THE DEATH OF GOD

After completing his 2000 folk baroque masterpiece The Green Man, eccentric British singer/songwriter Roy Harper went into semi retirement. Until the Iraq War broke out in 2005. Claiming that both sides stated or intimated that God was on their side in this conflict, the irreligious Harper took offense and penned this 13 minute multi-suite prog folk protest song (a non album single). It's one of his best, as it's quite humorous as well as being a good piece of music. Stripped down to just Harper's acoustic guitar, with accompaniment by Irish session guitarist Matt Churchill, this song would be right at home on Roy's celebrated Stormcock album. Only some hand percussion and faint keyboards help to embellish it.

While the melodies are uniformly excellent, it's Harper's lyrics that again take the cake. From slipping in and out of the characters of God, suicide bombers and what sounds like a George W. Bush imitation, Harper recounts the tale of an interventionist God who swears that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction and that his wrath is righteous. Up until he finds out that no WMDs were found, causing this vengeful God to fall out of Heaven and crash down to earth, to his doom. Harper believes that if one can imagine such a deity, then one can also imagine his demise. Simple. Good stuff, as usual from Roy. 4 stars.