"Down In The Tube Station At Midnight" by The Jam

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I'm aware it involves some type of scuffle, you know, in a tube station and all. Is is it based on a true story or racial clashing? Is the narrator Indian being attacked by skinheads? I'm aware that lots of people get "...take-away curry."

― taco laser dick, Thursday, 2 September 2004 15:32 (8 years ago) Permalink

The distant echo - of faraway voices boarding faraway trains
To take them home to, the ones that they love and who love them forever
The glazed, dirty steps - repeat my own and reflect my thoughts
Cold and uninviting, partially naked
Except for toffee wrapers and this morning's paper
Mr. Jones got run down
Headlines of death and sorrow - they tell of tomorrow
Madmen on the rampage
And I'm down in the tube station at midnight

I fumble for change - and pull out the Queen
Smiling, beguiling
I put in the money and pull out a plum, Behind me
Whispers in the shadows - gruff blazing voices, Hating, waiting
"Hey boy" they shout - "have you got any money?"
And I said - "I've a little money and a take away curry,
I'm on my way home to my wife.
She'll be lining up the cutlery,
You know she's expecting me
Polishing the glasses and pulling out the cork"
And I'm down in the tube station at midnight

I first felt a fist, and then a kick
I could now smell their breath
They smelt of pubs and Wormwood Scrubs
And too many right wing meetings
My life swam around me
It took a look and drowned me in its own existence
The smell of brown leather
It blended in with the weather
It filled my eyes, ears, nose and mouth
It blocked all my senses
Couldn't see, hear, speak any longer
And I'm down in the tube station at midnight
I said I was down in the tube station at midnight

The last thing that I saw, As I lay there on the floor
Was "Jesus Saves" painted by an atheist nutter
And a British Rail poster read "Have an Awayday - a cheap holiday
Do it today!"
I glanced back on my life
And thought about my wife
'Cause they took the keys - and she'll think it's me
And I'm down in the tube station at midnight
The wine will be flat and the curry's gone cold
I'm down in the tube station at midnight
Don't want to go down in a tube station at midnight

― scott seward (scott seward), Thursday, 2 September 2004 15:46 (8 years ago) Permalink

I always thought this song was quite straightforward. Then ILE confused matters, typically:

I heard 'Down In The Tube Station At Midnight' by The Jam for the first time in years the other day, and was horrified to find that I could sing along to all the lyrics. It also occured to me for the first time ever that if our narrator IS down in the tube station at midnight, isn't it a bit strange for his wife to be "lining up the cutlery, polishing the glasses and pulling out the cork" at that late hour?

-- Andrew L (andrewlittlefiel...), February 1st, 2002 1:00 AM.

Also why on earth has he decided to go to a pub a half hour away from the tube?

-- Tom (ebro...), February 1st, 2002 1:00 AM.

achy breaky heart. I would hang my head but then I realised that I have no shame

-- Menelaus Darcy (andje83...), February 1st, 2002 1:00 AM.

Also why on earth has he decided to go to a pub a half hour away from the tube?

Not really, he could have been meeting friends in south east London.

-- N. (nickdastoo...), February 1st, 2002 1:00 AM.

Also why on earth has he decided to go to a pub a half hour away from the tube?

Because he is Paul Weller = because he is a thicko.

-- Nicole (ndwillet...), February 1st, 2002 1:00 AM.

where are you love?

I'm in the glovebox...

-- goeff (effexxo...), February 1st, 2002 1:00 AM.

Is it possible he is at the destination station, rather than the embarking one, as Tom assumes? The only thing that makes me think not is that he's faffing around buying plums in vending machines, which he surely wouldn't be doing if he was almost home and worrried about his curry going cold.

-- N. (nickdastoo...), February 1st, 2002 1:00 AM.

Did tube stations at any point have plum vending machines?

-- Tom (ebro...), February 1st, 2002 1:00 AM.

I don't know. This part puzzles me.

-- N. (nickdastoo...), February 1st, 2002 1:00 AM.

it would have been even longer than half an hour too. back in the day were not last orders EVEN EARLIER!

-- Alan Trewartha (alantrewarth...), February 1st, 2002 1:00 AM.

