![]() The Americans were these big, fat, pink, smelly things who the Vietnamese could smell coming for miles because of the tobacco and cologne. The way he portrayed the Vietnamese was as this really crafted, beautiful race. He's never been the same since, because it's so devastating, people dying all the time. He said it really changed him, because until you live on their level like that, when it's complete survival, you don't know what it's about. I saw this incredible documentary by this Australian cameraman who went on the front line in Vietnam, filming from the Vietnamese point of view, so it was very biased against the Americans. ( Kate Bush Club newsletter, October 1982) Has he a family and a lady waiting for him at home, somewhere beyond the Chinese drums and the double bass that stalks like a wild cat through bamboo? The moving pictures freeze-frame and fade - someone stopped the multi-track, there's more overdubs to do. A helicopter soars overhead, he wakes up, and as he looks me in the eyes I relate to him as I would to a helpless stranger. I pop the silver Buddha that I wear around my neck into my mouth, securing my lips around his little metal body. I'd swear it was being played by Brian Bath, but how could that be, way out here on our stereo screen. It's a small transistor radio out of which cries an electric guitar. This soldier is under a tree, dozing with a faint smile and a radio by his side. Sometimes a Vietnamese would track a soldier for days and follow him, until he eventually took him. Take the camera in even closer, and we find a solitary soldier, perhaps the one I have singled out. We can smell them for miles with their sickly cologne, American tobacco and stale sweat. Closer in with the camera, and you can catch glimpses of their pink skin. Right in the distance you can see the trees moving, smoke and sounds drifting our way. We are looking at the Americans from the Vietnamese point of view and, almost like a camera, we start in wide shot. We sat in front of the speakers trying to focus on the picture - a green forest, humid and pulsating with life. 'Pull Out The Pin' was covered by Niki Romijn. The lyric of the song was based on a documentary about the war in Vietnam and describes soldiers of the Vietcong literally sniffing out their American opponents before killing them. Originally released on her fourth album The Dreaming.
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