Why Did Midnight Oil
write: The Dead Heart?
By James
The song The Dead Heart was written and performed by
Peter Garret, James Moginie and Robert Hirst in 1988.
They wrote this song for aboriginals to help draw attention
to the fact that white man took aboriginal children from
their families and their traditional way of life and Midnight
Oil believed authorities wanted to try and westernise them
and destroy their culture. White man also took land from
the aboriginal people to benefit themselves and make
money.
In the first verse of ‘The Dead Heart’ the band uses the
words:
‘We don’t serve your country don’t serve your
King know your custom don’t speak your tongue
White man came took everyone’
This is saying that the aboriginals don’t follow the English
way of life or serve the king of England, they have their
own beliefs, traditions and leaders. Because the aboriginal
people don’t speak white mans language or follow their
customs, children were taken away from their families to
try and westernise them.
In the second verse of ‘The Dead Heart’ the band uses the
words:
‘We don’t serve your country don’t serve your king
White man listen to the songs we sing
White man came took everything’
This means that white man needs to listen to the
aboriginals and try to understand them. But they didn’t
try to understand and tried to take everything away from
the aboriginals.
In the third verse of ‘The Dead Heart’ the band uses the
words:
‘We carry in our hearts the true country
And that cannot be stolen
We follow in the steps of our ancestry
And that cannot be broken’
This is saying that the aboriginals carry in their hearts
their true country, not the place that they were moved to.
And what it means to them and that can never be taken
away from them. They will always follow in the steps of
their ancestors and will continue their traditions and
beliefs no matter what white man tries to do to them.
In the fourth verse of ‘The Dead Heart’ the band uses the
words:
‘We don’t need protection
Don’t need your land
Keep your promise on where we stand
We will listen well understand’
This is saying that the aboriginals can look after
themselves without any interference from white man. The
aboriginals already own the land because they are part of
it. The land is a part of their culture and their lives. The
aboriginals will listen to what white man has to say and
they will understand, but white man needs to keep its
promises of land rights.
In the fifth verse of ‘The Dead Heart’ the band uses the
words:
‘Mining companies, Pastoral companies
Uranium companies
Collected companies
Got more right than people
Got more Say than People’
This means that the big companies have more say and
more right because they are big and have lots of money
and people listen to them (‘money talks’).
In the sixth verse of ‘The Dead Heart’ the band uses the
words:
‘Forty thousand years can make a difference to the
state of things
The Dead heart lives here’
This means that the aboriginals have lived in Australia for
forty thousand years and have looked after this country.
The aboriginals feel dead in their hearts because of what
white man has done to them by taking away their children
and their land.
I chose ‘The Dead Heart’ by Midnight Oil because I like
this song and comments on aboriginal rights.