Cold War culture: Tommy Gun [The Clash, 1978]

The war was not just dreaded or prepared, but actively fought in different theaters all over the world, for many many years. As the social system was variously geared to all of this, active as well as rejecting character dispositions emerged and vied with each other, on the different sides of the conflict alignments. It was a strange time, in more than a way.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mh0orhvcxBY

Tommy gun 
You ain't happy less you got one 
Tommy gun 
Ain't gonna shoot the place up 
Just for fun 
Maybe he wants to die for the money 
Maybe he wants to kill for his country 
Whatever he wants, he's gonna get it! 

Tommy gun 
You better strip it down for a customs run 
Tommy gun 
Waiting in the airport 'till kingdom come 
An' we can watch you make it 
On the nine o'clock news 
Standing there in palestine lighting the fuse 
Whatever you want, you're gonna get it 

Tommy gun 
You'll be dead when your war is won 
Tommy gun 
But did you have to gun down everyone? 
I can see it's kill or be killed 
A nation of destiny has got to be fulfilled 
Whatever you want, you're gonna get it! 

Tommy gun 
You can be a hero in an age of none 
Tommy gun 
I'm cutting out your picture from page one 
I'm gonna get a jacket just like yours 
An' give my false support to your cause 
Whatever you want, you're gonna get it! 

Boats an' tanks and planes, it's your game 
Kings an' queens an' general learn your name 
I see all the innocents, the human sacrifice 
And if death comes so cheap 
Then the same goes for life