Like many other songs off the album Robot Hive/Exodus, the song Pulaski Skyway deals with themes of (de)industrialization, religion, propaganda, community, and technology. This song in particular focuses on the effects of deindustrialization on communities of the East Coast, referencing Elizabeth, New Jersey, and the raised highway bridge that runs nearby.
As an East Coast native myself, I can personally attest to the damage that stroads such as Pulaski have done by literally cutting entire regions in half, creating "good" and "bad" sides of the "traintracks" where single, cohesive communities once stood. Being both stroad and bridge, The Pulaski Skyway, therefore, becomes the perfect symbol of a culture that has been internally fragmented by the very industry and infrastructure that connects it to the wider world.
My favorite set of lines is definitely "Wrestle albino alligators/And spin the good lie/Oh that swamp full of grabbin' hands/Pull you under New Amsterdam/Chinese boxes hold their secrets well/How many are there you can never tell."
At first, the bit about "albino alligators" sounds like Clutch being Clutch (as user Keenen91 said already), and it is: Clutch has a way of being simultaneously earnest, silly, and clever. As a symbol, "albino alligators" represent the one conspicuous, unhidden predator in a dark, murky swamp that could be hiding countless others. ("How many are there? You can never tell.") The predators in this case being the companies that outsource production and manufacturing to cheaper, relatively impoverished workers in other countries, like China, thereby destroying the newborn communities in America that had grown up around these industries. That's part of these companies' life cycle, and a part of the unsustainable cycle of colonialism that America loves to think it came out on top of: the willingness to lay waste to entire ecosystems and communities in the pursuit of maximized profits and efficiency. (*This feels relevant and not relevant at the same time, but the "dark, murky place" with hidden alligators works well in the swamp analogy, but also remember the urban legends of alligators in the sewers of New York, which was originally named New Amsterdam. This is a beautiful little detail that fits in well with Clutch's aim to create a sort of modern American mythology in their works.)
I'm not quite as clear on my interpretation of Jimmy Hoffa and the role of unions in all of this, though I'm almost certain that the members of clutch are presenting a positive take on them. At first, telling the Stevedores to "grab his ankles" sounds a bit morbid, as if they're trying to drag him underground. Oh, but what's underground again? The mole people, the people who have been part of the underground resistance this whole time. Perhaps that's Clutch's proposed solution in all of this:
"Even the mole people, they got to get religion/They gonna join that underground church"
The underground needs to unionize, or else the unions need to go underground.
@clutch-enthusiast I gotta disagree with your hoffa / union interpretation. They fit this puzzle as it was the recklessness of the unions that led to the offshoring of jobs. Unions played a pivotal role in the empowerment of the American worker. Collective bargaining created , in part, the very path to the American dream for the working class. But. They got drunk on their success and pushed too far asking for a little (a lot?) too much - forcing the corporations to look elsewhere for cheaper labor. First in the non union southern states then eventually overseas.
@clutch-enthusiast I gotta disagree with your hoffa / union interpretation. They fit this puzzle as it was the recklessness of the unions that led to the offshoring of jobs. Unions played a pivotal role in the empowerment of the American worker. Collective bargaining created , in part, the very path to the American dream for the working class. But. They got drunk on their success and pushed too far asking for a little (a lot?) too much - forcing the corporations to look elsewhere for cheaper labor. First in the non union southern states then eventually overseas.
@apunkr I think this is flawed logic. Corporations did look elsewhere for cheaper labor, but the labor was cheaper because the new workers were paid less than poverty wages. It was greed, cruelty, and a lack of regard for their workforce that caused manufacturing to be pushed overseas.
@apunkr I think this is flawed logic. Corporations did look elsewhere for cheaper labor, but the labor was cheaper because the new workers were paid less than poverty wages. It was greed, cruelty, and a lack of regard for their workforce that caused manufacturing to be pushed overseas.
They don't move their operations to places where the labor laws are "reasonable". They move their operations to places where they can abuse a desperate workforce without reproach or complaint.
They don't move their operations to places where the labor laws are "reasonable". They move their operations to places where they can abuse a desperate workforce without reproach or complaint.
