1
It's times like these when a neck looks for a knife
A wrist for a razor, a heart is longing for bullets
Tension is high under sea and over sky
Pressure drop, people are acting foolish
Ooh - but it's easy to see!
Ooh - we could dance and be free.
Ooh - to that 2-tone beat!
But it looks like it's gone...
Gangsters and clowns with a stereotyped sound
It's coming like a ghosst town - someone always knew it
Hatred and shame, a racialist game
Cycles of blame - someone sang me through it.
Who? well it's easy to see.
Ooh - we could dance to be free.
Ooh - to that 2-tone beat!
But it looks like it's gone...
I asked Jerry, he told Terry, Terry sang a song just for me,
Lynvall gave a message to me,
Rhoda screamed and then she asked me,
"Where have all the rude boys gone?"
A wrist for a razor, a heart is longing for bullets
Tension is high under sea and over sky
Pressure drop, people are acting foolish
Ooh - but it's easy to see!
Ooh - we could dance and be free.
Ooh - to that 2-tone beat!
But it looks like it's gone...
Gangsters and clowns with a stereotyped sound
It's coming like a ghosst town - someone always knew it
Hatred and shame, a racialist game
Cycles of blame - someone sang me through it.
Who? well it's easy to see.
Ooh - we could dance to be free.
Ooh - to that 2-tone beat!
But it looks like it's gone...
I asked Jerry, he told Terry, Terry sang a song just for me,
Lynvall gave a message to me,
Rhoda screamed and then she asked me,
"Where have all the rude boys gone?"
Lyrics submitted by knifefight
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There is a lot more going on in the song. If anyone remembers back to the 90's ska music was getting pretty popular in the United States. This is what was often referred to as the Third Wave of ska. Ska originated in Jamaica in the 60's and experienced a brief revival in England in the late 70's. This revival was also called 2 Tone, after the label responsible for the new found interest in the genre.
This song is full of ska references, but in general its about the disappearance of ska music and what the music meant to Mr. Leo. Ska has always been about unity, and it was upbeat and positive and uplifting and you could dance to it.
I'm probably missing a lot of the references but in the first verse Pressure Drop is the name of a Toots and Maytals song. Gangsters is the name of a song by the Specials, Clowns I think is referencing the English Beat cover of Tears of a Clown, Sterotyped Sound, stereotype is another song by the Specials so is Ghost Town. In the Chorus, Jerry is Jerry Dammers, organ player for the Specials and founder of 2 Tone records. Terry Hall and Lynval Golding of the Specials are also mentioned. As is Rhoda Dakar, who isn't a Special but recorded a song with them in 1982 called The Boiler.