"Hey Man Nice Shot" - Filter, 1995 (alternative)

I wish I would've met you;
now it's a little late.
What you could've taught me,
I could've saved some face.
They think that your early ending was all wrong;
for the most part they're right,
but look how they all got strung.

That's why I say, "Hey man, nice shot."
"What a good shot, man."

A man, has gun -
Hey man, have fun.
Nice shot!

Now that the smokes gone,
and the air is all clear:
those who were right there
had a new kind of fear.
You'd fight and you were right -
but, they were just too strong.
They'd stick it in your face
and let you smell what they consider wrong.

That's why I say "Hey man, nice shot."
"...a good shot, man."
That's why I say "Hey man, nice shot."
"...what a good shot, man."

A man, has gun -
Hey man, have fun.

Oh, nice shot man!

Oh, I wish I would've met you.
I wish I would've met you, oh.
I wish I would've met you, oh.
I wish I would've met you,
I'd say, "Nice shot."

In 1993, the City Cleveland brought us Filter, and in 1995 ex Nine Inch Nails guitar player Richard Patrick made his contribution to history in music with the band's first big hit "Hey Man Nice Shot", which has since been played in everything from movies, to cartoons, to video games, to the NHL's Playoff broadcast and Australia's National Rugby League. All in all, that's not a bad way to enter the history books...unless of course, you happen to be the guy in the song.

When "Hey Man Nice Shot" first debuted, it was assumed that the song was a nod to Kurt Cobain, who shot himself in April of 1994. However, the song was actually written about the 1987 public suicide of Pennsylvania state treasurer R. Budd Dwyer. Dwyer was a teacher and a family man. Born in 1939, he graduated from Allegheny College and went on to get his Master's in Education, and was not only a Social Studies teacher, but was also a football coach at Cambridge Springs High School. Finally, Dwyer was given an opportunity to visit Poland as a Community Ambassador, where he truly experienced the differences between American and Communist government systems. It was this experience that compelled him to be a part of the democratic process. In 1965, Dwyer won a seat in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, and in 1970 he joined the Senate. From 1980-1987, Dwyer finished out his political career as Pennsylvania State Treasurer. Dwyer's life and career would be cut short in 1987, following a hard lesson in honesty and politics.

During Dwyer's tenure as Pennsylvania State Treasurer, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania accidentally overpaid millions of dollars in FICA taxes. In an effort to correct this mistake, the state undertook the soliciting of bids from accounting firms to determine the amount of refunds the employees would receive. It was Dwyer's job to assist the state in awarding a contract to a company that would order the books. One particular accounting firm out of California, Computer Technology Associates, won the bid with the help of company founder and Harrisburg native John Torquato Jr, who despite his company's base on the West Coast, remained largely influential in the Midwest and used Pennsylvania area connections and bribery to secure the $4.6 million contract for his company. Soon after the contract was awarded, Pennsylvania Governor Dick Thornburgh received an anonymous tip that the award was not entirely on the up-and-up, and a full-scale investigation was launched.

During the investigation, the US Attorney's Office discovered that R. Budd Dwyer had used his position and office to steer the state to awarding Computer Technology Associates with the accounting contract and had refused to invite other bids. He was indicted for the receipt of $300,000 in kickbacks from said company for his favors. Later John Torquato Jr., who was also indicted in the same event, would turn state's evidence and testify against Dwyer and others involved in the fiasco. If Dwyer was willing to resign his office, cooperate with the government investigation, and serve a maximum of five years in prison, the Prosecution would offer him a single charge of bribe receiving. He refused. As a result, the government crippled Dwyer's defense with the help of the testimony of unindicted involved persons. In addition to the bribe receiving, Dwyer faced a myriad of other charges, including: 5 counts of mail fraud, 4 counts of interstate transportation in aiding racketeering, and 1 conspiracy to commit bribery. When all was said and done, Dwyer faced a sentence of up to 55 years in prison and $300,000 fine. Thanks to a loophole in PA law, Dwyer was able to keep his job and continue serving in its capacity until his sentence was given by Federal court. Dwyer insisted he had maintained his good nature and that he had been framed and even wrote a letter to President Reagan begging for a Presidential pardon, which he did not receive.

