It appears that Mike Rutherford wrote this song right around the time the Falkland Island's war was occurring and the war was very controversial in British social life, especially among artistic communities. The lyrics appear to have been purposely left open ended in terms of whether whether the pursuer or pursued is a good guy or a bad guy.
Personally I've always thought of this song as being narrated from the perspective of a law man or soldier. Jaded about the bureaucracy above them, and dedicated to getting the bad guys for the good of society even if some innocent guy theoretically might buy it sometime. I always picture Pachino's homicide detective from Heat, or a Mitch Rapp / Scot Harvath anti-espionage character from a suspense novel.
Personally I've always thought of this song as being narrated from the perspective of a law man or soldier. Jaded about the bureaucracy above them, and dedicated to getting the bad guys for the good of society even if some innocent guy theoretically might buy it sometime. I always picture Pachino's homicide detective from Heat, or a Mitch Rapp / Scot Harvath anti-espionage character from a suspense novel.
@theospeak1 yeah, the Tory government of the era had been pretty hard on the general populace (reacted to labor strikes with harsh reprisals); the PM was even known as "The Iron Lady" Also it was the Cold War and HM gov't was doing some pretty ethically-questionable things 'for the public good'.
@theospeak1 yeah, the Tory government of the era had been pretty hard on the general populace (reacted to labor strikes with harsh reprisals); the PM was even known as "The Iron Lady" Also it was the Cold War and HM gov't was doing some pretty ethically-questionable things 'for the public good'.
And even the chorus is a pretty big sign that the 'narrator' is someone that does 'bad things for good(?) reasons' - having a name AND a number...like maybe a certain gov't agent from literature with a sanction to assassinate...
And even the chorus is a pretty big sign that the 'narrator' is someone that does 'bad things for good(?) reasons' - having a name AND a number...like maybe a certain gov't agent from literature with a sanction to assassinate...
It appears that Mike Rutherford wrote this song right around the time the Falkland Island's war was occurring and the war was very controversial in British social life, especially among artistic communities. The lyrics appear to have been purposely left open ended in terms of whether whether the pursuer or pursued is a good guy or a bad guy.
Personally I've always thought of this song as being narrated from the perspective of a law man or soldier. Jaded about the bureaucracy above them, and dedicated to getting the bad guys for the good of society even if some innocent guy theoretically might buy it sometime. I always picture Pachino's homicide detective from Heat, or a Mitch Rapp / Scot Harvath anti-espionage character from a suspense novel.
Personally I've always thought of this song as being narrated from the perspective of a law man or soldier. Jaded about the bureaucracy above them, and dedicated to getting the bad guys for the good of society even if some innocent guy theoretically might buy it sometime. I always picture Pachino's homicide detective from Heat, or a Mitch Rapp / Scot Harvath anti-espionage character from a suspense novel.
@theospeak1 yeah, the Tory government of the era had been pretty hard on the general populace (reacted to labor strikes with harsh reprisals); the PM was even known as "The Iron Lady" Also it was the Cold War and HM gov't was doing some pretty ethically-questionable things 'for the public good'.
@theospeak1 yeah, the Tory government of the era had been pretty hard on the general populace (reacted to labor strikes with harsh reprisals); the PM was even known as "The Iron Lady" Also it was the Cold War and HM gov't was doing some pretty ethically-questionable things 'for the public good'.
And even the chorus is a pretty big sign that the 'narrator' is someone that does 'bad things for good(?) reasons' - having a name AND a number...like maybe a certain gov't agent from literature with a sanction to assassinate...
And even the chorus is a pretty big sign that the 'narrator' is someone that does 'bad things for good(?) reasons' - having a name AND a number...like maybe a certain gov't agent from literature with a sanction to assassinate...