The song might as well be called 'Crap Street', since it's Cockney rhyming slang: 'Pony & Trap' for 'Crap'. There is a very nasty couple and their daughter in the lyrics, and the mother is referred to as a 'martinet' - a 'strict disciplinarian' apparently. Once we have the picture of a dominatrix basically with a father in 'disco dresses' and a daughter in 'lace and leather', we have a sexually/socially dysfunctional working class family. The only question left to answer is that of the identity of the narrator? It seems a bit lazy to say it's Declan himself, but why not, he's escaped that working class trap by becoming a successful singer/songwriter, and he really is 'the genuine thing but for you it's just history'.
The song might as well be called 'Crap Street', since it's Cockney rhyming slang: 'Pony & Trap' for 'Crap'. There is a very nasty couple and their daughter in the lyrics, and the mother is referred to as a 'martinet' - a 'strict disciplinarian' apparently. Once we have the picture of a dominatrix basically with a father in 'disco dresses' and a daughter in 'lace and leather', we have a sexually/socially dysfunctional working class family. The only question left to answer is that of the identity of the narrator? It seems a bit lazy to say it's Declan himself, but why not, he's escaped that working class trap by becoming a successful singer/songwriter, and he really is 'the genuine thing but for you it's just history'.