This one I remember from the video more than airplay. A simple but effective riff to open the song and there is also The Band member Garth Hudson playing with The Call. That is what got my attention when I saw the video in the 80s. When The Walls Came Down peaked at #74 in the Billboard 100 and #17 in the Billboard Mainstream Rock Songs in 1983.
Guitarist Michael Been stated, “There was a great deal happening politically – Grenada, Lebanon, or the government saying the Russians are evil and the Russian government probably saying the same about us. That kind of thinking inspired me to write the last lines of ‘Walls Came Down’.”
When The Walls Come Down
Well they blew the horns
And the walls came down
They’d all been warned
And the walls came down
They stood there laughing
They’re not laughing anymore
The walls came down
Sanctuary fades
Congregation splits
Nightly military raids
The congregation splits
It’s a song of assassins
Ringin’ in your ears
We got terrorist thinking
Playing on fears
Well they blew the horns
And the walls came down
They’d all been warned
But the walls came down
I don’t think there are any Russians
And there ain’t no Yanks
Just corporate criminals
Playin’ with tanks
Ya ya ya ya ya ya
Ya ya ya ya ya ya
Ya ya ya ya ya ya
Ya ya ya ya ya ya
Ya ya ya ya ya ya
Ya ya ya ya ya ya
Ya ya ya ya ya ya
Ya ya ya ya ya ya (Wake up)
Ya ya ya ya ya ya
Ya ya ya ya ya ya
Ya ya ya ya ya ya
Ya ya ya ya ya ya
Ya ya ya ya ya ya
Ya ya ya ya ya ya
Ya ya ya ya ya ya
Ya ya ya ya ya ya (Come on, come on, come on, come on)
Quite good. I vaguely remember it from the alt rock station in the ’80s… I heard a few songs by them back then that I liked , but always heard them so infrequently I never really learned them or figured out what albums they were off.
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Like I said I remember the video more than radio play… I was happy at the time to see Garth playing
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Never heard this one before. There is a Talking Heads quality to it in how the guy sings. Yes good to see Garth. Three guys on keyboard and the space they are has that tall ceiling cathedral look. Good stuff!
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See this one is the one I thought you commented on…you mentioned Garth and I felt stupid lol
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🙂
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