Kris Kristofferson - William Butler Yeats - The second coming (Breakthrough, 1989)

Here's a playlist with songs from that concert:
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL28E357850AF8025F

This is not a song...
I watched this touching concert-documentary on DVD about 4 years ago for the first time and Kris' words to the end credits were giving me goosebumps. Though spoken more than 20 years ago, they still are current and so meaningful and I'm moved whenever I'm listening to them... So I was wondering how I could upload them without the (though interesting but) distracting end credits, and that's the way I finally have managed it.

http://www.amazon.com/Breakthrough-Kris-Kristofferson/dp/B00027JYGC
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kris-Kristofferson-Breakthrough-Region-NTSC/dp/B00027JYGC

William Butler Yeats (1865-1939)
THE SECOND COMING
First verse:
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity...

Kris: "These are spooky words in these cynical, confused and apocalyptic times,
where terrorists are called freedom fighters
and men and women and children
are murdered in the name of democracy and human rights
It's time to pay attention
You can't count on the politicians for the truth
You can't countl on the media for the truth
It's up to us..."

William Butler Yeats:
Das zweite Kommen

Drehend und drehend in immer weiteren Kreisen
Versteht der Falke seinen Falkner nicht;
Die Welt zerfällt, die Mitte hält nicht mehr;
Und losgelassen nackte Anarchie,
Und losgelassen blutgetrübte Flut,
Das Spiel der Unschuld überall ertränkt;
Die Besten sind des Zweifels voll, die Ärgsten
Sind von der Kraft der Leidenschaft erfüllt.

Kris: "Das sind schaurige Worte in diesen zynischen, verwirrten und apokalyptischen Zeiten,
in denen Terroristen als Freiheitskämpfer bezeichnet werden
und Männer und Frauen und Kinder ermordet werden
im Namen von Demokratie und Menschenrechten.
Es ist an der Zeit achtzugeben.
Man kann nicht auf die Politiker bauen für die Wahrheit
Man kann nicht auf die Medien bauen für die Wahrheit
Es liegt an uns..."

The Second Coming was written in 1919 in the aftermath
of the first World War. The above version of the poem is
as it was published in the edition of Michael Robartes and
the Dancer dated 1920 (there are numerous other
versions of the poem).