Witches, warlocks, and vulturemen too
Martin Luther had nothing on you
He had a dream, you'll have a baby, baby
Will you cope, I don't know, maybe
The CIA, in Mothercare
They'll screw you up 'cos you're not all there
I see submission in a million eyes
Twittering women are still telling lies
And you're not so gifted at all, at all
Bitches basements all over the land
You're striking pulses with half dose in hand
You think you're righteous 'cause you're smoking some shit
And I'm the one that pays for it
You're not so gifted at all, at all
And we're not so gifted at all, at all
Woo !
And you're not so gifted at all, at all
And we're not so gifted at all, at all
Woo !
Lyrics by:
Brown
Music by:
Squire / Brown / Couzens
Written:
1984
Personnel:
John Squire (lead guitar)
Ian Brown (vocals)
Andy Couzens (rhythm guitar)
Pete Garner (bass)
Alan Wren (drums)
Produced by:
Martin Hannett
Available on:
Garage Flower (3.10)
First live performance:
Hampstead Moonlight (23 October 1984)
Pseudonyms:
'Martin Luther', 'You're Not So Good'
Details:
Tradjic Roundabout is the most difficult track on Garage Flower to decipher lyrically, as Brown mutters many of the words. Assuming the line "You think you're righteous 'cause you're smoking some shit" (or "You think you're right jus' 'cause you're smoking some shit") is correct, an argument could be made that the song is about Ian trying to break away from someone associating with him / the Roses merely for drugs. He expresses annoyance at funding this person's habit ("And I'm the one that pays for it"). Over a decade later, he and Aziz would collaborate on a song criticizing women who socialize with bands simply for drugs (Corpses In Their Mouths). The title 'Tradjic Roundabout' may be a play of words on the term 'viscious circle' with Ian wanting to break ties with a 'hanger-on' ("you're not so gifted at all"). He perhps feels as if he is getting nowhere ('Tradjic Roundabout') by continuing to associate with this person. The damning anti-drug stance of the song has its precedent in the Sex Pistols' 'New York'.
In the second line of the first verse, Ian tells the person he is addressing that "Martin Luther had nothing on you". Nominally, one would take this to mean the Christian theologian, Martin Luther (1483 - 1546). In the line following this, however, we learn that "he had a dream". This leads one to believe that the reference is to civil rights leader, Martin Luther King, Jr (1929 - 1968) and his famous ("I have a dream.....") speech at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C., on 28th August 1963:
"I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood...
"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character.
"I have a dream today."
To further confuse matters, the opening line, "Witches, warlocks (a warlock is a male witch or demon), and vulturemen too", would lend credence to the view that the German Reformer is being referenced. In addition to Luther living in a time of belief among the common people in supernatural happenings, witches and the devil, several legends surround the life of Luther, such as his fights with the devil at the Wartburg. Both Martin Luther and Martin Luther King, Jr were seen as great prophets of their time (both were extraordinary men: Martin Luther defied the most powerful ecclesiastical hierarchy the world has known, changing the course of human history. Martin Luther King, Jr was the figurehead in achieving the most far-reaching civil rights bill in world history, facing persecution in his effort to gain equal rights for black citizens. In a Los Angeles KROQ radio interview, Ian flatly stated "Martin Luther King was the Second Coming, you missed it"), which may explain why Ian has no problem switching between the two radically in his lyric. In interviews, Ian has expressed his admiration for Martin Luther King, Jr:
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