Groovy Times

OK This song means a lot to me. First of all, the guys in The Clash were growing up and performing during a time of great civil unrest, massive unemployment and poverty. All the while, the government was doing their best to whitewash the grim reality. This theme is prevalent in many of Joe's songs.

Saying "Groovy times" can refer to music, movies, entertainment, any sort of mantra to tell yourself or others that everything's really better than it seems. As BoHo pointed out, Joe was very clearly sick of the wool being pulled over people's eyes, and I certainly think he wrote and sang these songs in response.

ok the Lyrics:

First verse: He's talking about Riot police storming into an area (as the lorries bring the bacon in) and walling it off with see-through riot shields, perhaps in a shopping (the High Street) or residential area. Suddenly finding yourself barricaded off in an otherwise normal public place could be extremely scary You might be inclined to run or hide and might get shot in the process. But don't worry there's no reason to be nervous because all the police are your friends! If you've done nothing wrong there's no reason to worry right? I'm sure all of the innocents dead in the world would disagree.

Second Verse: if you google "Black Saturday" you'll find many references. Joe could be speaking of December 6th, 1975 in Beirut but more to the point - If you get a large number of people together, what may have started as a peaceful demonstration can turn to a mob in a heartbeat. Tempers can flare, people can get trampled and property destroyed, suddenly you've got a riot.

Now add policemen or soldiers to that mix. They may be there to keep and/or restore order, but now there's a surge of angry people yelling, running, burning cars, throwing rocks and molotovs. That could make even the most seasoned person nervous and before long a shot is going to get fired and someone will die. In the aftermath you'll have the press acting as apologizers saying "Excuse the nervous triggerman just this once for jumping the gun" he acted inappropriately and it won't happen again...not until the next time. Maybe they will try to spin it that the crowd acted in the wrong. It doesn't matter because people are still dead "they were picking up the dead out of the broken glass". Meanwhile you've got the TV and the radio to distract you and tell you everything's ok!

Third verse: I'm not exactly sure what he means by "the intake is on the uptake" by I always felt it meant that the amount of bullshit people are willing to buy is on the rise.

Afterwards he seems to be referencing an English TV icon, and I'm not sure who, but the message is that the media will take something or someone you love and whitewash, re-package, and re-sell it to you over and over until they've taken the piss out of any previous meaning or credibility it may have had.

They'll dress it up and have it dancing around in a chicken suit before you know it.

Remember your childhood heroes because it won't be long before they're doing a 'reality' show or on TV doing commercials shilling some product, because hey we're all getting older and could use a little more money right?

Hey Groovy!