This song is absolutely about the big three (GM Ford Chrysler), and it's planned obscalecense in the 60's and 70's. It also has a deeper meaning to me, something only understood by someone who grew up in the Detroit autoworker culture could understand.
That is the utter frustration and boredom of working in an auto manufacturing plant, or any of their feeder plants, which I work in. Your pay isn't nearly what it should be compared to the massive amount of work you do, and it's nothing compared to what the guys in the big three plants make (no money in my hand again).
You end up hating the big three because they have gutted your city for so long, and you feel as if you live on an island, because you are surrounded by people entranced by the auto industry (better ideas are stuck in the mud), who are convinced it is still a viable business, so it's extremely frustrating (I'm about to have another blowout)
This song is not about the WWII big three, because you have to think about where Jack and Meg grew up, and the culture they grew up in. No doubt someone in their family worked for either GM Ford or Chrysler at some point, and Jack must have seen them go through the same terrible things that autoworkers and workers in the feeder plants go through everyday. ie, the boredom, the repetative nature of the job, the utter dependance on a faceless corperation for your paycheck, etc.
It's akin to a coal miner back in the 19th century... think of it that way... Living across from Detroit you have this feeling that it could all be over at any minute, thats where I think this song comes from.
This song is absolutely about the big three (GM Ford Chrysler), and it's planned obscalecense in the 60's and 70's. It also has a deeper meaning to me, something only understood by someone who grew up in the Detroit autoworker culture could understand.
That is the utter frustration and boredom of working in an auto manufacturing plant, or any of their feeder plants, which I work in. Your pay isn't nearly what it should be compared to the massive amount of work you do, and it's nothing compared to what the guys in the big three plants make (no money in my hand again).
You end up hating the big three because they have gutted your city for so long, and you feel as if you live on an island, because you are surrounded by people entranced by the auto industry (better ideas are stuck in the mud), who are convinced it is still a viable business, so it's extremely frustrating (I'm about to have another blowout)
This song is not about the WWII big three, because you have to think about where Jack and Meg grew up, and the culture they grew up in. No doubt someone in their family worked for either GM Ford or Chrysler at some point, and Jack must have seen them go through the same terrible things that autoworkers and workers in the feeder plants go through everyday. ie, the boredom, the repetative nature of the job, the utter dependance on a faceless corperation for your paycheck, etc.
It's akin to a coal miner back in the 19th century... think of it that way... Living across from Detroit you have this feeling that it could all be over at any minute, thats where I think this song comes from.