Jeff Hallam, was a huge critical success. Along with many other accolades, it featured on the front of Rolling Stone Magazine as album of the week. The legendry magazine stated, "The man feasts in an intimate voyage from Tom Waits to Paul McCartney passing through Van Morrison..."
It seems as if during difficult times, poets and songwriters come to the fore as “unacknowledged legislators of the world"[1], framing events in a way, no other medium, not even the lens can rival. Sherlock rose to the occasion with his song "All the World Looks On," which reminds us that amid the horror, Irish poets’ and songwriters’ voices, past and present have often been omnipresent, gently pointing out that faced with turmoil and horror, we shouldn't accept just to be mere onlookers.
Unicef says: “The impacts on the children of Gaza and their mental health are immediate and will be long-lasting.” It adds: "Where wars rage, children suffer. Families across the region have been impacted and children exposed to unthinkable distress. Unicef is currently collecting donations for the families and children of Gaza."
You can learn more about Paddy Sherlock on Facebook and Instagram.
[1] Quote from Poet, Percy Shelley, 1821 - Shelley's assertion that "poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world" is the clearest illustration of his belief that imaginative practice and political activism were inextricably intertwined.
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