Themes
Some of the songs relate lyrically to nostalgia and change in 1980s England, a sphere central to McAloon's songwriting before and since, and often with subdued, ironic twists. Till The Cows Come Home appears to contrast old and new English values, while Diana looks at the stardom of Diana, Princess of Wales, then at its peak, and makes some pointed near-predictions about the fate of her marriage and about her relationship to the media. Many of the lyrics sketch tales of love, jealousy and betrayal.
The ballad Dublin questions the use of old historical myths for violent ends by the IRA and its supporters.
Protest Songs closes with Pearly Gates, a long song about human mortality--a recurring theme in Paddy McAloon's songwriting.
Read more about this topic: Protest Songs
Famous quotes containing the word themes:
“In economics, we borrowed from the Bourbons; in foreign policy, we drew on themes fashioned by the nomad warriors of the Eurasian steppes. In spiritual matters, we emulated the braying intolerance of our archenemies, the Shi’ite fundamentalists.”
—Barbara Ehrenreich (b. 1941)
“I suppose you think that persons who are as old as your father and myself are always thinking about very grave things, but I know that we are meditating the same old themes that we did when we were ten years old, only we go more gravely about it.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)