Maybe he did that thing where you fall asleep on the tube and end up going all the way to the end of the line and then have to come back again? I of course have never done this but know people who have snoozed past Finsbury Park, ended up in Walthamstow and gone bouncing backwards and forwards on the Victoria line for much of the night.

-- Emma (emmaluvscak...), February 1st, 2002 1:00 AM.

Hang on a minute. I've just realised that at no point in the song does he even say he has been to the pub. Tom has just projected his own life onto Weller's protagonist. He's probably just been working really late at the office. No, hang on, this is the 1970s and that kind of thing didn't happen. OK, he's been shagging his secretary in some grotty hotel room.

-- N. (nickdastoo...), February 1st, 2002 1:00 AM.

Now you are projecting YOUR life onto the song, N..

-- Edna Welthorpe, Mrs (edna_welthorp...), February 1st, 2002 1:00 AM.

un mundo ideal, un mundo identicoooo, un mundo para ti, para los dos...

-- goeff (effexxo...), February 1st, 2002 1:00 AM.

re: weller's plum. allegedly this refers to a bar of cadury's chocolate (you know that deep blue foil they have). this is the best theory google could find me.

Startlingly this came from an essay about a longpigs song. oh dear.

-- Alan Trewartha (alantrewarth...), February 1st, 2002 1:00 AM.

Where's Lucy when you need her? I need her to tell me if this is a genuine piece of Woking slang. I suspect not.

-- N. (nickdastoo...), February 1st, 2002 1:00 AM.

Glasgow N. that's where.

-- chris (cbrown...), February 1st, 2002 1:00 AM.

IT WAS A RHETORICAL QUESTION YOU FOOL

-- N. (nickdastoo...), February 1st, 2002 1:00 AM.

Not only that but he is wrrying about the wine going flat = Champagne socialist!!! I have you twigged Mr "man O' the People" Weller.

-- Pete (pb1...), February 1st, 2002 1:00 AM.

― Alba (Alba), Thursday, 2 September 2004 15:54 (8 years ago) Permalink

wow, ilm used to be so Londonish. come back you bloody bleeding brilliant bleeders.

― Fritz Wollner (Fritz), Thursday, 2 September 2004 16:26 (8 years ago) Permalink

Yes, all of that is very well, but has anybody read into the racial connotations? I was thinking it was taken from a newspaper article current at the time or something.

― taco laser dick, Thursday, 2 September 2004 16:34 (8 years ago) Permalink

I didn't think of the racial connotations, but I suppose it's plausible. National Front thugs were beating up all sorts of people around that time, and yeah, everyone eats curries so I wouldn't say he definitely wrote it as a song about an Asian man.

― Alba (Alba), Thursday, 2 September 2004 16:37 (8 years ago) Permalink

Also, if he had intended it that way, I would have expected Weller to sing the whole song in a comedy Indian accent.

― Alba (Alba), Thursday, 2 September 2004 16:42 (8 years ago) Permalink

Surely an Asian man would be less likely to buy a take-away curry than Paul Weller?

― Ally C (Ally C), Thursday, 2 September 2004 16:47 (8 years ago) Permalink

Yes, I was going to suggest that.

― Alba (Alba), Thursday, 2 September 2004 16:50 (8 years ago) Permalink

Given the controversial plum line, perhaps the Little Jack Horner reference is more important than I had previously assumed.

Apparently, the real Little Jack Horner was anything but a good boy. The Bishop of Glastonbury had sent his steward, Jack Horner, to Henry VIII with a Christmas gift - a pie in which were hidden the title deeds to twelve manorial estates. On his way to the king, Jack popped open the pie and stole the deed to the Manor of Mells, a real plum of an estate. To this day the Horner family resides there.

So maybe if the narrator is a 70s era Jack Horner (perhaps even a descendent?), we have been on the wrong side all along. Let them duff the rotter in.

― Alba (Alba), Thursday, 2 September 2004 16:56 (8 years ago) Permalink

I am confused as to why an "atheist nutter" would paint "Jesus saves" on a wall. Sarcasm?

― Jerry the Nipper (Jerrynipper), Thursday, 2 September 2004 17:04 (8 years ago) Permalink

I don't know of Weller's religious beliefs at the time - if they were as flip-floppy as his political ones, then maybe he was just confused.

