I’ve loved this song my whole life but after reading this page, I’m struck by how outsized Sinead’s reaction and framing is. I had always assumed this song referred to a true incident where English police killed multiple black boys on mopeds, probably by shooting them to death. There was an incident and while it’s true he was black, he wasn’t a boy and there was only one of him! Sinead literally makes it sound like Margaret Thatcher gave official orders from 10 Downing Street to English police to kill black children on mopeds! Let Sinead swirl that ‘stache, Mags!
And now I also learn that Madame George isn’t even English??? It refers to a Van Morrison song?! I’d assumed it had something to do with bucolic depictions of England!
Any sane individual should think it beyond bonkers that Sinead compared the Nicholas Bramble accident to the earth-shattering events in Beijing. Absolute lunacy. I’m sure there was genuine racism in England in the 1980s. Would the cops really have not also chased an (optically) “white trash” young man on a moped?
The 1980s saw a lot of non-whites being integrated into a white country. Obviously it’s messy at first whenever you mix populations on such a large scale. And I bet some of the issues in the black community then stemmed from the old “few bad apples” circumstances that have plagued black people for a long time literally all over the world.
I still love Sinead but facts are facts. I guess this song goes to show how outsized her heart was in relation to her brain. Not a bad thing. We need poets and scientists. My heart broke when she passed and I can’t even bring myself to learn what happened yet. Losing Dolores was hard enough. Sinead’s the best singer, she is The Voice. Tragic that the rest of her life wasn’t her siting on a cloud being fed bonbons and grapes by Fabio types. Sad, sad, sad. My heart goes out to her kids.
I’m sure I’m not winning any friends here so I may as well go for broke. The line about three cold babies cracks me up. What’s so wrong about their first word being please? Their mother seems to have made a few bad choices in life if she’s bringing THREE babies out to find food at 5am in the freaking morning. Like, lady, get it together. Please put your kids up for adoption and take care of yourself. Their second and third words should be CALL DSS.
PS - May as well add “If they hated me they will hate you” is such a pessimistic line. I know people don’t like to admit that anything has changed in the history of the universe as far as race relations and such go, but this nasty sentiment would do nobody any favors. If I were a black Sinead fan in 1990 what would I make of that line? If they hate this bald white chick, they definitely hate me!
(This is what finally got me to register after so many years. This is by far one of the best websites ever and I’m constantly shocked it hasn’t been taken down or ruined. Remember when Weezer’s lyrics weren’t posted because they were under copyright??)
@berry2teddy You seem a little dim, so I won’t bother to correct your subjective interpretations. But you are factually incorrect about the title referring to one person and incident. It refers to both Nicholas Bramble and Colin Roach.
@berry2teddy You seem a little dim, so I won’t bother to correct your subjective interpretations. But you are factually incorrect about the title referring to one person and incident. It refers to both Nicholas Bramble and Colin Roach.
GOING AGAINST THE GRAIN
I’ve loved this song my whole life but after reading this page, I’m struck by how outsized Sinead’s reaction and framing is. I had always assumed this song referred to a true incident where English police killed multiple black boys on mopeds, probably by shooting them to death. There was an incident and while it’s true he was black, he wasn’t a boy and there was only one of him! Sinead literally makes it sound like Margaret Thatcher gave official orders from 10 Downing Street to English police to kill black children on mopeds! Let Sinead swirl that ‘stache, Mags!
And now I also learn that Madame George isn’t even English??? It refers to a Van Morrison song?! I’d assumed it had something to do with bucolic depictions of England!
Any sane individual should think it beyond bonkers that Sinead compared the Nicholas Bramble accident to the earth-shattering events in Beijing. Absolute lunacy. I’m sure there was genuine racism in England in the 1980s. Would the cops really have not also chased an (optically) “white trash” young man on a moped?
The 1980s saw a lot of non-whites being integrated into a white country. Obviously it’s messy at first whenever you mix populations on such a large scale. And I bet some of the issues in the black community then stemmed from the old “few bad apples” circumstances that have plagued black people for a long time literally all over the world.
I still love Sinead but facts are facts. I guess this song goes to show how outsized her heart was in relation to her brain. Not a bad thing. We need poets and scientists. My heart broke when she passed and I can’t even bring myself to learn what happened yet. Losing Dolores was hard enough. Sinead’s the best singer, she is The Voice. Tragic that the rest of her life wasn’t her siting on a cloud being fed bonbons and grapes by Fabio types. Sad, sad, sad. My heart goes out to her kids.
I’m sure I’m not winning any friends here so I may as well go for broke. The line about three cold babies cracks me up. What’s so wrong about their first word being please? Their mother seems to have made a few bad choices in life if she’s bringing THREE babies out to find food at 5am in the freaking morning. Like, lady, get it together. Please put your kids up for adoption and take care of yourself. Their second and third words should be CALL DSS.
PS - May as well add “If they hated me they will hate you” is such a pessimistic line. I know people don’t like to admit that anything has changed in the history of the universe as far as race relations and such go, but this nasty sentiment would do nobody any favors. If I were a black Sinead fan in 1990 what would I make of that line? If they hate this bald white chick, they definitely hate me!
(This is what finally got me to register after so many years. This is by far one of the best websites ever and I’m constantly shocked it hasn’t been taken down or ruined. Remember when Weezer’s lyrics weren’t posted because they were under copyright??)
@berry2teddy You seem a little dim, so I won’t bother to correct your subjective interpretations. But you are factually incorrect about the title referring to one person and incident. It refers to both Nicholas Bramble and Colin Roach.
@berry2teddy You seem a little dim, so I won’t bother to correct your subjective interpretations. But you are factually incorrect about the title referring to one person and incident. It refers to both Nicholas Bramble and Colin Roach.