OK - let me clear up a few things. This song, written in 79/80 during the "Guerro Sucio" or Dirty War in Argentina. This was the age of Gen Galteri, one of the most lethal dictators in their history. Bored with killing his own population, he was famous for starting a war with the UK over The Falkland Islands. But I digress. Argentina has a very sizeable Italian community, and Buenos Aries street slang incorporates a lot of Italian words, if not whole sentences. Basically this is a song from the perspective of someone who's seeing all this for the first time. The children soldiers ("Johnny's playroom Is a bunker filled with sand" which Argentina was using at this time, the bombs going off, no one sure whether they were planted by the government as a false flag, or by the communists.
@taverner I think you're spot on. These days people tend to forget how politicised Hollywood was during and after the Reagan election. I was a film student in L.A. when this was released, and it makes most sense to me. It captures that moment's liberal and progressive zeitgeist concerning all the corrupt regimes the US was propping up (and had been for years).
@taverner I think you're spot on. These days people tend to forget how politicised Hollywood was during and after the Reagan election. I was a film student in L.A. when this was released, and it makes most sense to me. It captures that moment's liberal and progressive zeitgeist concerning all the corrupt regimes the US was propping up (and had been for years).
@taverner But the Malvinas War started in April 2 of 1982 and the LP Gaucho
was released in November 21, 1980. Your interpretation doens't make chronological sense. Sorry, I misread. You may be probably right.
@taverner But the Malvinas War started in April 2 of 1982 and the LP Gaucho
was released in November 21, 1980. Your interpretation doens't make chronological sense. Sorry, I misread. You may be probably right.
@tobeortobe I think @taverner is talking about the whole "Dirty War" period in Argentina that began around 1974 and included state sanctioned terrorism / killing political opponents.
@tobeortobe I think @taverner is talking about the whole "Dirty War" period in Argentina that began around 1974 and included state sanctioned terrorism / killing political opponents.
The Falklands War happened near the conclusion of this period.
The Falklands War happened near the conclusion of this period.
@taverner People also forget that Steely Dan often wrote songs about strife in other countries that not too many people knew about. Remember Royal Scam about immigrants from Puerto Rico?
@taverner People also forget that Steely Dan often wrote songs about strife in other countries that not too many people knew about. Remember Royal Scam about immigrants from Puerto Rico?
@taverner Of the comment I've seen this is the one that rings the truest, e.g. it's the only one that gives context to the line in Italian.
@taverner Of the comment I've seen this is the one that rings the truest, e.g. it's the only one that gives context to the line in Italian.
Nowadays it's easy to follow up on breadcrumbs such as 'Ghana Rondo'. A rondo musically speaking is a movement with a recurring theme, and a quick look at the Wikipedia page for Ghana, specifically the section on History of Ghana (1966–1979) with the political 'go-arounds' happening then, gives a pretty good idea of what that line is about.
Nowadays it's easy to follow up on breadcrumbs such as 'Ghana Rondo'. A rondo musically speaking is a movement with a recurring theme, and a quick look at the Wikipedia page for Ghana, specifically the section on History of Ghana (1966–1979) with the political 'go-arounds' happening then, gives a pretty good idea of what that line is about.
OK - let me clear up a few things. This song, written in 79/80 during the "Guerro Sucio" or Dirty War in Argentina. This was the age of Gen Galteri, one of the most lethal dictators in their history. Bored with killing his own population, he was famous for starting a war with the UK over The Falkland Islands. But I digress. Argentina has a very sizeable Italian community, and Buenos Aries street slang incorporates a lot of Italian words, if not whole sentences. Basically this is a song from the perspective of someone who's seeing all this for the first time. The children soldiers ("Johnny's playroom Is a bunker filled with sand" which Argentina was using at this time, the bombs going off, no one sure whether they were planted by the government as a false flag, or by the communists.
@taverner I think you're spot on. These days people tend to forget how politicised Hollywood was during and after the Reagan election. I was a film student in L.A. when this was released, and it makes most sense to me. It captures that moment's liberal and progressive zeitgeist concerning all the corrupt regimes the US was propping up (and had been for years).
@taverner I think you're spot on. These days people tend to forget how politicised Hollywood was during and after the Reagan election. I was a film student in L.A. when this was released, and it makes most sense to me. It captures that moment's liberal and progressive zeitgeist concerning all the corrupt regimes the US was propping up (and had been for years).
@taverner But the Malvinas War started in April 2 of 1982 and the LP Gaucho was released in November 21, 1980. Your interpretation doens't make chronological sense. Sorry, I misread. You may be probably right.
@taverner But the Malvinas War started in April 2 of 1982 and the LP Gaucho was released in November 21, 1980. Your interpretation doens't make chronological sense. Sorry, I misread. You may be probably right.
@tobeortobe I think @taverner is talking about the whole "Dirty War" period in Argentina that began around 1974 and included state sanctioned terrorism / killing political opponents.
@tobeortobe I think @taverner is talking about the whole "Dirty War" period in Argentina that began around 1974 and included state sanctioned terrorism / killing political opponents.
The Falklands War happened near the conclusion of this period.
The Falklands War happened near the conclusion of this period.
@taverner People also forget that Steely Dan often wrote songs about strife in other countries that not too many people knew about. Remember Royal Scam about immigrants from Puerto Rico?
@taverner People also forget that Steely Dan often wrote songs about strife in other countries that not too many people knew about. Remember Royal Scam about immigrants from Puerto Rico?
@taverner Of the comment I've seen this is the one that rings the truest, e.g. it's the only one that gives context to the line in Italian.
@taverner Of the comment I've seen this is the one that rings the truest, e.g. it's the only one that gives context to the line in Italian.
Nowadays it's easy to follow up on breadcrumbs such as 'Ghana Rondo'. A rondo musically speaking is a movement with a recurring theme, and a quick look at the Wikipedia page for Ghana, specifically the section on History of Ghana (1966–1979) with the political 'go-arounds' happening then, gives a pretty good idea of what that line is about.
Nowadays it's easy to follow up on breadcrumbs such as 'Ghana Rondo'. A rondo musically speaking is a movement with a recurring theme, and a quick look at the Wikipedia page for Ghana, specifically the section on History of Ghana (1966–1979) with the political 'go-arounds' happening then, gives a pretty good idea of what that line is about.