Hear the Iliad as Alexander the Great Did

If you can open your mind a bit, I think that you, too, can feel something close to whatever it was that stirred the soul of the greatest military commander in history, almost 2.5 millennia ago.

Let’s experience what it was like to hear the Iliad from a traveling poet in the ancient world.

This exercise asks a bit of you. Give it a chance. I think you’ll find this interesting.

It’ll take about five minutes.

1. Get to a place where you can listen to a song.

2. Open up whatever streaming thing you use and find…

3. …“Uncommon Valor: A Vietnam Story” by Jedi Mind Tricks (featuring R. A. the Rugged Man) [Explicit]¹

Don’t play it yet. Just wait…please 🙏

🛑 This song has three primary instruments

1. a ghostly sample of a woman singing

2. the drums

3. and the voices of the lyricists

🛑 So…

1. Replace the ‘ghostly sample’ melody with the rhythmic thrumming of a lyre, a stringed instrument that’s kind of like a guitar-harp thing.

2. Keep the drums, more or less. Imagine them played by one or two more people in a slightly less articulated percussive pattern.

3. Keep the voices

🟢 Now——start the song. ▶️

• You’ll hear an invocation locating us during the Nixon Administration in US history.

• The United States is at war with Vietnam.

• Nixon lies, TV commercials air and we hear the report of machine guns

Warm up

• Use the first verse to warm up to the sound and get your mind around the fact you’re listening to a hip hop song.

• [0:33] Verse 1:

  • Jedi Mind Tricks weaves a tale of a disillusioned American GI, scared behind enemy lines. Work with the rough, grunting staccato of his delivery; he’s got a distinctive style.

  • This verse is a worthwhile listen, but it’s not what we’re hear² for. It’s the opening act. Don’t worry if you tune in and out.

  • Though the song, thus far, may not be to everyone’s taste, it’s about to get delicious for even the pickiest of eaters.

• Be ready to pause at [1:23].

[1:23] 👈 Pause❗️

Sorry. This is important.

You are about to hear the true story of the father of the vocalist on this track, a decorated Vietnam war veteran who, in stark opposition to the character in the preceding verse, loved his time at war.

That is, until a mission takes a wrong turn.

Get ready to press play and read along with the text.

Ready? Ok, press ‘play.’

We’ll hear a brief interlude—an exchange between the two characters, one an invented composite, the other a real person, US Army Staff Sergeant John A. Thorburn, father of the performer, R. A. the Rugged Man.

Scared GI:
	I don't wanna be here.
	I'm scared.
	I just wanna go home.

Thorburn:
	You fucking kidding me?
	Don't be a pussy!
	Don't you love your country?
	
	…I like being here.
	True story.
	I'm ready

And now begins something close to what Alexander the Great might have heard, felt and seen in his mind while listening to a tale of misery and glory ‘ripped from the headlines’ of his own immediate world.

Call me Thorburn, John A., staff sergeant
Marksman, skilled in killin’, illin’, I'm able and willin’
Kill a village elephant, rapin' and pillage a village
Illegitimate killers, U.S. Military guerrillas
This ain't no real war, Vietnam shit
World War II, that's a war, this is just a military conflict
Soothin' drug abusin', Vietnamese women screwin'
Sex, gamblin', and boozin'—all this shit is amusin'
Bitches and guns, this is every man's dream
I don't wanna go home where I'm just an ordinary human being
Special Op, Huey chopper gunship, run shit
Gook run when the minigun spit, won't miss
Kill shit, spit four-thousand bullets a minute
Victor Charlie, hair-trigger, hit it, I'm in it to win it
Get it, the lieutenant hinted, the villain, I been it
The killin', I did it, cripple, did it
Pictures I painted is vivid, live it
A wizard with weapons: the secret mission, we 'bout to begin it
Government-funded, behind enemy lines
Bullets is sprayin', it's heatin' up a hundred degrees
The enemy's the North Vietnamese, bitch, please!
Ain't no sweat, I'm totally at ease
Until I see the pilot got hit, and we 'bout to hit some trees
Tail rotor broke, crash land
American man in Cambodia, right in the enemy hand
Take a swig of the whiskey to calm us
Them yellow men wearin' black pajamas
They wanna harm us, they all up on us
Bang bang, bullet hit my chest, feel no pain
To my left, the Captain caught a bullet right in his brain
Body parts flyin', loss of limbs, explosions
Bad intentions, I see my best friend's intestines
Pray to the one above, it's rainin', I'm covered in mud
I think I'm dyin', I feel dizzy, I'm losin' blood
I see my childhood, I'm back in the arms of my mother
I see my whole life, I see Christ, I see bright lights
I see Israelites, Muslims and Christians at peace, no fights
Black, Whites, Asians, people of all types
I must've died, then I woke up, surprised I'm alive
I'm in a hospital bed, they rescued me, I survived
I escaped the war, came back
But ain't escape Agent Orange: two of my kids born handicapped
Spastic, quadriplegia, microcephalic
Cerebral palsy, cortical blindness—name it, they had it
My son died, he ain't live
But I still try to think positive, ‘cause in life
God take
God give

~ fin ~³

Ok, press stop or let the song end.

I have nothing more to add.

Thank you for participating!

---

From the original ‘teaser post’:

• For a few minutes, you’ll be able to hear the foundation of the canon as a young Macedonian prince, Alexander the Great would have heard it, torchlight flickering in the hall of his father’s estate after a great meal.

• Alexander the Great conquered the known world, and kept his annotated copy of the Iliad with him his entire life

• (I believe given to him by his tutor Aristotle, although I’m not sure about that).

• As he battled from the rocky mountains of Macedon, through the most powerful empire in the world (Persia) on to, and through, the Asian subcontinent, every night, in his tent, he tucked this book under his pillow.

1. Luvineri, Vincenzo, Kevin Baldwin, and Richard Andrew Thorburn. “Uncommon Valor: A Vietnam Story.” Track 4 on Servants in Heaven, Kings in Hell. Babygrande Records, 2006.

2. I hope you know by now that the pun is, with me, ever intended.

3. Genius. “Jedi Mind Tricks – Uncommon Valor: A Vietnam Story Lyrics.” Genius, 2006. Accessed February 27, 2025. https://genius.com/Jedi-mind-tricks-uncommon-valor-a-vietnam-story-lyrics.