On the day before his sentencing, R. Budd Dwyer called a news conference to update his campaign staff on his status before leaving office. At the meeting, Dwyer handed out envelopes to two of his aides and then acting Treasurer, stating that within each envelope was a set of instructions they were to follow later. He then proceeded to the front of the room where five television cameras and a handful of newspaper and radio reporters and photographers were waiting to document his words for the occasion. As they waited for him to speak, Dwyer reached his hand into a last manilla envelope and pulled out a loaded .357 magnum revolver. The room erupted into a mixture of panic and pleading as those in attendance attempted to persuade him to put the gun down. Dwyer held one hand out defensively and clutched the gun with the other. "Please leave the room if this will...if this will offend you." Dwyer said. As others approached to disarm him he said, "Stay away...this will hurt someone." And with that and with cameras rolling, he placed the gun in his mouth and pulled the trigger.

~ You didn't hear it from me. I got it from:

I Knew Bud Dwyer. I Was At The Trial
Who Was Bud Dwyer?

"Beds Are Burning" - Midnight Oil, 1987 (rock)

Out where the river broke
The bloodwood and the desert oak
Holden wrecks and boiling diesels
Steam in forty five degrees

The time has come
To say fairs fair
To pay the rent
To pay our share
The time has come
A facts a fact
It belongs to them
Lets give it back

How can we dance when our earth is turning
How do we sleep when our beds are burning

Four wheels scare the cockatoos
From Kintore east to Yuendemu
The western desert lives and breathes
In forty five degrees

G'Day, Mates! Welcome to Oz - the Land Down Under - the home of politically active Midnight Oil.

The song's two verses are jam packed with images of the Australian desert landscape. In verse one, the bloodwood is a species of Eucalyptus. The Holden was a vehicle manufactured by Australian auto maker GM Holden Ltd. located in Port Melbourne, Victoria. However, it's not just a generic description of what one might see in Australia. These are illustrations of a specific landscape - the Western Desert. Even more specifically, the land area west of Lake MacDonald and Lake Mackay in the Gibson Desert. Verse two talks about the desert and the abundance of life within it. Kintore is a settlement found on the border of the Western Territory. Yuendumu is an Aboriginal settlement and thriving settlement in the Northern Territory.

Yet, the entire purpose of this song is to protest the forcible removal of the Australian Aboriginal people, the Pintupi, from this Desert, their homeland, to the Northern Territories. During and leading up to the 1950's, this western desert's remoteness and isolation was prime real estate for Blue Streak (ballistic) Missile testing. It was figured that the trajectory of these missiles would land them in desert areas known to be inhabited. So, the government thought it best if those inhabitants, the Pintupi, were relocated. The vibrant life within the western Desert was disregarded in favor of military testing. Their land was not purchased from them. The received no compensation for their troubles.

The Pintupi were systematically removed from their traditional lifestyles and homes beginning in the 1940s, to Alice Springs and the Northern Territory and other government settlements such as Hermannsburg and Papunya. The last of these people, the Pintupi Nine, left in 1984. As with many people group relocation projects, the Pintupi were not alone in their dispersal, and while they were moved to these government settlements, they were not culturally isolated. For example, at Papunya, they were mixed with other language groups as Warlpiri, Arrernte, Anmatyerre, and Luritja. While the Pintupi represented the largest language group, conditions were so bad that 129 people (one-sixth of the decendents) died of treatable diseases such as hepatitis, meningitis, and encephalitis. But this forcible government relocation didn't just remove a people from their land; it also forceably removed thousands of Aboriginal children from their parents. These children were dispersed into separate government and religious institutions and foster care. They became known as "The Stolen Generation".

The focal point of "Beds Are Burning" is the repetitive rhetorical questions: "How can we dance.../How can we sleep..." while all this is going on, as if nothing wrong happened. Families were torn apart and the identity of a culture began to disappear into government supression. The call of the song and the most repetition "The time has come..." emphasizes the return of these native lands to their native people.

Over recent decades, many Pintupi have moved back into their traditional homes in their native land as part of the Outstation Movement. They have set up the communities Kentore in the Northern Territory, Kiwirrkura and Jupiter Well in Western Australia.

Midnight Oil performed this song at the close of the 2000 Sydney Olympic games to a world audience of billions of people, including Prime Minister John Howard. The entire band was dressed in black with the word "sorry" printed on their clothing because the Prime Minister refused to apologize on behalf of Australia to the Aboriginal Australians for how they were treated in the past 200 years, which was a gutsy move on the band's behalf at this venue, considering how they were allowed to perform but were advised to not make any political speeches.

"Beds Are Burning" - Midnight Oil (2006 Sydney Olympics live recording)

(compiled from various sources)