2369. “Shipbuilding” by Elvis Costello
Live:
That live version lacks Chet Baker’s wonderful trumpet playing which can be found on the album version.
“Shipbuilding” stands heads and shoulders above all of Costello’s other songs from 1983-84. The lyrics describe an ironic situation that arose in England during the Falkland War. Specifically, while the war brought new business to England’s shipbuilding towns, the sons of those towns were being sent to the Falkland Islands on those same ships to potentially get killed.
I am pleased to say that one need not know that this is the context of the song to be moved by it. Indeed, I’ve only known the true meaning of the song for about a year (thank you, Internet). The song resonates, I believe, for anyone who is moved by the plight of people working themselves to death, be it building ships, mining coal, or what have you. A human’s got to work to eat and to feed their family and sometimes the options open to them are limited.
In a way, this is a song about everyone whose ever been in that position. Sometimes people have to ignore some of the realities and results of their occupations - and sometimes those realities catch up with them.