Tramp The Dirt Down Lyrics - Elvis Costello

So sad really. The human race needs repentance and to submit to God instead of money. You cannot serve two masters God & Money.
I like the sounds of the song. The story is rather deep and sad.

Thatcher hated working people and helped people with money.She helped lay the foundation of the banking crisis by beliving in deregulation and allowing it.She thought we did not need heavy industry,shut our mines and started our need to import coal and gas.

After Margaret Thatcher was relieved of her position as P.M. She accepted a position within 5 weeks as a spokesperson for the TOBACCO INDUSTRY ----- All the misery, manipulation, lying, and torturous death that the tobacco industry denied before the American Congress was exposed by a whistle blower 60 minutes --- leading to the recovery of industry out light lies and manipulation in the name of MONEY...... The fact that Margaret Thatcher accepted MONEY to prostitute her name as their spokesperson should give any one on this forum insight into her true political motives while in power.

Bile and anger about a gifted politica that was a driven sociopath is completely allowed. I agree that it's not one of his best songs. But then, emotions are allowed to take over. He has written sufficiently other good songs. And maybe Tatcher doesn't deserve his best art.

When I heard that Margaret Thatcher had a stroke and died this morning, I remembered this song immediately and I wondered how Elvis feels today. The lyrics have haunted me over the years. Not knowing much about the political views of the English, I listened hard and knew I would not forget the absolute hatred these lyrics portrayed and wished I could've related to the anger so I could've at least tried to understand. I likened the strong feelings to our own feelings about the political system in my own country, the U.S. where we are vocal about our feelings and so far, free to expound upon them. Though I would never go so far as to say in black and white, in public, that I would love to gloat over the death of anyone, I do understand the powerful emotions that people have toward politicians and their political platforms. They must be a different breed to be able to decide ultimately who will prosper and who will not and like Elvis says, still be able to sleep at night.

I did not know much about the Thatcher years and this song inspired me to read more about them. I have learned since, that I do not much trust Mr. Mcmanus' political opinions. when he cancelled his concert in Israel as a protest against Israel's so called occupation I realized that I will never agree with him politically. It made me wonder if Maggie was really such an angry bird after all.

Was Costello justified in writing this song? In my opinion, absolutely.

Is it a good critique? In drawing together such emotive images in such a direct manner Costello deviated from his more "clever" lyrical tenancies and met his subject head on with as much fury and bile as I have ever head expressed.

Powerful, moving and emotive, with no room for ambiguity - this is one of Costello's most haunting and memorable songs and fairly unique in his repertoire. As a traditional protest song it fails, but that was not the intention. This song is not a call to arms, but a brooding reflection on the misery and hate that had come to predominate the lives of many.

Thatcher destroyed a generation of this countries youth.

My mother taught in a secondary school in a mining community in the 1980s and saw it happen.

Compared to many, and by that I mean several million people in the UK, Elvis Costello's view of Maggie Thatcher is mild.

One reviewer identified Thatcher as brilliant. She was indeed, but achieving what the Luftwaffe failed to do in the blitz can hardly be considered so in the positive sense. (do not imagine I am blind or ill informed either - When she came to power Britain had stagnated and needed change - Thatcher managed to achieve it, what was remarkable were her methods that so effectively made the rich richer whilst being directly responsible for destroying millions of peoples lives, coupled with the message that those lives were of no worth and it was no business of the government to do anything to help them. She also got lucky with North Sea oil and gas which she used to cripple the mining industry. Arguments will always rage about her time as PM but for the millions who lost all they had that is too late, where as those who made millions can always loose it at a later date)



<p.s. I will be part of that long que to tram the dirt down on her grave, but there's a plenty in front of me who have far better reason>

Not in a run down city. Not in a mining community. not listening to the "There's no such thing as society" rhetoric. Not watching the credit deregulation that led us to a Crunch. Not in manufacturing. not watching council houses sold and not replaced, to people who couldn't afford the mortgage, leading to repossesion. not learning about how the foreign office led Argentina to believe she would let the islands go. not using policy to rebuild manufacturing. Thatcher did some good stuff, and some bad stuff. The Poll Tax led to devolution, which has increased the cost of administration and is feeding nationalism. It will break up the UK eventually. From 79 to 97 they let education and health slowly corrode. No party is all right. No leeader should stay so long. Washington was right

This is not Elvis at his best. His hatred of Margaret Thatcher inspired this vicious wish for her demise and then cruel gloating. We all have bad days but this is absurd. Why God would give Elvis have so much talent and then allow him to defame a great woman is a mystery.

"Tramp The Dirt Down" is not a rational protest song, nor is it a well thought-out political manifesto. Its message is simple and direct-- the Margaret Thatcher is evil, and Elvis would take pleasure in her ultimate demise. Isn't it odd that so brilliant a musician such as Elvis could misunderstand the brilliance of Thatcher. It was as bitter and savage as anything Costello had ever written, because Costello took the unusual step of actually naming names. When Costello released his anti-Tory diatribe "Pills And Soap" in 1983, he told a concerned BBC censor that the song was about cruelty to animals. There could be no clever parsing of words with this song, which included the memorable line, "When England was the whore of the world, Margaret was her Madam." This song was not Elvis at his finest. Unfortunately he let his misguided political leanings defame a great Woman. She was kind enough to not respond to him in kind.

Clearly a cathardic lambasting of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and her policies. Costello has long been a vocal critic of hers and once even remarked that "She doesn't have a soul. She will burn in hell." Unfortunately Elvis hate can lead him to hell but no other.