The black Cloud of Islam

lyrics:

Well I'm sick to the teeth of the news on the screen
of the Hezbollah scum and Jihad the obscene
whose men plant the bombs and then live feeling free
to watch women and children be killed on TV.

Which Satan delivers a child a death curse
in the name of a worn out collection of verse?
I've not read the book so I cannot recite
but I'd b More..et Salman Rushdie is just about right
underneath the black cloud of Islam

What kind of publicity needs so much blood
that's not for some sad diabolical god
selling himself as a two-bit Macbeth
as the expert in sentencing cousins to death

And what kind of god can this be anyway
that you have to prostrate to it five times a day
with hate in your heart and a gun in your hand
is force the only thing to understand
underneath the black cloud of Islam?

And the butchers who've got all this blood on their hands
are the ones who need god to be stood where he stands
blessing this kidnapping, murder and war
with books written hundreds of ages before

And women in veils walking paces behind
doesn't sit easy in my kind of mind
it speaks of oppression and no other choice
than rigid compliance with the loudest voice
underneath the black cloud of Islam

And you can put a lead bullet clean through this guitar
'cos I'm not overjoyed with the story so far
sharing a world with the nutters of god
is as good as being six feet under the sod

And words that are written are all here to stay
and these are the latest there are anyway
and I am the prophet so don't believe me
I'm the same as the old ones expect that I'm free
to give you a piece of my mind which is this
you're the worst of Jehova's blind witlessnesses
with your feet in the door of the deepest abyss
which is underneath, which is underneath,
which is underneath the Black Cloud Of Islam

UPDATE from Pastorius: I hope Shiva doesn't mind me cutting in here, but I think it's important that everyone know who Roy Harper is. We are not that familiar with him here in America, but he a kind of legend in Britain. You could probably liken him to someone like Leonard Cohen. In other words, he is not tremendously well-known, but he is a beloved legend nevertheless.

He is the man who sang the lead vocals on Pink Floyd's song "Welcome to the Machine".

He was also featured on the album Led Zeppelin III. In fact, Led Zeppelin titled one song on that album, "Hats Off To Roy Harper."

Here's some info on Roy Harper from Wikipedia:

Roy Harper (born June 12, 1941), is an English rock / folk singer-songwriter / guitarist who has been a professional musician since the mid 1960s. His earliest musical influences were American blues musicians, Huddie William Ledbetter, Josh White, Big Bill Broonzy and folk musician Woody Guthrie. ^[1]

As a musician, Harper is known for his distinctive, sophisticated fingerstyle playing and lengthy, complex compositions. He has released a large catalogue of albums as an artist, most of which are available on his own record label Science Friction.

His career and influence have been respected by many musicians including; Jimmy Page and Robert Plant, both members of the 1970s band Led Zeppelin, Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull and more recently Californian harpist Joanna Newsom. Harper is also known for his guest lead vocals on Pink Floyd's song "Have a Cigar".

Harper has been referred to as “the longest running underground act in the world”. ^[1]

Here's a piece Roy Harper, himself, wrote in May 2006 about his reasons for writing the song "The Black Cloud of Islam".

Re-the black cloud of islam.. a song of mine written in 1989....

I let my guard slip. I knew that I’d let it slip. I wanted it to slip. I was absolutely sick of being politically correct. I am not politically correct, I never have been.. and I never hope to be. I’d been navigating through an obstacle course for thirty years. My guard slipped.. and I needed it to. I was livid. I was absolutely overcome by feelings of despair. My worst fears were coming true. Religion was gaining ground. The one collective trait among humans that I’d long held at arms length, with the deepest possible suspicion, superstition; was outrunning anything that I could personally throw into its warped path.

Religion, my first and only enemy, was about to storm the world. About to take over whole swathes of fragile humanity. Again. I absolutely detested the thought. I wanted to die on the spot. All of my life’s work was in tatters. I knew that I would never see the end of it in my own lifetime. The great validation of the far-fetched hypothetical. I knew that every sportsman or woman who charged onto the field of competition whilst crossing themselves in the christian manner added to mass acceptance of unfeasible belief. I was overcome with anger.... and I was determined to let it show. It’s still as ripe in me today as it was in 1990. I would still do the same thing. I may even take it further. That religion could come to dominate our lifestyles after we’d given so much of our thinking lives to its ultimate unravelling was seriously depressing for me.

slam doesn’t yet have a modern interpretation. A real Martin Luther or a Martin Luther King. At least, not one the west would immediately recognise. You could say that the ‘modernisers’ are Bin Laden and Al Zaquawi, but they both want to step back into the dark ages. Forward isn’t in the ‘al Qaeda’ handbook. Most of the Arab states are generally fifteenth century in their disposition. They’re now scrambling, but are still virtually tribal. Their leaders had probably hoped that the 19th century was just a passing phase, a blip in the normal transmission of draconian values. The 20th century eventually took them by complete surprise. They were completely unready for the rapidity of the great majority of social changes which had been occurring in the west for at least 100 years. Actually, they were almost completely unaware of them. Time had stood still for so long ...