“Trident: A British War Crime”, was given a special premiere in Parliament Hall, Edinburgh, for the benefit of the Scottish High Court Judges, Advocates and Lawyers in July 2004

Click above to open/download .Pdf Booklet which accompanies the CD

The deployment of WMD (Weapons of Mass Destruction) is still a major threat to the peace and existence of the planet. This Oratorio is one creative way of exploring the themes and engendering discussion about the UK’s nuclear weapons - an appropriate activity in the year of the 70th anniversary of the US use of nuclear weapons against Japan in 1945.

This dramatic a capella piece is written for SATB, 4 - 8 parts, and lasts 20 minutes. Described as “moving and atmospheric” it uses interesting harmonies and modal tonalities.

Sheet music is available along with a booklet of the words with annotated references giving the background to the songs and a CD which contains a live recording of the first performance in Edinburgh and a later, edited, recording.

Download the sheet music for the Oratorio in Pdf here.

Listen to a sample of the Oratorio as an .Ogg or Mp3 file below:

For copies of CD, booklet and sheet music (£15) or for the CD and booklet only (£10) please order in writing with cheque from:

Words to ‘Trident is a War Crime’ Oratorio by Camilla

Who, who are the criminals, who is the judge?
What is the law, who will judge?
What is the threat, what is the crime?
Who are the criminals, what is the crime, who are the criminals, what is
the crime?
What is the crime, what is the crime?
Nuremburg, Nuremburg, remember Nuremburg, remember Nuremburg.

International law is clear, we have the right to live without fear.
Threatening the innocent is a war crime.
Preparing for mass murder is a war crime, war crime, war crime.

How many, how many, how many children killed.
Who are the victims, who dies in war?
How many lives torn apart?
How many children killed by bombs?
How many profits made from death?
How many weapons built to destroy?
How many deals made in blood?

Where is the justice, under what law?
Who are the criminals, who will judge?
Who are the victims, who decides?
Who the oppressors, who will judge?
Who is the enemy, who decides?
Who are the criminals, who will judge?

This is our world, this is our world.
One trillion, one million million dollars a year
Spent by the world on weapons.

And the richest countries squander the resources of the rest.
Who is the criminal, who will judge?
Who is the criminal, who will judge?

Proliferation, shame of the nation state.
Which views the other with hate, which views the other with hate,
With hate, with hate.
Proliferation, shame of the nation state.
Which views the other with hate, which views the other with hate,
With hate, with hate, with hate.

Remember, remember Hiroshima ……………..
We cannot forget, the victims that died,
Shadows on the wall, searing pain,
The baby drawing breath, the children at play.
Vanished, vanished (Tenor and Bass – Children playing, Mothers singing)
Burning, burning
Crying for water,
Lost in hell on earth.
We cannot forget, we cannot forget, we cannot forget ……..

The state is not a person it is all of us
And we all have to choose the way it goes.
Do we choose life, do we choose death?
Do we collude in murder?

Security, security, what do we mean by security?
When the wealthy feed off the poor and still go on demanding more.
Every day billions are spend on every kind of armament
And countries that are starving and poor
Are still pushed into making war.

How can we talk of liberty, when children are held in captivity,
And women are sold into slavery, and so many die in misery?
Justice for all must be the path we take to liberty.
This will be security, and peace, when all the world is free
And no child dies of poverty, and no one lives in misery.

Instead of blaming the terrorist threat, cancel international debt.

Security, security, what do we mean by security?
When the wealthy feed off the poor and still go on demanding more.

When the nuclear winter falls, where can we go?
Only a barren landscape, no life left.
(no life, no life, only death)
Desolation a poisoned desert, no trees or fields, no living thing.
Devastation, nowhere to hide.
No city streets, or thriving markets.
Nowhere, nothing. Nowhere to go.
Blazing fires or frozen waste.
Lifeless, empty, silence of death.
Darkness, starvation and death.
Nowhere safe from the silent killer.
Radiation, end of the future.
Nothing, nothing, nothing left.
Nowhere, nothing, only death.

We are the human / family, we all have equal rights
The right to life and liberty and true security
The will of the people must direct the government

Security, security, what does it mean, what does it mean?
Who are the criminals, what is the crime?
Who are the criminals, what is the crime?
What is the crime, what si the crime, what is the crime.

A whole way of life destroyed in the Pacific.
Poisoned lagoons, shattered coral.
Death, displacement and despair.
Paradise turned to hell.
By the nuclear experiment

Proliferation, shame of the nation state
Which views the other with hate
Which views the other with hate
Which views the other with hate
Which views the other with hate, with hate, with hate.

Distrust and paranoia, nuclear war mind
How many treaties broken, how many rulings ignored.
How many promises of good faith gone by the board?

Hate, distrust and paranoia, nuclear war mind
Anti-ballistic missile treaty, outer space treaty,
Non-proliferation treaty comprehensive test ban treaty.
Unequivocal irreversible, upheld by the international court.
Agreed by the nuclear nations. Total elimination.
And non proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

Hate, distrust and paranoia, nuclear war mind
Collateral damage. What does that mean?
When the innocent are murdered, that is a crime.
Government, when will you uphold international law.
We hold you accountable to us the people.
We hold you accountable to cancel Trident, We hold you accountable to us
the people.

When the last sea is poisoned, the last tree cut down, and the last bird
sings
Then will we learn to cherish life, and leave the times of war.
The future is ours and we all have a part, nothing stays the same.
When we remember the value of life
Then we find the way.
Listen to the voice of the sea
Hear the birds call
When we remember to share the earth
We find space for all.
When we remember to share the earth
We find space for all.