Actually, my best guess is that he was implying the God Squad aren't really believers in a true god at all. Either that or he was just painting a Dylan-esquely surreal portrait of the madness of the times.

― Alba (Alba), Thursday, 2 September 2004 17:07 (8 years ago) Permalink

What sort of weirdo drinks champagne/sparkling wine with curry anyway? I know this was the 1970s - but even so, this is a hideous combination. And who in their right mind would uncork something fizzy before their partner has even stepped through the door? And if they're posh enough to be drinking sparkling wine with their curry, then wouldn't they have a microwave with which to warm up the curry?

And how does the victim place the odour of his attackers specifically as coming from Wormwood Scrubs, rather than any other correctional institute? Besides, in order for his attackers to actually SMELL of the place, they would either have to be off-duty prison officers, or fellow inmates who had just been released together that day - before going to the pub (or rather "pubs") to celebrate, and also before showering and changing (which would have removed the odour of the Scrubs).

And what's this about smelling of "too many" right-wing meetings? Because this implies that actually, there is a certain acceptable quota of right-wing meetings that one might reasonably attend, before a) becoming fatally morally compromised and b) developing a distinctive "right wing" odour.

Sorry, but I've been stewing about this for YEARS.

― mike t-diva (mike t-diva), Thursday, 2 September 2004 18:27 (8 years ago) Permalink

This thread has made me smile.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 2 September 2004 19:04 (8 years ago) Permalink

And how does the victim place the odour of his attackers specifically as coming from Wormwood Scrubs, rather than any other correctional institute?

Because it rhymes with "pubs."

― mike a, Thursday, 2 September 2004 19:21 (8 years ago) Permalink

isn't it a bit strange for his wife to be "lining up the cutlery, polishing the glasses and pulling out the cork" at that late hour?

The only plausible reason I can think of for this is that the narrator is an observant Jew and he's heading home for Shabbat dinner (which doesn't start until after sundown, which would place this scenario around early summer). That would explain the wine as well...but still, that would place dinner no later than 9:30 pm or so.

(It would have to be Kosher curry takeaway in this scenario.)

― mike a, Thursday, 2 September 2004 19:25 (8 years ago) Permalink

The narrator of the song is a character, a middle class white collar quiet life regular guy sorta thing. He's reading scraps of newspaper in the first verse about "madmen on the rampage", and when he's attacked he assumes it's these same madmen he read about: guys from Wormwood Scrubs and right wing meetings. They probably smell bad, and since he probably hasn't had much experience with these types, he figures that's what it smells like in those places. The words aren't gospel truth, just this guy's somewhat exciteable imagination. It's just like one of those "atheist nutters" he's heard about to scrawl "Jesus Saves" on a subway wall.

And if that doesn't do it for you, remember that by the last verse he's suffered quite a few blows to the head, and may not be thinking straight.

Also, the lyrics never say it's bubbly. The wife could be pulling the cork off some cheap jug for all we know. Maybe that works better with the curry, I'm no culinary expert.

― ccconor, Thursday, 2 September 2004 19:25 (8 years ago) Permalink

You think that they actually, literally SMELL like the place?

― roxymuzak (roxymuzak), Thursday, 2 September 2004 19:26 (8 years ago) Permalink

that was lots of xposts.

― roxymuzak (roxymuzak), Thursday, 2 September 2004 19:27 (8 years ago) Permalink

It could be fizzy wine? Perhaps a sparkiling shiraz?

― the music mole (colin s barrow), Thursday, 2 September 2004 20:15 (8 years ago) Permalink

Mike - microwave?? This is the 70s. They were largely the preserve of the catering industry at that time, in the UK at least.

Also, the lyrics never say it's bubbly.

One would assume it was once from the line "The wine will be flat and the curry's gone cold".

I suppose he could just be generally moaning that his wife will have bought unsparkling wine again.

― Alba (Alba), Thursday, 2 September 2004 20:39 (8 years ago) Permalink

and cold curries. That would be a raita and... what other cold curries are there?

― the music mole (colin s barrow), Thursday, 2 September 2004 20:43 (8 years ago) Permalink

the curry's cold because it's been lying next to his unconscious body since midnight.

