| The Clash – The Card Cheat Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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i think sgt pepper nailed it about trying to cheat and getting nothing in the end. like many others i disagree with it being a throwaway...i've always loved this one. so how to tie in the seemingly unconnected hundred years war verse? it's clearly a lament, a dirge for all the soldiers throughout history who have dutifully gone to war (the call up) without any real knowledge of whom the enemy is and why they must fight them. in this metaphor, i would suggest the gambler is the king, or president, or dictator, etc., rolling the dice as it were, with the lives of his countrymen who seemingly have no alternative. in what way is it "cheating" to make war on another nation? i guess it's an attempt to get something you don't actually have a right to own. and oft times, in the end, you get nothing ("it means nothing!") or worse, you end up dead, like our gambler friend. as to the royal horns, well, that's obvious and essential...that is the musical battle cry...the rallying of the troops...it's off to war, boys! |
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| The Clash – Ivan Meets G.I. Joe Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| of course it's about the US and the USSR finally facing off, however, the metaphor is that they are two guys at studio 54 in 70s NYC, using every trick in the book to win the big dance-off as the crowd observes. the spectators, ultimately bored with all the devastation, leave to watch china! (was this yet another example of the prescient, damn-near psychic foresight of the only band that still matters, predicting the inevitable rise of china, a fact the rest of us only began to observe in recent years?) | |
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