The Jam’s “The Place I Love” is very metaphorical, fantastical even, in its approach. But one thing that is clear is that this “place” the vocalist “love(s)” is not literal but rather an imaginary, or...
The title of this song was inspired by a track called “Sweet Surrender” (1979) by Anita Ward and a military term known as a Beating Retreat. And the way the lyrics read, the phrase “beat surrender” is actually quite literal,...
The titular “dreams of children” is an allegory. And what it points to is the type of naïve, if you will, sense of optimism which youth possess. The singer himself idealizes the world in such...
Writer Paul Weller was inspired to write “Start” after reading a book entitled “Homage to Catalonia” (1938) by George Orwell. More specifically he was moved by the way Orwell depicted the Barcelona of old as a utopia-like, egalitarian...
The Jam’s frontman, Paul Weller, is from Woking, England. This is a place which he himself has described as a “suburban town”. And the “town called Malice” is actually a reference to Woking, with the titular...