― sexyDancer, Thursday, 2 September 2004 20:50 (8 years ago) Permalink

It's a fucking riduculous idea to be taking home curries on the Tube anyway. Hasn't he seen those signs about no smelly food?

― Alba (Alba), Thursday, 2 September 2004 20:57 (8 years ago) Permalink

Maybe that's why he got beat down.

― sexyDancer, Thursday, 2 September 2004 20:57 (8 years ago) Permalink

Hang on - I suddenly understand the whole thing! He hasn't been on a tube at all - he's just popped out for a take away and used the underground station subway as a short cut. That's why it's only a distant echo of trains.

― Alba (Alba), Thursday, 2 September 2004 20:59 (8 years ago) Permalink

Maybe the plum is on a fruit machine. But then what tube stations have fruit machines?

― Billy Dods (Billy Dods), Thursday, 2 September 2004 21:00 (8 years ago) Permalink

OK, that explains everything except the plum vending mystery.

― Alba (Alba), Thursday, 2 September 2004 21:00 (8 years ago) Permalink

I don't know. It was the 70s. Things were weird.

― Alba (Alba), Thursday, 2 September 2004 21:01 (8 years ago) Permalink

The curry would've got cold long before he arrived home. This is midnight in London! I hope they have a microwave. Not that it matters now.

― the music mole (colin s barrow), Thursday, 2 September 2004 21:06 (8 years ago) Permalink

There's no sodding microwave. Why won't you listen to me?

I'm bored with this whole stupid thing.

― Alba (Alba), Thursday, 2 September 2004 21:07 (8 years ago) Permalink

Could have been worse - he could have been attempting to unobtrusively chaperone a fish supper onto the night bus.

― Neil Willett (Neil Willett), Thursday, 2 September 2004 21:12 (8 years ago) Permalink

not only is the narrator from india or pakistan, he NEVER RE-SET HIS WATCH after he moved to london. so it's in fact 7 pm as he steps on the train on his way home to his dinner of curry and uncorked wine, but his watch says midnight. this shows weller's amazing eye for the kind of detail that most songwriters overlook.

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Thursday, 2 September 2004 21:13 (8 years ago) Permalink

he could have been attempting to unobtrusively chaperone a fish supper onto the night bus

Hahahahahahahahahahaha

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 2 September 2004 21:16 (8 years ago) Permalink

it seems crazy that the wife buys the wine and he buys the curry, the other way round wld make much more sense

― wellah, Thursday, 2 September 2004 21:18 (8 years ago) Permalink

Yes, and why did dhe uncork the wine before he got home? It's fizzy wine or sparkiling chardonnay remember. Not only should it not be allowed to breathe - she will probably require his help to uncork it. Well they've both really stuffed up their dinner haven't they?

― the music mole (colin s barrow), Thursday, 2 September 2004 21:22 (8 years ago) Permalink

"Did tube stations at any point have plum vending machines? "

Could just be me, but I thought 'pulling out a plum' was a term used for pulling your finger/thumb out of its socket so it cracks (like cracking your knuckles).

― Chris W, Thursday, 2 September 2004 21:24 (8 years ago) Permalink

Mike - microwave?? This is the 70s. They were largely the preserve of the catering industry at that time, in the UK at least.

Actually actually actually, my stepmother took possession of our first microwave in 1976 - a full two years before the release of this single. The point stands.

Besides which, re-heated curry tastes every bit as good as the original. He had better things to think about at this difficult time.

― mike t-diva (mike t-diva), Thursday, 2 September 2004 22:45 (8 years ago) Permalink

this thread is a joy.

― lauren (laurenp), Friday, 3 September 2004 02:04 (8 years ago) Permalink

I'm wondering why the guy would be buying either a fruit, or a cadbury chocolate bar, and snacking right before dinner?

― Queen Electric Butt Prober BZZT!! BZZZZZT!! (Queen Electric Butt Prober BZZ), Friday, 3 September 2004 02:31 (8 years ago) Permalink

Men do that in Britain. I read once that Tesco's pork pies were selling well even though no household was reporting buying them. The asnwer was that men were going shopping with the wife's list, having a crafty pork pie, then coming home with all the shopping pretending nothing had happened. The wife then fills in the Tesco survey, unaware of the crafty pork pie their spouse eats every week.

