| Mark Knopfler – Corned Beef City Lyrics | 6 years ago |
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Guardian article on Corned Beef City - https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2009/oct/09/bartons-britain-becontree-estate "The Becontree estate, in the London borough of Barking and Dagenham, has a population of 100,000 and is the largest public housing development in the world. Between 1921 and 1932, 27,000 houses were built here as homes for heroes after the first world war, and to rehouse the residents of London's East End slums. For the first time, they had running water, indoor toilets and private gardens, but its residents were still poor enough to earn the estate the nickname Corned Beef City (because it was thought to be all they could afford to eat)." Other articles mention strict rent requirements. Any missed payment, and your family was tossed out on the lawn to let someone else move in. The song appears to be a man trying to keep his family housed in this area by doing any odd jobs (legal or otherwise) to make the rent. |
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| Jimmy Buffett – Ballad Of Skip Wiley Lyrics | 9 years ago |
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Go read the 1986 novel Tourist Season by Carl Hiaasen. This song is about one of the main characters and refers to the events in the book. Carl and Jimmy have collaborated on other projects, including the movie version of Carl's novel Hoot. |
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| Peter Mulvey – Rise Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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Beautiful haunting story. One of my favorite songs of the genre. The words suggest love lost to a terrorist bombing of a domestic place. Peter has said that Kitchen Radio (the album) was based on his own experiences, but I certainly hope this one is not a literally true story. For myself, I lost my wife to cancer a few years ago. Not a bomb, but no less devastating. Images burned in my head that I will never forget. And memories, little things, that make me smile when I see them, because I remember she would have liked them. |
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| Five for Fighting – Policeman's Xmas Party Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| Thanks dluse for the USA Today reference. The attempted murder happened in John's home on July 28. The housekeeper and boyfriend were charged on Sept 1. The song is John's nightmare of being involved stabbing and subsequent investigation for 4 weeks and running. | |
| Mark Knopfler – Postcards From Paraguay Lyrics | 14 years ago |
| Unlikely to be Kenneth Lay and Enron, seeing as how his death (or faked death and exile to Paraguay) was in 2006 and this album was released in 2004. | |
| Mark Knopfler – Don't Crash the Ambulance Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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If you still aren't sure this is about the two Georges, look at the two verses: "Here's one from down voodoo way ... Big enchilada, stealing elections" - this is clearly a reference to Manuel Noriega, who nullified the Panamanian election in May 1989. "Fat bastard, Ugly Face ... You can't move the barriers, You can't mess with oil and gas, Had to go down there stick a couple aircraft carriers in his ass" - is clearly the Iraq invasion of Kuwait and Saddam Hussein in 1990. |
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