I remember this song. I remember 1985 (faintly).
I was rebuilding my life after my (1st) wife had left me and our infant daughter to go "find herself" (I don't think she ever did). The local economy was rebounding after a very stagnant period. I had landed a good job on the heels of some real crap ones and periods with no jobs at all.
And Ronald Reagan was reelected.
Everyone looks at life through their own personal sensitivities, sensibilities, and interests. At the time there was a lot of activism (agitation) coming from the left about incipient tyranny with the Reagan administration. The left didn't know for sure whether or not Ronnie was a true bad-ass but they had seen that, in his dealings with the soviets, he was one helluva poker player.
So when that song came out I assumed that the perspective was that of the left fearing the worst (without the slightest evidence or provocation) from the right. Since I had no inhibitions against appropriating songs from people whose ideologies I didn't respect I didn't give it another thought. In retrospect I believe I was wrong. From what I've been able to glean from various sources Mike Rutherford had no particular political leanings. I read where he supported a conservationist group that was into things like fox hunting - not exactly anything that folks with leftist leanings tend to support.
So, was "Silent running" written as a warning of a coming storm emanating from the right, from the left, or just some free-form expression of a dystopian future? My guess is that it was written with "eye of the beholder" in mind. It means or represents what the listener wants it to mean. The sentiment is compelling exactly because we see the plausibility expressed within it. The left truly believed that Reagan wanted to bring on a totalitarian stronghold (pretty stupid, eh?). We believe Øbongo's own words when he tells us that he wishes "transformational change" - and follows it up by tearing at the seams of every American institution and every American tradition.