See, this guy's bought a chocolate bar (the 'plum' reference is just young-man cleverness - a Zadiesmithism if you will -after all Paul Weller was, what, 18 years old when he wrote this song? He's showing off his literary skills and stretching meaning as a consequence) to have on the way home. His wife will never know. It's like pissing in the sink.

During the day he's probably had a few toffees as well. Hence the wrappers.

― the music mole (colin s barrow), Friday, 3 September 2004 03:08 (8 years ago) Permalink

Is it possible that his assailants were only moved to violence by his possibly irrelevant references to [1] cutlery, [2] glasses, [3] the cork, or [4] a combination of two or more of [1] to [3]?

Not that we should blame the victim or anything.

― Neil Willett (Neil Willett), Friday, 3 September 2004 04:36 (8 years ago) Permalink

He was a spotty English dickhead chewing toffees, buying a candy bar, putting off seeing his poor wife. She was a cold curry cuckold.

― the music mole (colin s barrow), Friday, 3 September 2004 04:49 (8 years ago) Permalink

It's actually a parable about the consequences of delaying dinner too long.

― the music mole (colin s barrow), Friday, 3 September 2004 04:53 (8 years ago) Permalink

To rephrase: BLAME THE VICTIM! BLAME THE VICTIM!

These poor people with nothing better to do than frequent tube stations at midnight (and - earlier in the evening, perhaps - attend excessive quantities of right-wing meetings with special smells) were DRIVEN to violence by "the victim's" incessant chatter about place-settings.

― Neil Willett (Neil Willett), Friday, 3 September 2004 05:06 (8 years ago) Permalink

Toffee chewing wanker, stinking out the train with his cold curry.

― the music mole (colin s barrow), Friday, 3 September 2004 05:09 (8 years ago) Permalink

Alba's theory upthread is fucking genius and I'm apalled I never thought of it earlier. He clearly lives far enough out for the train to be overground, and the tube station subway is the only way to cross the rail line. It's taken a bit longer to pick up the takeaway than he thought, and he's got a bit peckish and is buying chocolate (as someone says upthread, 'plum' is Cadbury's purple tinfoil) on the way back.

It's just the story of a random mugging, perhaps one with a little Daily Mail-esque opinion of 'Youth Thugs Today'. Weller was a Conservative at the time, so he may well have been reading the Daily Mail.

― aldo_cowpat (aldo_cowpat), Friday, 3 September 2004 07:24 (8 years ago) Permalink

but there is no tube in Woking?

maybe he was in Dollis Hill, wherethe tube station indeed provides a handy cut through

― Porkpie (porkpie), Friday, 3 September 2004 07:43 (8 years ago) Permalink

**The asnwer was that men were going shopping with the wife's list, having a crafty pork pie, then coming home with all the shopping pretending nothing had happened**

I DO THIS.

― Dr. C (Dr. C), Friday, 3 September 2004 09:12 (8 years ago) Permalink

Wow!!!

― Gerrit, Friday, 3 September 2004 12:49 (8 years ago) Permalink

Skipping 191 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

It's a consensual erotic fantasy and they've hired a special team to help them live it out. Hence 'the smell of brown leather', not to mention 'I first felt a fist'. The wife's in on it - that's why she's pulling out the cork.

― moley, Wednesday, 18 May 2005 10:21 (8 years ago) Permalink

"The smell of brown leather" - wonder if it smells all that different to other colours of shoe? And if so, surely only a practised fetishist would notice, especially while they were getting their head kicked in?

― NickB (NickB), Wednesday, 18 May 2005 10:27 (8 years ago) Permalink

What sort of weather blends in with the smell of brown leather?? Also...there isn't any 'weather' down in tube stations at midnight.

― Dr. C (Dr. C), Wednesday, 18 May 2005 10:44 (8 years ago) Permalink

(x-post) Well, if the husband had given the out-of-work actors detailed instructions about what he wanted done to him, they may have included such specific features as a brown leather, just as another kind of fetishist might have specified red lipstick, black boots or pink gloves.

