The song commemorates an event that took place in Wiltshire on 1st July 1985. The Peace Convoy, a convoy of vehicles operated and occupied by New Age Travellers, was approaching the ancient monument of Stonehenge, where the travellers hoped to set up a free festival. Local authorities, citing damage caused by similar festivals, had obtained a High Court order banning the festival, and local police set up roadblocks and 'exclusion zones' to prevent them from reaching the site. After attempting to pass the roadblocks, the Convoy was stopped by police; some vehicles left the road and entered a field ("the Beanfield"), where they were attacked by riot police. Many of the vehicles were damaged, and a number of travellers injured as a result of the police actions. Observers were shocked by the violence used by the police, and the travellers were later awarded damages.
'exclusion zones': during the summer of 1985, the Wiltshire police designated parts of the county as 'exclusion zones', where unauthorized entry would lead to arrest; the term itself is a reference to the Exclusion Zone established around the Falkland Islands by the Royal Navy during the 1982 Falklands War.
'the 303': a major road, the A303, which passes through Wiltshire and passes close to Stonehenge.
'the stones': Stonehenge, an ancient monument, consisting of multiple standing stones
'trying to live on the road': the travellers promoted and followed a nomadic, non-consumerist lifestyle
'like a wolf on the fold': the phrase is taken from the poem "The Destruction of Sennacherib", by George Gordon, Lord Byron, which compares the attack of the Assyrian army to a wolf attacking a sheepfold (an enclosure where sheep are kept).
'exclusion zones': during the summer of 1985, the Wiltshire police designated parts of the county as 'exclusion zones', where unauthorized entry would lead to arrest; the term itself is a reference to the Exclusion Zone established around the Falkland Islands by the Royal Navy during the 1982 Falklands War.
'the 303': a major road, the A303, which passes through Wiltshire and passes close to Stonehenge.
'the stones': Stonehenge, an ancient monument, consisting of multiple standing stones
'trying to live on the road': the travellers promoted and followed a nomadic, non-consumerist lifestyle
'like a wolf on the fold': the phrase is taken from the poem "The Destruction of Sennacherib", by George Gordon, Lord Byron, which compares the attack of the Assyrian army to a wolf attacking a sheepfold (an enclosure where sheep are kept).