I found the lyrics to this The Clash song running through my mind today …
I almost posted this to the “Obvious things about a creative work” megathread, but then it occurred to me that this might not qualify as “obvious” to anybody who hasn’t been there.
In previous listening to this song, it always just sort of struck me as a song to an indecisive lover.
But, as I was perusing the lyrics in my mind while at work, it occurred to me …
The singer’s girlfriend is suffering from borderline personality disorder (BPD).
I say this, having been the boyfriend of a young woman with BPD.
The key line in the lyrics:
“If I go there will be trouble
If I stay there will be double”
That right there perfectly describes the dilemma faced by a guy dating a girl with BPD.
I always thought that the solution to the dilemma is pretty obvious, at least. Going = 1X trouble. Staying = 2X trouble. So, clearly, going is the thing to do. Doh.
The way they played this song live on the Combat Rock tour was fucking amazing. Joe Strummer’s lyrics in Ecuadoran Spanish totally make the song. One of their 10 best, IMO.
Mick always says the song isn’t about him and GF Ellen Foley (who many of you will remember from Meat Loaf’s Paradise By The Dashboard Light and from her long stint on the sitcom Night Court).
Obviously, you’ve never dated a girl with BPD. It isn’t that damned simple.
O damn, is that Ecuadoan? I’ve always wanted to perform this song live, and recruit a local mariachi band to chant the Spanish hollabacks behind me. Is the Ecuadoran Spanish going to confuse Mexicans?
Well keep in mind that The Clash is the only “punk” band that I like. I don’t care who the song is/isn’t about. I’m just curious about the lyrics and what they’re about.
The story is that Joe decided at the last minute that he was gonna sing the lyrics in Spanish. Only Joe doesn’t speak Spanish, and neither did anyone else. So one of the recording engineers called his mom and she translated each line as they were read to her love the phone. Only she was from Ecuador, so the pronunciations are presumably somewhat off from what a Spaniard or a Mexican might use.
Let’s go to the quarry and throw stuff down there! I was trying to find that story online and I found one I hadn’t read before about this! [This was apparently first published in the Austin Chronicle back in 200; check this out:
Well keep in the mind that The Clash is greatest punk band that ever was (yes, even better than Refused).
IIRC Mick has always said that the lyrics aren’t about anything, that he was just trying to write world class lyrics for a really rocking song. Mick did have a knack for that timeless feel to melodies and lyrics; sometimes I have a hard time believing that Train In Vain isn’t a cover of something I heard as a youngster on late '60s or early '70s FM radio, for instance.
I never had any trouble understanding the Spanish in this song (I speak it as a second language.) I don’t think any of the lyrics really require regional slang to the extent that it would inhibit communication. Some dialects are harder to understand than others, but Ecuadorians actually have a nice, easy cadence (maybe like a southern drawl to the American ear?) I’d be surprised if a native speaker from anywhere had difficulty understanding the Spanish in this song.
It doesn’t strike me as an obvious interpretation. The early section asks the woman for commitment (“if you say that you are mine, I’ll stay here till the end of time”). If she’s seriously screwed up, he probably wouldn’t place much value in a verbal affirmation.
The line you quote could apply to all manner of incompatibilities that could be worked through with commitment. …and, I think songwriters usually put the song’s concept up front and then grind out a additional verses to fill the required length. (Not true of story songs, and frequently later lyrics can concentrate on cleverness… But more true than not.)
The reason I asked about Equadoran Spanish confusing Mexicans is that I’ve personally found that Mexican Spanish can confuse Mexicans, depending upon what part of Mexico they’re from. Most of the Mexicans in my town are from Oaxaca and Michoacan, and that vicinity. Several years back, I found myself in a situation where an attractive Mexican woman was interested in me. Given that she didn’t speak English, and I didn’t speak Spanish, I composed a letter to her, in English, and sent it to an Internet friend who lived in Mexico City, and explained the situation. He translated it into Mexican Spanish for me, and I copied his translation by hand (and I have good handwriting) and sent it to this Mexican woman.
She and her boss (also Mexican, and quite literate) went over my letter, and couldn’t make sense of it.
Nope. I was already a SDMB member when I started dating this girl, and I’d already heard the advice, “Don’t put your dick in the crazy”. This girl eventually started begging me to have sex with her. Under ordinary circumstances, that would seem to be a dream come true, but by the time she started with that, I had figured out that she had “issues”, and turned her down. This was me at 36 years old, and her being a 20-year-old hottie. And I’m glad for that. I’d already been through her cheating on me, forgiving her, and then having my forgiveness rewarded with a tirade about what a pussy I was for not getting mad at her (like, what? was I supposed to beat her up? No, ain’t doing that.)
Regarding “If I stay there will be trouble / If I go there will be trouble”, that’s just life.
I mean, haven’t any of you ever dated humans? No doubt BPD increases that, but I sure don’t think it’s required. (I also don’t think I’ve ever dated anyone with BPD, and since I don’t think so, it’s probably a pretty safe bet! I’ll admit there were a couple times when I was sorely tempted by beauties with troubled minds, but my sense of self-preservation generally kicked in in time.)
In any case, I always took it to mean that stay/trouble would start out being good trouble.
Well, in the “Obvious things about a creative work” vein, I go ahead and admit I didn’t even know they were yelling in Spanish. I thought they were just yelling, because punk.
