Unangelic Voices EP by Kerry JK

There’s no such word as impossible
He realised one day
So he took his dictionary
And he cut that word away
And he sat there feeling wonderful
He thought of all the things he could do
That’s when he realised
He’d have to cut some other words too.

So he took out his thesaurus
And he waved his magic wand
He cut out unattainable
Undoable and beyond
‘Cause there’s no such word as impossible
There’s nothing we can’t realise
If the world and all its wonders
Can be cut down to our size

‘Cause when you’re young
Nothing is impossible
Everything’s right there for you to try
But the more we learn the less we know
The next step comes in letting go
To understand we’re all just children

And there’s no such word as evil
And there’s no such word as good
And there’s no such word as justice
He got rid of them while he could
With just his magic scissors
And a movement of his hand
He could rid his world of anything
He didn’t like or understand

‘Cause when you’re dumb
Nothing is impossible
Everything’s right there for you to try
But the more we learn the less we know
The next step comes in letting go
To understand we’re all just children

As the litter built up all around
He had brief cause to doubt
There were more words on the other side of each page
He’d have to also live without
But those collateral words
Scattered on the floor
Weren’t needed for his perfect world
And they died in a good cause

With his new truncated language
He felt like a god on high
No obstacles left in his way
Like Superman he could fly
He could make the world his plaything
He could soar just like a bird
And in the streets down below
An ambulance was heard

You know that nothing is impossible
But as human beings we can but only try
And you set yourself up for a fall
If you ever think you’ve sussed it all
‘Cause we are all just children

You know that nothing is impossible
Everything’s right there for you to try
But the more we learn the less we know
The next step comes in letting go
To understand we’re all just children

We are all just children
And nothing is impossible (repeat)

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In middle school we were told a story about an alleged “wise man” who cut the word “impossible” out of his dictionary to make some statement or other.  Many of us immediately saw the flaw in this act of utter stupidity (what about the words on the other side of the page?), it stays with me as a warning of how destructive acts of censorship can result from what feel like positive and assertive motives.

Unangelic Voices EP by Kerry JK

It was a lazy morning up in heaven
Around about twenty past eleven
An angel came to God’s right hand
Said “Don’t ask me why ’cause I don’t understand
But the Devil’s just come to the door
Says he doesn’t want to be evil anymore”.

Now there’s no need for the end of days
There’s no need for a holy blaze
Let the people of the world rejoice
Go out and make a joyful noise
Everything’s going to be OK
Because the Devil did repent today.

Flitting back two thousand years
Jesus knew his time was near
As he wandered strangely casually
In the garden of Gethsemane
But Judas had a change of heart
He didn’t want to play his part
Instead of kissing Jesus as he neared
He told those soldiers to kiss his rear

Now there’s no need for Christ to die
No need for Him to be crucified
No need for a resurrection
No need for a new direction
Cancel the communion call
It wasn’t the last supper after all
The Son Of Man is living still
‘Cause Judas Escariot did alright this time

Way back at the very start
In the secret garden’s heart
A lady talking to a snake
Said, “No thanks. This just feels fake”.

Now there’s no need for the fall of man
There’s no need for a masterplan
There’s no need for will to be free
No need for humanity
No need for nephilm, judges, kings
Not much need for anything
No flaming sword, no flood, no war
Just happy gardeners for evermore

So God stood up and went outside
And there was Satan, arms out wide
“It’s true”, he said, “I’ve seen the light
There’s no need for us to fight”.
God looked the Devil up and down
He thought about it with a frown
Then across his face their came a smirk
“Very funny”, he said, “Get back to work!”

---

This is one of those pieces that everyone gets to misunderstand in their own particular way.  The best way I can describe it is as a comment on the need for figures to occupy villainous roles, in similar vein to the Rolling Stones ‘Sympathy For The Devil’, the Gnostic Gospel of Judas and the mediaeval song  ‘Adam Lay Y Bounden’.

Unangelic Voices EP by Kerry JK

It came on the news after stirring overnight
That the language of Lenin is now the weapon of the right
The true way’s the new way
The old ideals are toast
If this is treason, let us make the most

They talk of unity when they really mean submission
They punish dissidence rather than admit contrition
Authority is measured by the brashness of the boast
If this is treason, let us make the most

Moguls mask the margins
To marginalise the fight
A pebble’s like a boulder
If dropped from sufficient height
The disgruntled are distracted
With an enemy off coast
If this is treason, let us make the most.

United in diversity
Divided by conformity
Resist the creeping terror
Of thankful uniformity
Invoke Mandela, Ghandi and Bodicea’s ghost
If this is treason, let us make the most.

While we’re waiting for the papers
To be delivered in the post
If this is treason, let us make the most.

—-

This was a response to a series of increasingly worrying headlines by UK newspapers over the years leading up to 2016’s Brexit vote, which were a little to casual for my liking in the way they would declare dissenting voices “enemies of the people” and if a vote against the right wing zeitgeist wasn’t actually declared an act of treason it was certainly implied.

When the USA voted to declare independence from the UK, Patrick Henry famously declared, “If this is treason let us make the most of it”, a sentiment that strikes a chord with how I feel about the direction my native country has taken recently.