UNIT An Elegy For Earth including Requiem.

Note: all tracks recorded under the names Academy 23 or UNIT are the property of DNA Records and protected by copyright, regardless of who wrote the works concerned. This is a track from Faith, Family & Freedom, our 54th album, recorded in 2025.

Deep inside black stony caves, a million souls begin to wake,
no longer lost and lonely slaves; the hillsides tremble, mountains quake:
their forces massed and tactics planned, the noble silence long repressed,
as a raging reptile rising and the tyrants’ power, the final test.
As a battered banner once more flies the call to arms it signifies,
a shout rings out across the skies: a conquered people never dies.
The seeds were sewn by everyone, a history of what they’ve done;
the blood of souls they caused to run feeds the soil blessed by the Sun.

A thousand faceless cities bulge with brain-dead drones;
a Simian civilisation defined by what it owns –
a case of consumer commodities is the sum of all it is worth –
a satellite dish, a mobile phone and, it seems, the Earth.
I have a special name for my contempt toward their greed
when two thirds of humanity are denied the food they need.
In the name of patriotic pride, a mask for slavery,
they train young men to fight and die, then call it bravery.
Take a measly check-point and a barrier or two,
plus a shabby school of uniformed thugs with nothing else to do,
a language and an anthem, the signs of separation,
these are all that constitute the identity of a nation.

Girded glass cages coldly glisten in shining shafts of steel.
Herds of hopeless suited slaves listen to cash cards as they kneel,
attentive to reports from Reuters of a share index collapse.
Languidly the last man loiters and suffers a relapse.

Wong Fei Hung, it could have been, who led the first attack,
or maybe an aborigine who beat his enemies back.
Perhaps it was a Barefoot Sioux who fired the very first shot?
But anyway, the ape-men fell and soon were left to rot,
a dark, disgusting epitaph to a race of filthy scum
who would not even see the twisted creatures they’d become.
As a battered banner once more flies the call to arms it signifies,
a shout rings out across the skies: a conquered people never dies.
The seeds were sewn by everyone, a history of what they’ve done;
the blood of souls they caused to run feeds the soil blessed by the Sun,
and slowly from each hiding place, a million reptiles crawl;
with determination on each face, the Simian empire starts to fall.

The limbic system rules the roost when empires are imposed
on sovereign states and innocents whose freedom is deposed.
How many times in how many years have armies fought and died?
It’s plain to see intelligence was carefully denied.
But rebellion against a callous, brutal, savage foe
is a justified and gentle act, as all bright people know.
So don’t complain when, soldiers slain, their leaders scream in fear,
because it’s plain that in their pain they’ve come to the idea
too late, that when you’ve terrorised a civilised noble race,
eventually they will return to claim their rightful place!

Andy Martin – Vocal, Hammond Organ, CS 80, Mini Moog, ARP 2600.
Rachel Greenberg – Guitar.
Keilan Knight – 5 String Bass Guitar.
Karen Elliot – Drums.
+
Michael Jayston – Voice.

Text & Music – Andy Martin.

In addition we have 11 books available in PDF format free on request.

Chinese Cinema 1905 – 2005
The Essays – Articles, Essays & Monographs On Science & Culture
Not In Front Of The Children: A Study Of Grange Hill 1978 – 1993
Fast – Clean – Cheap (A Compendium)
Civil Disobedience – A Collection Of Short Stories For Children
Behind The Bike Shed – A Novel For Children
Grange Hill 1994 – 2008
The No Nation Interview
Birds, Bridges & Boys – Short Stories For Adults
Questo Temporis – Short Stories For Adults
School Report – A Novel For Adults