Each Friday I pick a song–new, old, borrowed, blue–that’s been on my mind and in my ears, and write a short post about it.

This is “Tramp the Dirt Down” by Elvis Costello:

Elvis Costello: “Tramp the Dirt Down”

When I heard the news that Margaret Thatcher had died Monday, this song immediately came into my head.  It’s difficult for the non-British person to understand the amount and depth of feeling people over here have for the former prime minister.  I’ve lived here for almost fifteen years and though I know and understand the facts and events and consequences of her long tenure as prime minister (1979-1990), I still find myself astonished at the levels of vitriol she inspires.  Listening to people talk about Margaret Thatcher, both before and now in the immediate aftermath of her death, one realizes that to live through something–an event or a particular period of time–and experience it firsthand always gives someone a different, and deeply felt, perspective and understanding to that of the outsider, who can understand, and add up, but never quite get far enough beyond the sum of parts.  Margaret Thatcher inspired no small number of responses in popular music (here’s just five from The Guardian).  This song from Elvis Costello, when I first discovered it about twenty years ago, gave me the first insight into the emotional understanding that one requires to make sense of the Thatcher era, and its continuing consequences.

Here’s Elvis Costello discussing the song (and playing it) back in 1989.