Like many other songs off the album Robot Hive/Exodus, the song Pulaski Skyway deals with themes of (de)industrialization, religion, propaganda, community, and technology. This song in particular focuses on the effects of deindustrialization on communities of the East Coast, referencing Elizabeth, New Jersey, and the raised highway bridge that runs nearby.
As an East Coast native myself, I can personally attest to the damage that stroads such as Pulaski have done by literally cutting entire regions in half, creating "good" and "bad" sides of the "traintracks" where single, cohesive communities once stood. Being both stroad and bridge, The Pulaski Skyway, therefore, becomes the perfect symbol of a culture that has been internally fragmented by the very industry and infrastructure that connects it to the wider world.
My favorite set of lines is definitely "Wrestle albino alligators/And spin the good lie/Oh that swamp full of grabbin' hands/Pull you under New Amsterdam/Chinese boxes hold their secrets well/How many are there you can never tell."
At first, the bit about "albino alligators" sounds like Clutch being Clutch (as user Keenen91 said already), and it is: Clutch has a way of being simultaneously earnest, silly, and clever. As a symbol, "albino alligators" represent the one conspicuous, unhidden predator in a dark, murky swamp that could be hiding countless others. ("How many are there? You can never tell.") The predators in this case being the companies that outsource production and manufacturing to cheaper, relatively impoverished workers in other countries, like China, thereby destroying the newborn communities in America that had grown up around these industries. That's part of these companies' life cycle, and a part of the unsustainable cycle of colonialism that America loves to think it came out on top of: the willingness to lay waste to entire ecosystems and communities in the pursuit of maximized profits and efficiency. (*This feels relevant and not relevant at the same time, but the "dark, murky place" with hidden alligators works well in the swamp analogy, but also remember the urban legends of alligators in the sewers of New York, which was originally named New Amsterdam. This is a beautiful little detail that fits in well with Clutch's aim to create a sort of modern American mythology in their works.)
I'm not quite as clear on my interpretation of Jimmy Hoffa and the role of unions in all of this, though I'm almost certain that the members of clutch are presenting a positive take on them. At first, telling the Stevedores to "grab his ankles" sounds a bit morbid, as if they're trying to drag him underground. Oh, but what's underground again? The mole people, the people who have been part of the underground resistance this whole time. Perhaps that's Clutch's proposed solution in all of this:
"Even the mole people, they got to get religion/They gonna join that underground church"
The underground needs to unionize, or else the unions need to go underground.
@clutch-enthusiast I gotta disagree with your hoffa / union interpretation. They fit this puzzle as it was the recklessness of the unions that led to the offshoring of jobs. Unions played a pivotal role in the empowerment of the American worker. Collective bargaining created , in part, the very path to the American dream for the working class. But. They got drunk on their success and pushed too far asking for a little (a lot?) too much - forcing the corporations to look elsewhere for cheaper labor. First in the non union southern states then eventually overseas.
@clutch-enthusiast I gotta disagree with your hoffa / union interpretation. They fit this puzzle as it was the recklessness of the unions that led to the offshoring of jobs. Unions played a pivotal role in the empowerment of the American worker. Collective bargaining created , in part, the very path to the American dream for the working class. But. They got drunk on their success and pushed too far asking for a little (a lot?) too much - forcing the corporations to look elsewhere for cheaper labor. First in the non union southern states then eventually overseas.
@apunkr I think this is flawed logic. Corporations did look elsewhere for cheaper labor, but the labor was cheaper because the new workers were paid less than poverty wages. It was greed, cruelty, and a lack of regard for their workforce that caused manufacturing to be pushed overseas.
@apunkr I think this is flawed logic. Corporations did look elsewhere for cheaper labor, but the labor was cheaper because the new workers were paid less than poverty wages. It was greed, cruelty, and a lack of regard for their workforce that caused manufacturing to be pushed overseas.
They don't move their operations to places where the labor laws are "reasonable". They move their operations to places where they can abuse a desperate workforce without reproach or complaint.
They don't move their operations to places where the labor laws are "reasonable". They move their operations to places where they can abuse a desperate workforce without reproach or complaint.