39 Meanings
Add Yours
Share
Down In The Tube Station At Midnight Lyrics
The distant echo -
of faraway voices boarding faraway trains
To take them home to
the ones that they love and who love them forever
The glazed, dirty steps - repeat my own and reflect my thoughts
Cold and uninviting, partially naked
Except for toffee wrapers and this morning's papers
Mr. Jones got run down
Headlines of death and sorrow - they tell of tomorrow
Madmen on the rampage
And I'm down in the tube station at midnight
I fumble for change - and pull out the Queen
Smiling, beguiling
I put in the money and pull out a plum
Behind me
Whispers in the shadows - gruff blazing voices
Hating, waiting
"Hey boy" they shout - "have you got any money?"
And I said - "I've a little money and a take away curry,
I'm on my way home to my wife.
She'll be lining up the cutlery,
You know she's expecting me
Polishing the glasses and pulling out the cork"
And I'm down in the tube station at midnight
I first felt a fist, and then a kick
I could now smell their breath
They smelt of pubs and Wormwood Scrubs
And too many right wing meetings
My life swam around me
It took a look and drowned me in its own existence
The smell of brown leather
It blended in with the weather
It filled my eyes, ears, nose and mouth
It blocked all my senses
Couldn't see, hear, speak any longer
And I'm down in the tube station at midnight
I said I was down in the tube station at midnight
The last thing that I saw
As I lay there on the floor
Was "Jesus Saves" painted by an atheist nutter
And a British Rail poster read "Have an Awayday - a cheap holiday -
Do it today!"
I glanced back on my life
And thought about my wife
'Cause they took the keys - and she'll think it's me
And I'm down in the tube station at midnight
The wine will be flat and the curry's gone cold
I'm down in the tube station at midnight
Don't want to go down in a tube station at midnight
Does anyone else think that the man dies and is looking back at the inncodent from after death?
Here's why i think so:
He's clearly travelling home at dinner time "She'll be lining up the cutlery". Yet he is still in the tube station at midnight. Can you think of a reason why he should still be there about 6 hours later?
He is talking in the past tense about lying, concious, on the ground "I glanced back on my life". This suggests that time has elaspsed since the end of the attack. Yet there is no talk of him recovering.
The many hints that this attack could be fatal: "Jesus Saves", "My life swam around me" and "drowned me". This would be overly-dramatic if it was just a case of a man getting beat up.
The word "midnight": What is midnight? Its the end of a day/ start of a new one. This may be a metaphor for the end of a life. Its midnight for a reason, I'm guessin that is it.
Finally, and this is speculative and I may very well be wrong in this assumption, but is the London underground not shut at midnight? In Glasgow, where I live, the subway and inner-city train network shut at 1130pm. If he is still in the station at midnight he must be dead. There's no way they'd lock him in, so the only explaination is that its a crime-scene and his body has not yet been moved.
London Underground lines often shut down at around 0130-0200, not 2330. Especially in Zone 1.
London Underground lines often shut down at around 0130-0200, not 2330. Especially in Zone 1.
So it was legitimately at 0000, as the pubs would have chucked out at 2330 (2345 to allow for 15 minutes drinking up time).
So it was legitimately at 0000, as the pubs would have chucked out at 2330 (2345 to allow for 15 minutes drinking up time).
You could be onto something, in the Seventies the tube closed much earlier but at midnight it would be around the time of the last train, hence more isolated. The thing is to can analyze stuff too much. For example if he was a city worker on his way home, he would in all probability have a season ticket and not have to buy a ticket.
You could be onto something, in the Seventies the tube closed much earlier but at midnight it would be around the time of the last train, hence more isolated. The thing is to can analyze stuff too much. For example if he was a city worker on his way home, he would in all probability have a season ticket and not have to buy a ticket.
Also: Headlines of death and sorrow, they tell of tomorrow Madmen on the rampage.
Also: Headlines of death and sorrow, they tell of tomorrow Madmen on the rampage.
It filled my eyes, ears, nose and mouth It blocked all my senses Couldn't see, hear, speak any longer
It filled my eyes, ears, nose and mouth It blocked all my senses Couldn't see, hear, speak any longer
His...
His last thought is of his wife's safety because they took his keys...(no explanation of how they would know his address though) but it does mean he has no thought of getting back anytime soon.
@droeh This is how I view it as well. It is even more horrifying with some of the last words of the song " I glanced back on my life, and thought about my wife 'Cause they took the keys, and she'll think it's me" I view this as him stating that the thugs will then go to his house and cause great harm to his wife -- when she hears the door open with the keys, she will think it is her husband but rather it will be a Clockwork Orange....
@droeh This is how I view it as well. It is even more horrifying with some of the last words of the song " I glanced back on my life, and thought about my wife 'Cause they took the keys, and she'll think it's me" I view this as him stating that the thugs will then go to his house and cause great harm to his wife -- when she hears the door open with the keys, she will think it is her husband but rather it will be a Clockwork Orange....
@droeh I think that the line "The last thing that I saw as I lay there on the floor" almost confirms this theory because if it is the LAST thing he saw, that can only mean he is dead.
@droeh I think that the line "The last thing that I saw as I lay there on the floor" almost confirms this theory because if it is the LAST thing he saw, that can only mean he is dead.
Not sure that longliveconrad can quote that these are conservatives!! - I would suggest National Front as were prevalent in the late 70s / early 80s. Other info from other sources:
This anti-racism song was a first-person narrative about a brutal mugging by jackbooted right-wing thugs in London. Despite having a BBC airplay ban due to its "disturbing nature," it became The Jam's second UK Top 20 hit. The then Radio 1 DJ Tony Blackburn complained that, "It's disgusting the way punks sing about violence. Why can't they sing about trees and flowers?" Paul Weller wrote this in a matter of minutes. The song was recorded at St John's Wood Station.
I think this song more than any other shows off Weller's skill as a songwriter. The passage: 'And I said - "I've a little money and a take away curry, I'm on my way home to my wife. She'll be lining up the cutlery, You know she's expecting me Polishing the glasses and pulling out the cork"' portays a man's love for his wife better than an endless stream of 'ooh, I love you baby, ooh's.
Tony Blackburn refused to give it air play on Radio 1 in the UK because he felt it was too violent to be heard by young impressionable people. Twat!
LOL. Tony Blackburn - what a muppet. Great song, rivals or betters Going Underground. Very relevant to those who've been on the receiving end of a good kickin' late at night in London
no, lyrics are not naff at all. evocative, not naff.
you can't say the lyrics to this are "naff" !!!! they are pure genius. you don't get music like this anymore. I particularly like "they smelt of pubs.. and wormwood scrubs, and too many right-wing meetings" ! you don't get clever lyrics like this very often these days. Also, the queen "smiling, beguiling" is a good lyric. very british: love it! :)
BTW - Lyrically I think this is a work of art. Brown leather captures the fashion at the time (try watching 'Life on Mars' Wormwood Scrubs - classic London prison ('Scrubs).
The lyrics after "It blended in with the weather" I have only just found out and this has impressed me even more than the words I already knew.
An absolute classic - probably one of the most definings songs of 70s London. "
The last thing that I saw As I lay there on the floor Was "Jesus Saves" painted by an atheist nutter And a British Rail poster read "Have an Awayday - a cheap holiday - Do it today!"
Brilliant.
I still know the words to this song after 25 years. But then I know the words to most jam songs, they're great and Paul Weller is a genius