| Pukka Orchestra – Cherry Beach Express Lyrics | 1 year ago |
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This is a funny, wry song with a hint of truth, about the Metropolitan Toronto Police force. Toronto is Pukka Orchestra's home town, Canada's biggest city. The Toronto Police are a no nonsense bunch that occasionally got heavy handed in the 70s and 80s (when this song was written). Cherry Beach is a public beach on Lake Ontario. It's quiet and virtually deserted on all but the hottest summer weekends, but it's easily accessible from downtown Toronto. The Cherry Beach Express is when Toronto police rough up suspects, beat them up, threaten them etc to extract information or a confession. This can happen anywhere, including the police station, as heard in the song. ("52 Division" is one of the police stations) But the name "Cherry Beach Express " stems from the times the police would drive the perps to the deserted Beach in the middle of the night to perform said roughing. A local newspaper, The Toronto Star liked to report on police roughness, to shame them. I remember one report where it was revealed the police would strip search a male suspect, sit him down naked and handcuffed on a wooden chair and threaten to staple his scrotum to the seat if he didn't talk. Ouch! |
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