― moley, Wednesday, 18 May 2005 10:48 (8 years ago) Permalink

Maybe it's all an elaborate plot to provide the husband with the perfect alibi and an explanation for how a group of assailants were able to gain access to the marital home and murder his wife (thus leaving him free to pursue his interest in asian-rent boys) without there being any signs of forced entry?

Mr. Grout OTfuckin'M: "best thread ever"!

― Stewart Osborne (Stewart Osborne), Wednesday, 18 May 2005 10:58 (8 years ago) Permalink

I can't help but wonder if Mr. Weller's on t'interweb, and what he'd make of the contents of this thread if he ever read it....

― Stewart Osborne (Stewart Osborne), Wednesday, 18 May 2005 11:00 (8 years ago) Permalink

Weller.. that asshole. Who knows what he was on about. It's no Smithers-Jones, I can tell you that.

― bassman (Dave225), Wednesday, 18 May 2005 11:52 (8 years ago) Permalink

.. and even now, people are coming up with unseen angles to this multifaceted umm single.

― mark grout (mark grout), Wednesday, 18 May 2005 12:28 (8 years ago) Permalink

Aaaah yes, but multifaceted single what, exactly?

― Stewart Osborne (Stewart Osborne), Thursday, 19 May 2005 10:45 (7 years ago) Permalink

5 months pass...

This song really begs for a Freudian analysis. Ah, but I have not the time.

― moley, Thursday, 27 October 2005 01:58 (7 years ago) Permalink

1 month passes...

You do now, though.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 11 December 2005 00:49 (7 years ago) Permalink

Plane crashes were invented for people like 'im.

― The Velvet Overlord (The Velvet Overlord), Sunday, 11 December 2005 08:06 (7 years ago) Permalink

Well, twist my arm. Clearly the tube is a metaphor for the consuming mother, the vagina dentata.

― moley, Sunday, 11 December 2005 10:11 (7 years ago) Permalink

sometimes a tube train is just a tube train

― Ward Fowler (Ward Fowler), Sunday, 11 December 2005 13:44 (7 years ago) Permalink

And sometimes it's a jar.

― mark grout (mark grout), Monday, 12 December 2005 09:41 (7 years ago) Permalink

Except when it's not ajar.

― whatever (boglogger), Tuesday, 13 December 2005 15:37 (7 years ago) Permalink

Nonsensde. When Freud said sometimes a cigar is just a cigar he was denying his own latent homosexual tendencies.

'She'll be lining up the cutlery,
You know she's expecting me'

Here lies a symbolic expression of the author's primal fears of impotence, of not performing in the way his wife expects. 'The wine's gone flat' is another. It would be more honest to say 'my joystick's gone limp'.

― moley, Wednesday, 14 December 2005 22:58 (7 years ago) Permalink

Or indeed a state of Oedipal crisis - does he believe that his own wife is "expecting" him as she would "expect" a child?

― Harthill Services (Neil Willett), Wednesday, 14 December 2005 23:14 (7 years ago) Permalink

Yes, it's becoming clear now - the song is actually about fear of the female reproductive system. Driven by castration anxiety (for what purpose does his wife / mother "line up the cutlery"?), he assumes a nightmarish foetal identity (as well as a foetal position).

He doesn't want to go "down in the tube station" - the birth canal?

His horror of being unmanned before, or enclosed within, the female body is matched only by his terror of the gynaecologists and obstetricians - probably women, too - who heckle and harass him within the womb ("hey boy"); particularly those in private practice ("have you got any money"), and whom he metaphorically depicts as a gang of male muggers (their *surgical* scrubs being translated into "*Wormwood* Scrubs").

― Harthill Services (Neil Willett), Thursday, 15 December 2005 00:24 (7 years ago) Permalink

The male muggers incorporate an unacceptable unconscious wish to be violated by a male figure, in my view, as a punishment for self-abuse (the vending machine is clearly a metaphor for masturbation - pull out a plum indeed). It's quite a homoerotic song. The desire to be beaten by a male is an unconscious wish to expiate guilt, while, characteristically, incorporating the unacceptable wish - actual passive violation - within the punishment itself. It's worth noting at this point that 'curry' is English vernacular - 'give it some curry' means 'shove it really hard'.

