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Standing on the beach
With a gun in my hand
Staring at the sea
Staring at the sand
Staring down the barrel
At the Arab on the ground
I can see his open mouth
But I hear no sound
I'm alive
I'm dead
I'm the stranger
Killing an Arab
I can turn
And walk away
Or I can fire the gun
Staring at the sky
Staring at the sun
Whichever I chose
It amounts to the same
Absolutely nothing
I'm alive
I'm dead
I'm the stranger
Killing an Arab
I feel the steel butt jump
Smooth in my hand
Staring at the sea
Staring at the sand
Staring at myself
Reflected in the eyes
Of the dead man on the beach
The dead man on the beach
I'm alive
I'm dead
I'm the stranger
Killing an Arab
With a gun in my hand
Staring at the sea
Staring at the sand
Staring down the barrel
At the Arab on the ground
I can see his open mouth
But I hear no sound
I'm alive
I'm dead
I'm the stranger
Killing an Arab
I can turn
And walk away
Or I can fire the gun
Staring at the sky
Staring at the sun
Whichever I chose
It amounts to the same
Absolutely nothing
I'm alive
I'm dead
I'm the stranger
Killing an Arab
I feel the steel butt jump
Smooth in my hand
Staring at the sea
Staring at the sand
Staring at myself
Reflected in the eyes
Of the dead man on the beach
The dead man on the beach
I'm alive
I'm dead
I'm the stranger
Killing an Arab
Lyrics submitted by oofus, edited by Mellow_Harsher
Track duration: 02:24
"Killing an Arab" as written by Robert James Smith, Laurence Andrew Tolhurst, Michael Stephen Dempsey
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Granted, from this position we can move onto existentialism, if there are "no signs vouchsafed" (as sartre put it) then we create ourselves, however - mersault does not do this, he just exists then dies. he has no time to do anything to create anything. we merely see the glimmer or existentialism at the end by the gallows when mersault begins to assign significance.
dont be so quick to define something as existentialist, it is more complicated than simply denying objective meaning - Camus himself rejected being called it so one must think why, not just ignore him
Meursault is a man whose mannerisms and worldveiw no one understands. He helps the pimp next door, whom he barely knows, trick, humiliate, and get away with badly beating a mistress of his, who is "the Arab's" sister. He does not cry or outwardly show emotion at his mother's death, because he led a life detached from her and from the world around him. He agrees to marry a girl with whom he thoroughly enjoys having sex and spending time, but whom he admits (to her face) that he does not love. He kills the Arab because the oppressive heat and light from the sun made him behave irrationally. He alienates the examining magistrate when he admits that he does not believe in God, and reduces the prison chaplain to tears when he shouts that God cannot help him or anyone else, because everyone is doomed to the same fate. He is not sorry for what he has done, and he sees the death sentence he receives (as a result of his callous personality, not of his murdering the Arab) as little more than an expedient to an inevitable outcome--his death, hence Meursault's assertion that "one life is as good as another," and Smith's lines "I can turn and walk away or I can fire the gun...Whatever I choose, it amounts to the same: absolutely nothing. I'm alive, I'm dead."
This song is about the ultimate meaninglessness of any action that one might take, insofar as its ability to change the outcome of one's life, and one's obligation to commit to and "own" the choices one has made, regardless of that fact. Whether or not Camus is a true existentialist notwithstanding (he did, after all, include the disturbing little robot woman to negatively portray complete detachment from the human race), Meursault is, and he has none of Kirkegaard's faith and none of Sartre's humanism, and he is the narrator of both "The Stranger" and "Killing an Arab."
essentially, what needs to be understood about the stranger, is that he is an outcast and outsider to society. he does not fit in not want to in. society cant handle or accept him being this way. their execution of him, is a statement about people who have no desire to fit in and be exactly like them.
it makes sense that robert smith would be attracted to the stranger. since, in other songs he alludes to himself being an outsider/ outcast.
and camus is an absurdist, not an existentialist. which does actually make a difference.
Also, to the character, nothing matters (absurdism argues whether or not life is worth living, since there is no meaning), it's right in the song: "Whichever I choose, it amounts to the same... Absolutely nothing."
he is referred to only as "the arab" because an extreme lack of emotion and personality is in keeping with this work of fiction and its themes.
my general impression anyway. i haven't read l'etranger for about 25 years.