Regarding Sham 69's claim that 'if the kids are united, they will never be divided'

Reading this Jon Ronson piece from 2001 regarding the Walton Hop, Jonathan King and Jimmy Pursey, I had an epiphany, leading on from Dr C’s post upthread about the identity of the “you” in the song:

The outlaw analogy is interesting and raises questions about the authenticity of Pursey's identification with his fellow youths. The breakout is indeed suggested as a collective escapade, yet he is driven by a singular desire to be with his "baby", a rare glimpse of the female in Pursey's ouvre, if indeed we are to take this expression as literally meaning 'a girl close to his heart who he done them things for'. Could his baby be in fact, male? Note also that 'we' and 'us' are not employed in his narrative. Also what are 'them things'?

And also from this thread:

Perhaps the glaring contradiction between "something I didn't do" and "I done them things" is not a contradiction at all. They are entirely separate deeds he's talking about. While innocent of the charges that caused him to be sent to a borstal, he's also carrying a burden of other past deeds.

the admission that "I done them things I done them just for you" seems to say that he has already been behaving in a more autonomous manner, rather than as a member of "the kids". Were the nature of these acts considered taboo by the group (likely) some possibilities could be that his "baby" is indeed a man

In the early 70s Jimmy was a well-known face at this disco where Jonathan King and other celebrity pedophiles preyed on the youngsters. In a fascinating interview with Ronson, Jimmy describes this activity in some detail and it all seems to have been quite overt. He was obviously quite au fait with what was going on.

"This was testing out your own sexuality. Normal people would become very unnormal. It was Welcome to the Pleasure Dome. It was everything . . . But Jonathan King was more like a Victorian doctor. It wasn't an eerie vibe . . . but Jonathan had this highbrow, Cambridge, sophisticated thing about him. The Jekyll and Hyde thing. There wasn't much conversation with Jonathan. And with Jonathan, you'd always had these rumours. 'Oh, he got so and so into the white Rolls-Royce'. And they'd always be the David Cassidy lookalike competition winners. Very beautiful."

(Jimmy) leapt up on to the stage, and took me to the wings, stage right. We stood behind the curtains. "This is where the inner sanctum was," said Jimmy. "From here, Deniz Corday (the manager of the Walton Hop) would have the best view of the teenagers who were a little bit bolder, a little bit more interesting."
"Bolder and interesting in what way?" I asked.
"People like me," said Jimmy. "If Deniz liked you, you'd be invited backstage and get a little bit of whisky added to your Coca-Cola. Backstage, you see. And you'd go, 'Oh, I'm in with the big crowd now'. That's all there was to it with Deniz."

Now here’s a similar remembrance from a Walton Hop regular, the journalist Mick Hume:

”And an age before karaoke, there were the Hop’s miming contests, for which kids would get up on stage and mouth along to anything from Elvis to the Three Degrees. The winner was usually Jimmy Pursey, later the lead singer of Sham 69 . . . Corday himself - ‘a silly, fluffy man’ as Jimmy Pursey puts it - always seemed harmless enough. It was well known that those teenagers to whom he took a shine were invited backstage to sit around with such ‘stars’ as Jonathan King, sipping whisky in their Coke. What might have happened after that, we could only have guessed - if we could have been bothered to. It was clear, however, that the lads involved were not bullied into having a drink or a ride in a big car. Nor could they have been left in much doubt about the preferences of Cordez’s friends. The trial evidence showed that the teenagers whom King was convicted of abusing (whom he had not met at the Hop) all visited him or went off with him again afterwards, some several times. None of them told him ‘No’ or ‘Stop’.

So, Jimmy recalls that he was often invited backstage for a drink where the youngsters were being groomed, and that the kids in the back of King’s car were commonly the winners of the lip-synching contests, which Hume recalls was usually Pursey.

So, I’m proposing that in the song Borstal Breakout:

“You” is indeed a man: Jonathan King (or possible Chris Denning, Tom Paton etc)

“Me” is either Jimmy himself or a composite character representing the abused kids of the Walton Hop.

“Them things” is the abusive behavior committed by King or the other celeb predators.

“Something I didn’t do” is an unrelated act that the “Me” character was sent to borstal for, but which they perhaps either didn’t do, or else should not have taken the blame for (since child abuse victims are frequently stigmatized and often exhibit behavioral problems).

Alternatively, it’s metaphorical and Pursey is describing a mental borstal – a PTSD scenario that frequently follows child abuse victims, and sometimes, as in this case, leads to them returning to their abusers.

The characteristic detail in King’s case where the kids allegedly returned to him is reflected in the “coming back to you” lyric that ends each verse of Borstal Breakout. This "coming back for you" thing is the whole point of the song. Jon Ronson quotes a video diary Jonathan King sent him about the case: King says: "They kept coming back to me again and again and again”. The “again and again and again” is an interesting coincidence since Borstal Breakout has three verses, each resolving with the phrase “coming back for you".

The idea that the protagonist is a composite character also resolves the confusion about whether this is a collective escapade, or a personal one. It is both.

If the kids are united they will never be divided, because if they divided they would not be united would they?

otm. As long as they are united they are not divided.

I am now going to have this in my head all night.

http://youtu.be/Yo9_aBj1Z84?t=3m42s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPkt-JS_jDA

i have a strong memory of a live version of this song where jimmy introduces it with the immortal words "have you all got your crackerjack pencils? well shove 'em up your arses"

anyone else remember that at all?

Lucky for the audience it wasn't cabbages.

the part in the reading thing where he stops the guy from kicking people offstage and then embraces him his so beautiful.

yeah it's remarkable really - the whole thing!

The audience are so close to being out of control, Jimmy's at his most insanely passionate and cherry on the cake is Steve Hillage taking the solos!

i wish he had brought out those lil' skins to dance though. and provide backup vocals.

They are still at it. Sham 69 are in Baltimore September 22nd

i have a strong memory of a live version of this song where jimmy introduces it with the immortal words "have you all got your crackerjack pencils? well shove 'em up your arses"

anyone else remember that at all?

― feargal czukay (NickB), Thursday, September 10, 2015 9:06 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

That wasn't Sham 69, that was The Stranglers when they walked off Rock Goes To College.

Ah, thank you! A different bunch of Surrey ruffians then, place was crawling with them in the 70s

hand me your wrist/hand me a fist/let me slash away my heart/there's the killing part he said/and he showed me a joker's face/i could fuck you, boy/i'm not your toy/and i trumped his card with my ace

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InngcJdKLlc

i really need an annotated lyrics of jimmy pursey. someone get on that.