futatorius is right, the song begins, My father he rides with your sheriffs. This I think is a reference to Richard Thompson's own father who was a policeman. The next lines of that first verse seem to be a defence of his father; maybe it wasn't easy being the son of a copper in the heady days of the late 60s! But the lines about drinking up whisky and wine until you're red with hate are a spot-on analysis of the type of blind bigotry towards blacks, asians, muslim, catholic, protestant, asylum-seekers etc etc voiced in pubs up and down the country when in like company once the bevvy gets a hold.
futatorius is right, the song begins, My father he rides with your sheriffs. This I think is a reference to Richard Thompson's own father who was a policeman. The next lines of that first verse seem to be a defence of his father; maybe it wasn't easy being the son of a copper in the heady days of the late 60s! But the lines about drinking up whisky and wine until you're red with hate are a spot-on analysis of the type of blind bigotry towards blacks, asians, muslim, catholic, protestant, asylum-seekers etc etc voiced in pubs up and down the country when in like company once the bevvy gets a hold.