Folks who are focusing on the Amerasian verses are only getting part of the song. As a whole, it's about the underdog getting fucked by society.
Verse 1 is about the collapse of British industry, the callousness of the Thatcherite response, and the hopelessness of those coming of age at that time due to their lack of prospects.
Verse 2 is about the plight of mixed race offspring of US servicemen, post-Vietnam War. Outcasts in their mother's homeland, they're also abandoned by their father's.
Verse 3 is about falling into addiction - perhaps due to the horrors of Verses 1 and 2 -, and how once there, predatory pushers make life even harder, even deadlier, with violence and poisoned product.
Alphabet City is then used as a stand-in for all the violent, impoverished inner cities of America, and elsewhere, that were particularly nasty at the time this song was written.
The final verse talks of the hardships endured by immigrants struggling to make it, working soul-crushing hours, at back breaking jobs, without even a minimum of protection from exploitation.
Folks who are focusing on the Amerasian verses are only getting part of the song. As a whole, it's about the underdog getting fucked by society.
Verse 1 is about the collapse of British industry, the callousness of the Thatcherite response, and the hopelessness of those coming of age at that time due to their lack of prospects.
Verse 2 is about the plight of mixed race offspring of US servicemen, post-Vietnam War. Outcasts in their mother's homeland, they're also abandoned by their father's.
Verse 3 is about falling into addiction - perhaps due to the horrors of Verses 1 and 2 -, and how once there, predatory pushers make life even harder, even deadlier, with violence and poisoned product.
Alphabet City is then used as a stand-in for all the violent, impoverished inner cities of America, and elsewhere, that were particularly nasty at the time this song was written.
The final verse talks of the hardships endured by immigrants struggling to make it, working soul-crushing hours, at back breaking jobs, without even a minimum of protection from exploitation.