| The Clash – Tommy Gun Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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I highly doubt that The Clash were being anti-Palestine in this song, especially considering some of the statements they made in old interviews (in a 1984 interview Joe Strummer said "It’s a dumb move blowing innocent people up — it doesn’t get them anywhere. But I try to understand the feeling behind it. Terrorism only occurs when the people holding power won’t negotiate... Suppose we were Palestinian — what would we do? I’ll tell you what I’d do — exactly what they’re doing. They can’t get anybody to even sit down at the table, so what else are they going to do, piss off?"). Mick Jones has participated in fundraisers for the Hoping Foundation (which supports Palestinian children) and both he and Paul Simonon (as part of the Gorillaz) backed out of performing in Israel after the flotilla attack in 2010. "Standing there in Palestine, lighting the fuse" -- that could easily be an Israeli soldier or militant attacking the Palestinians (especially since it seems like if Strummer wanted to make this anti-Palestine, he would've said "standing there in Israel" instead). "Did you have to gun everyone down, I can see it's kill or be killed, a nation of destiny has got to be fulfilled" -- that could refer to Israel's reputation of using disproportional force, as well as the Zionist longing for the "promised land" AKA "nation of destiny that must be fulfilled." The song overall seems like a general condemnation of terrorism in any form, whether related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict or not. All I'm saying is that it seems highly unlikely that The Clash would take an anti-Palestine view, considering their politics. That's my two cents. |
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| The Clash – Train in Vain Lyrics | 14 years ago |
| The meaning of this song is pretty straightforward, so I just want to clarify where the title "Train in Vain" comes from. Viv Albertine, Mick's ex-girlfriend (who this song is about), actually explained it in an interview: "He used to get the train to my place in Shepherds Bush and I would not let him in. He was bleating on the doorstep." Mick takes the train, begs to be let in, and is rejected -- hence, "train in vain." The music was then written to reflect the sound of a chugging train. Pretty clever title. | |
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