| Elvis Costello – Tramp the Dirt Down Lyrics | 12 years ago |
|
I think that "black tarmacadam" should actually be "black tar macadam". "Macadam" is a type of road construction/pavement, invented by a man with the last name Macadam. "Tar Macadam" is a tar-based Macadam, used on roads where high-speed travel would erode regular Macadam, and is where we get the word "Tarmac". (the pavement on most airport runways). "Macadam" became a sort of generic word for road pavement in the UK, so Elvis Costello is using "black tar Macadam" here to simply mean something very dark, not "clear and bright" in the least. |
|
* This information can be up to 15 minutes delayed.