Hope Street Lyrics
Not much else for him to do
He's had a drink, he's had a few
Down the pub on Hope Street
Got a shopping bag with your life in
Your old man's going through the bins
So it goes on Hope Street
Clean the dirt off this old town
Tell the sun to come around
And show his face on Hope Street
The betting shop has got him beat
Blew his money for the week
On a horse called Hope Street
Someone took them all away
Cleaning up or so they say
The dirty face of Hope Street
Everyday I look at you
Dressed up in your ties of blue
Saying there's not much you can do
To help the kids on Hope Street
That it was you that put them there
You seem to think they like it there
Hanging out on Hope Street
Inner city street? The name is obviously ironic "hope street". Most probably a reaction to the conservative bastards who were in controll of the country at the time.
As Jeremy says on some of live performances 'there's one of these in every town.' it is about the 'other ' side of life in towns with the down and outs and poor people who the middle class just try to forget about
I love this song and ironically there's a "Hope Street" near me that is scarily similar to this =P
It's about the desolation you find in slum/council estates in city/urban areas, particularly in the 70-90's with Thatcher (shudder) the Miners Strikes etc etc - it tackles everything: Verse 1 - Unemployment (there were 3 million unemployed in the late 70's) verse 2 - Homelessness (repossession was common too, if you couldn't pay) Verse 3 - Gambling Addiction (People turn to it when they have no money) Verse 4 - the "regulars" idea in the pubs / living on a estate Verse 5 - The Useless endeavours of the council to helps "The kids" when it was them who "put them there" in the fist place by not giving them a chance.
The "ties of blue" refers to the middle class, council works, civil servant types who just give up on these “down-and-out” types, and “don’t even seem to care”
Hehe....in case you couldn't tell I come from a English working/lower middle class background ^_^; so this makes sense to me =P
Except that this song is clearly about a street in England, with the references to pubs and bins.
good point
i love the levellers and have all their albums like..
i also love this song..
but..
that riff is foul!
Not quite sure what its about but I read that there was once a TV show called hope street that was set in a youth crisis centre in new york. Apparantly in dealt with issues such as gang violence, incest and AIDS. The main character opened the centre when his son was gunned down in the street. I think the song may have been based on it.