Siouxsie and the Banshees: Cities in Dust

Nagasaki remembrance day. Oh, the things we people have done to each other through the years.

But every good story requires conflict, yes?

I've always loved the eerie Siouxsie and the Banshees song, "Cities in Dust," from Tinderbox, the 1986 album. They were dark horses, all right, that band, but they had the pulse of the world. Siouxsie Sioux (b. May 27, 1957) left England and lives in France with her husband, Budgie; she's working on a new solo album aiming for a 2007 release.

"Cities in Dust" reminds us that nothing is permanent, that either war or nature or bad luck takes everything out eventually.


We found you hiding, we found you lying
Choking on the dirt and sand
Your former glories and all the stories
Dragged and washed with eager hands

But ohh oh your city lies in dust, my friend
ohh oh your city lies in dust, my friend
your city lies in dust






















Things large and small: Babylon, Pompeii, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Cahokia, Mexico-Tenochtitlan, the Inca Empire, the Alexandria Library, the Roman Empire, the Ottoman Empire, the Twin Towers, New Orleans, Beirut, and on and on and on. What next in this Best of All Possible Worlds?