Watching the news is alarming at the moment - like history repeating itself. Reg wrote this song Troop Movements in the Ukraine, first released in 1980 on Mental As Anything's second album Espresso Bongo. Who would have thought that this song would be so relevant 42 years later.

Lyrics

I read it in the paper

I saw it on the news

I heard it on the radio

Troop movements in the Ukraine

Missile silos in the sugar cane

No desire to die in an Asian swamp

They've got no proper toilets

They've go no modern shops

I've been learning Russian

And I'm visiting a Mosque

I'll build a steel house

No matter what it costs

Who wants to be in the military army

From force of habit, persuasion by law

I'd rather stay here and survive the war

By hiding in a grain elevator

I read it in the paper

I saw it on the news

I heard it on the radio

Troop movements in the Ukraine

Missile silos in the sugar cane

I don't mind missing on the pleasures of looting

I don't mind missing out on death by shooting

I'll worry about motor car accidents

Cancer and the politics of rooting

Written by Reg Mombassa

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