International Small Arms Traffic Blues

A friend who went to a mountain goat's show said that the song was introduced by saying, "you know that feeling when your sigificant other drinks the last beer in the fridge...."

I'm currently living in Greece, and was curious about the line about the border between Greece and Albania.
Overall, Greeks and Albanians have strained relations, though recently they've both viewed each other as necessary trading partners. To simplify it excessively, it's like Greece is the U.S., and Albania is Mexico. (Of course, neither European counterpart is as developed/powerful as their American metaphor.) The cultural prejudices, from what I've seen, are similar, too.

A little bit of research has turned up this: http://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/Europe/Albania-HISTORY.html "In August 1987, Albania signed a treaty with Greece formally ending the state of war that had existed between the two countries since World War II." "In 1994, the border disputes that have occurred since the creation of Albania flared into violence as Greek and Albanian border guards fought against each other in sporadic clashes. Greece expelled over 1,500 Albanians working in Greece without permits."

dash-m, in 1997 or thereabouts the Albanian government briefly imploded and a lot of small arms were "liberated" from weapons depots after much of the army left its posts. Much of those guns were then smuggled out of the country via Greece and on to the global arms market. I think that's what's being referred to here rather than some Greek-Albanian tension at a governmental level.

ahh. one of my most favorite of beutiful love songs. may it be sung to many a lover on many a moonlit night.

this song, much like the song "Love Love Love" is about how love can be also be a destructive force. It isn't always Honkey Dorey. Love can be confusing, painful and terrifying. Consider crimes of passion, Murder done in the sake of love.

great song though

The analogy I am most familiar with is the Soviet-made Cuban plane. That's a reference to the Cuban Missile Crisis, when the Soviets had missiles and Cuba ready to fire at and wipe out all of the U.S. at any given time. The Cold War wasn't actually a war, but it was getting really close to being one.

So the idea of this song is, the alpha male and female haven't actually started trying to kill each other yet, but they are getting REALLY close to that point and they know it.

this is one of the first mg songs i heard, and therefore, it'll always be favorited in my heart, especially since everytime i hear it i think of the day i first heard it! it means more to me than just lyrical reference...

that is all!!!

melittabee, gotta love JD's intros.