I like to think about this song as being a story about a guy on the run after having an affair with a gangsters wife (Madam Plum), who is a high up on the crazy/hot scale.
So Madam Plum is married to a mobster that she is not in love with. Perhaps she was a former prostitute, who the mobster fell in love with because of her beauty, and was given to him as payment for a debt. So Madam Plum likes to sneak down to Baker Street, and have a "good time". The author happens to meet this vixen, and has an affair with her, possibly not knowing of her husband and his ties to the mob.
When the author finds out who she is married to, he wants nothing to do with this adulterous relationship, and tries to break things off. This upsets Madam Plum and she makes up a story to get her husband, and his affiliates to go after the author.
("Just got in from town, the news is all around") So the song starts out with the author arriving in another town after being on the run, but the news of his affair, and being a wanted man, has traveled faster than himself. I like the way the singer makes "news" sound like "noose" giving this line kind of a double meaning.
("Push has come to shove, down at Madam Plum's") He talks about how things have gone awry with the affair with Madam Plum
("Oh, the ice is 'bout to break, and the pigs are on the take, and they're marching to the beat of Madam's drum") Things are about to get ugly, and the cops are on Madam Plum's husband's payroll, and therefore, under Madam Plum's control.
("The barber he's all smiles, He's from the British Isles, but his razor's sharp as hell, and he knows it well") The barber could either be Madam Plums husband or a hitman that works for her husband, and his favorite killing tool is a razor or knife.
("He's driving to the docks, from an office in the Bronx. He could make your life a living hell") I think this line is just helping to build an image of the barber and how much of a badass he is. He probably just finished killing someone in the Bronx, and is on his way to dump his body in the ocean.
I think the chorus is the author reminding himself that he needs to keep running, and keep his cool, otherwise the barber him will catch him, and he won't stand a chance and will surely be a dead man. I think the author considers himself a chicken because he is too afraid to stand up to the husband / barber.
("Down on Baker Street, that's where the women get down, they really move their feet...") This verse the author is thinking back about meeting Madam Plum at a night club down on Baker Street, and how he got into this mess in the first place. I think the pipe bomb reference could either be a reference to her unstable mindset, and could go off at any time, or also a drug reference.
(She's a very sensitive lady, she's always at the breaking point...) This verse is talking about how beautiful Madam Plum is, but yet how she is very unstable, and unpredictable, and a drug addict.
("Madeline's mother is all in a panic, cause her husbands mad and he's a bad mechanic...") Madaline's (Madam Plum's) mother is worried about the situation her daughter is in. Her husband is unstable as well, and likely beats her, and she's worried about what her husband will do to her if he finds out the real story of her affair. I think the bad mechanic reference could be referring to the husbands inability to please Madeline in bed. "The clothes he wears are torn" could refer to the husband being in lots of fights?
("Let the brass band play, let them soothe your blues away...") I think at this point the author is giving up, and ready to die. The singer makes soothe, sound like souse, another play on words. "Find a shady place to lay" down and die.
There is also a song called Madam Plum by Old Salt Union that has a similar theme to the lyrics.
I like to think about this song as being a story about a guy on the run after having an affair with a gangsters wife (Madam Plum), who is a high up on the crazy/hot scale.
So Madam Plum is married to a mobster that she is not in love with. Perhaps she was a former prostitute, who the mobster fell in love with because of her beauty, and was given to him as payment for a debt. So Madam Plum likes to sneak down to Baker Street, and have a "good time". The author happens to meet this vixen, and has an affair with her, possibly not knowing of her husband and his ties to the mob.
When the author finds out who she is married to, he wants nothing to do with this adulterous relationship, and tries to break things off. This upsets Madam Plum and she makes up a story to get her husband, and his affiliates to go after the author.
("Just got in from town, the news is all around") So the song starts out with the author arriving in another town after being on the run, but the news of his affair, and being a wanted man, has traveled faster than himself. I like the way the singer makes "news" sound like "noose" giving this line kind of a double meaning.
("Push has come to shove, down at Madam Plum's") He talks about how things have gone awry with the affair with Madam Plum
("Oh, the ice is 'bout to break, and the pigs are on the take, and they're marching to the beat of Madam's drum") Things are about to get ugly, and the cops are on Madam Plum's husband's payroll, and therefore, under Madam Plum's control.
("The barber he's all smiles, He's from the British Isles, but his razor's sharp as hell, and he knows it well") The barber could either be Madam Plums husband or a hitman that works for her husband, and his favorite killing tool is a razor or knife.
("He's driving to the docks, from an office in the Bronx. He could make your life a living hell") I think this line is just helping to build an image of the barber and how much of a badass he is. He probably just finished killing someone in the Bronx, and is on his way to dump his body in the ocean.
I think the chorus is the author reminding himself that he needs to keep running, and keep his cool, otherwise the barber him will catch him, and he won't stand a chance and will surely be a dead man. I think the author considers himself a chicken because he is too afraid to stand up to the husband / barber.
("Down on Baker Street, that's where the women get down, they really move their feet...") This verse the author is thinking back about meeting Madam Plum at a night club down on Baker Street, and how he got into this mess in the first place. I think the pipe bomb reference could either be a reference to her unstable mindset, and could go off at any time, or also a drug reference.
(She's a very sensitive lady, she's always at the breaking point...) This verse is talking about how beautiful Madam Plum is, but yet how she is very unstable, and unpredictable, and a drug addict.
("Madeline's mother is all in a panic, cause her husbands mad and he's a bad mechanic...") Madaline's (Madam Plum's) mother is worried about the situation her daughter is in. Her husband is unstable as well, and likely beats her, and she's worried about what her husband will do to her if he finds out the real story of her affair. I think the bad mechanic reference could be referring to the husbands inability to please Madeline in bed. "The clothes he wears are torn" could refer to the husband being in lots of fights?
("Let the brass band play, let them soothe your blues away...") I think at this point the author is giving up, and ready to die. The singer makes soothe, sound like souse, another play on words. "Find a shady place to lay" down and die.
There is also a song called Madam Plum by Old Salt Union that has a similar theme to the lyrics.