― moley (moley), Thursday, 15 December 2005 01:08 (7 years ago) Permalink

1 year passes...

I think what's been missed here is that the term "right-wing" in the line "too many right-wing meetings" is undefined.

We have to remember that this song was recorded in the General Election year of 1979. Therefore, a lot of active Conservative parliamentary groups would have been meeting frequently to plan Mrs. Thatcher's election campaign.

I therefore suspect that the assailants, rather than being National Front, are tired, irrascible members of the Conservative Backbench 1922 Committee, who are letting out the frustrations of endless meetings on polling strategies, tax-and-spend policies, anti-union laws etc. by beating up a harmless passer by.

The tragedy is that if Weller had been less coy about identifying these assailants, the resulting scandal might have fatally damaged the Tory election campaign, with the possibility of us being spared the predations of monetary economics.

To conclude: It's because of that cunt Weller we no longer have a steel industry.

― PhilK, Saturday, 15 September 2007 14:05 (5 years ago) Permalink

Appendix 4 is now written!

― Mark G, Sunday, 16 September 2007 21:09 (5 years ago) Permalink

7 months pass...

This thread cheers me up like nothing else. it's got to the stage where i giggle when i see Weller records in used bins

― sonofstan, Thursday, 8 May 2008 23:11 (5 years ago) Permalink

4 weeks pass...

The all-enclosing womb metaphorised as 'the tube' - the sense of entrapment by and within the smothering female - I think we have hardly touched upon this matter.

― moley, Friday, 6 June 2008 00:14 (4 years ago) Permalink

New People!

This is the ""Down In The Tube Station At Midnight" by The Jam - What Does It Mean?" thread.

Read All, and smile.

― Mark G, Friday, 6 June 2008 09:39 (4 years ago) Permalink

4 months pass...

Revive! I've just done a phone interview with Bruce Foxton, during the course of which I took him to task about some of the more troubling lines.

He has no idea what Weller meant by "I pulled out a plum", and has been puzzling over it for years.

The maximum quota of right wing meetings that one might reasonably attend before picking up their distinctive odour: "Not even one."

And he thinks that the wine might have been a Lambrusco. (He tried palming me off with the "flat" = "stale" argument, but I persisted.)

I hope this helps.

― mike t-diva, Tuesday, 21 October 2008 11:50 (4 years ago) Permalink

this thread! holy shitbags what a joy.

― CharlieNo4, Tuesday, 21 October 2008 12:15 (4 years ago) Permalink

but he pulls out a plum "behind me" when he's put the coin in the machine, which is presumably in front of him?

― Dr X O'Skeleton, Tuesday, 21 October 2008 15:01 (4 years ago) Permalink

No, it's his assailants who are behind him, not the plum

― Ich Ber ein Binliner (Tom D.), Tuesday, 21 October 2008 15:03 (4 years ago) Permalink

I always thought the line was "too many right wing beatings", not meetings.

― Joe the C.R.E.E.P. Operative (Rock Hardy), Tuesday, 21 October 2008 15:27 (4 years ago) Permalink

No, it's his assailants who are behind him, not the plum

― Ich Ber ein Binliner (Tom D.), Tuesday, 21 October 2008 16:03 (44 minutes ago)

That's not how it sounds on the record. It's all very well be clever with the commas on the lyric sheet Mr Weller.
I've always puzzled about where that plum got pulled from myself
it was a troubling part of my youth

― Dr X O'Skeleton, Tuesday, 21 October 2008 15:51 (4 years ago) Permalink

Best thread ever.

― Chewshabadoo, Tuesday, 21 October 2008 22:41 (4 years ago) Permalink

Once we're done with this thread, I think Oasis's 'Wonderwall' could use some of our expert analysis too.

― moley, Tuesday, 21 October 2008 23:10 (4 years ago) Permalink

1 month passes...

OK, so let's give Bruce Foxton the right of reply here:

http://troubled-diva.com/brucetube.mp3

I did my best!

― mike t-diva, Friday, 5 December 2008 17:16 (4 years ago) Permalink

^^^
Bumping this for the office workers.

― mike t-diva, Monday, 8 December 2008 13:11 (4 years ago) Permalink

Good effort!

