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Oliver's Army
Welcome to the Oliver's Army Wiki. This will be a wiki for all my history students out there. I will be adding, hopefully, heaps of useful stuff, as well as some stuff of dubious usefulness, but of some interest.



First thing is to explain why I called this wiki "Oliver's Army". Well, just in case you don't know, 'Oliver's Army' is a great song by Elvis Costello. It was the first song that I bought with political, social and historical messages. I have, in fact, still got it. I was about 13 at the time. And like many 13 year olds, did not think that learning about history was interesting, let alone cool. Music, including this song, changed my mind on that. Some of my favourite songs are politically, socially, and historically motivated. As well as 'Oliver's Army', these include:
 * 'I was only 19' - Redgum
 * 'Short Memory' - Midnight Oil
 * '...and the band played Waltzing Matilda' - The Pogues (not the original version, but definitely the best)
 * 'Belfast Child' - Simple Minds
 * 'Sunday, Bloody Sunday' - U2
 * 'Khe Sahn' - Cold Chisel
 * 'Bradman' - Paul Kelly

I wonder if you know of any good songs where having a knowledge of history helps you to understand the songwriter's message?