God Made The Virus

In this hotbed of vice, in this nursery of sin
Let them perish like flies in the reckoning
Your evil acts that none can name
Let them pave the way to the grave

God made the virus to punish the wicked
Let the bells ring out the old and ring in the new, in the new, in the new

The sixties was an evil time
Everybody took drugs and had sex all the time
On the darkest night was the day to them
But a sun arose to kill them

God made the virus to punish the wicked
Let the bells ring out the old and ring in the new

This pious plague
Is seeking out sin
Makes me believe
It's our turn to win

Though you've slaughtered the foe of the family
This holy disease wastes the enemy
If you'd only send a special death
For the lesbians and the communists

God made the virus to punish the wicked
Let the bells ring out the old and ring in the new

This pious plague
Is seeking out sin
Makes me believe
It's our turn to win

God made the virus to punish the wicked
Let the bells ring out the old and ring in the new
God made it to punish the wicked

notes: As was common practice in Malcolm's writing, this song is written from the point of view of those he presumably disagreed with.  There are in fact a good deal of fundamentalist Christians who will tell you that AIDS is a plague sent from heaven to destroy the homosexuals, the "foe of the family" blamed for society's alleged downward spiral.

"Our turn to win" strikes me as ironic seeing as how these lyrics came out of the Reagan / Thatcher years--hardly a dark time for the right.  Of course it might be set right after the "evil times" of the 60's that resulted in much of the right-wing backlash (that continues to this day).

Malcolm:

When AIDS first appeared, there was talk of it being
a gay plague, particularly from the religious right. More generally, a lot of commentators spoke about the disease in moral terms - as if a disease has anything to do with morals. But today this attitude has become quite widespread. When people talk about cancer or heart disease, you can be sure they will consider them in moral terms. You hear that people with cancer or heart disease have "behaved badly", by smoking, drinking, eating fast food, not taking enough exercise, etc. In this way, health is becoming a new religion, with its good people and bad people, its condemned and its saved, its nagging consciences...

Evil acts that none can name is a reference to a classical reference to the taboo of homosexuality.

found on: I Am a Wallet

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