― Chewshabadoo, Monday, 8 December 2008 15:57 (4 years ago) Permalink

3 months pass...

Hurrah! No one can even MENTION it now without reference to this thread! =

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/table/2009/mar/16/people-and-places-1000-songs-everyone-must-hear

Though it seems straightforward enough, the lyric of Down in the Tube Station at Midnight has provoked a memorably tortuous thread on music-geek discussion site I Love Music. Ostensibly the tale of a man beaten up on the way home to his wife, it does pose some curious questions. His assailants apparently smell of “too many right-wing meetings” (begging the question, how many is acceptable?). For that matter: why is our hero transporting a curry on the tube in the first place? And would his wife really be laying the table and uncorking the wine in expectation? Whatever, it’s textbook punk-era Weller: a deftly observed, quietly shocking suburban vignette. MH

― piscesx, Monday, 16 March 2009 18:28 (4 years ago) Permalink

Hurrah! No one can even MENTION it now withiut reference to this thread! =

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/table/2009/mar/16/people-and-places-1000-songs-everyone-must-hear

― piscesx, Monday, 16 March 2009 18:28 (4 years ago) Permalink

Enshrined forever. As it should be.

― Ned Raggett, Monday, 16 March 2009 18:30 (4 years ago) Permalink

Now I want to hear that vocalese "So What" by Eddie Jefferson that's listed right below on that link.

― moe greene dolphin street (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 16 March 2009 18:36 (4 years ago) Permalink

oh i said that twice. hm soz.

― piscesx, Monday, 16 March 2009 18:36 (4 years ago) Permalink

11 months pass...

Perhaps clues can be found in another of Weller's songs, Mr Clean. Look at the evidence in the lyrics.

Daylights dawns, you wake up and yawn - Mr. Clean
A piece of toast from the one you love most - and you leave
You get the bus in the 8 o'clock rush,
And catch the train in the morning rain
Mr. Clean - Mr. Clean
If you see me in the street - look away
Cause I don't ever want to catch you looking at me - Mr. Clean
Cause I hate you and your wife
And if I get the chance I'll fuck up your life
Mr. Clean - etc. -
IS THAT SEEN!
Surround yourself with dreams, of pretty young
girls, and anyone you want, but -
please don't forget me or any of my kind
cause I'll make you think again
When I stick your face in the grind -
Getting pissed at the annual office do -
Smart blue suit and you went to Cambridge too -
You miss page 3, but the Times is right for you -
And mum and dad are very proud of you -
Mr. Clean - etc.

It could be Mr Clean himself lying battered in the Tube station. Did Paul Weller catch up with him and give him the promised kicking and stick Mr Clean's face in the Grind? Paul is able to see the result of this somewhat class-based hatred as well as the anticipation of it.

― Proger, Tuesday, 23 February 2010 12:22 (3 years ago) Permalink

first time seeing this thread, crying with laughter, well done all

― Jamie_ATP, Tuesday, 23 February 2010 12:39 (3 years ago) Permalink

To retread some old ground re the too many right wings odour, I wonder if a visual representation helps? See: http://crappygraphs.com/user_graphs/?id=5443

― mweller, Thursday, 4 March 2010 15:38 (3 years ago) Permalink

Previous posters have assumed that "they took the keys and she'll think it's me" means that the thugs will use his keys to get into his home.

My interpretation is that he will get home very late and will have to wake his wife up to let him in. He will say that he had his keys stolen but she will think that it is him who lost them.

PS Who is this Paul Weller you all speak of?

― woodleywise, Thursday, 4 March 2010 16:02 (3 years ago) Permalink

Is mweller any relation?

― woodleywise, Friday, 5 March 2010 10:25 (3 years ago) Permalink

2 years pass...

deserves a bump, as every time i hear this now i can't stop laughing

― Jamie_ATP, Thursday, 30 August 2012 11:37 (8 months ago) Permalink

People, check the Uncut Weller special, specifically the page where they review "All Mod Cons", you may find some parts you recognise...

― Mark G, Tuesday, 4 September 2012 20:34 (8 months ago) Permalink

― Mark G, Wednesday, 5 September 2012 13:30 (8 months ago) Permalink

Do tell.

― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 5 September 2012 16:38 (8 months ago) Permalink

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