the meaning in the lyric

Yesterday The Good the Bad and the Queen at victoria park and they played a new version of "ghost town" an original from The specials.

I have posted this song before because i really liked it. i liked the lyrics but i guess only yesterday i understood their real meaning.

It was a song written about the racist riots that were going on 30 years ago in britain.

Now it makes sense! my body froze, i got in a complete trance while they were playing, very very very intense.

In Portugal music was very important in our 25th april 1974revolution when portugal passed from a facist regime to a democratic one

so now, im playing the two songs. Music is such a powerfull weapon.

Ghost Town - the specials


This town, is coming like a ghost town
All the clubs have been closed down
This place, is coming like a ghost town
Bands won't play no more
too much fighting on the dance floor

Do you remember the good old days
Before the ghost town?
We danced and sang,
And the music played inna de boomtown

This town, is coming like a ghost town
Why must the youth fight against themselves?
Government leaving the youth on the shelf
This place, is coming like a ghost town
No job to be found in this country
Can't go on no more
The people getting angry


Grandula vila morena - Zeca afonso


"There were two secret signals in the military coup: first the airing of the song E depois do adeus by Paulo de Carvalho, Portugal's entry in the 6th of April 1974 Eurovision Song Contest, which alerted the rebel captains and soldiers to begin the coup. Next, on April 25, 1974 at 12:15 am, the national radio broadcast Grândola, Vila Morena, a song by Zeca Afonso, a progressive folk singer forbidden on Portuguese radio at the time. This was the signal that the MFA gave to take over strategic points of power in the country and "announced" that the revolution had started and nothing would stop it except "the possibility of a regime's repression".
Six hours later, the Caetano regime relented. Despite repeated appeals from the "captains of April" (of the MFA) on the radio inciting the population to stay at home, thousands of Portuguese descended on the streets, mixing themselves with the military insurgents. One of the central points of those gathering was the Lisbon flower market, then richly stocked with carnations, which were in season. Some military insurgents would put these flowers in their gun-barrels, an image which was shown on television around the world. This would be the origin of the name of this "Carnation revolution". To clarify the above context, this was not a popular revolution but a military coup- there were no mass demonstrations by the general population prior to the coup.
Caetano found refuge in the main Lisbon military police station at the Largo do Carmo. This building was surrounded by the MFA, which pressured him to cede power to General Spínola. Both Caetano (the prime minister) and Américo Tomás (the President) fled to Brazil. Caetano spent the rest of his life in Brazil, while Tomás returned to Portugal a few years later.
The revolution was closely watched from neighbouring Spain, where the government and opposition were planning for the succession of Francisco Franco, who died a year later, in 1975."

(taken from wikipedia)

Grândola, vila morena
Terra da fraternidade
O povo é quem mais ordena
Dentro de ti, ó cidade

Dentro de ti, ó cidade
O povo é quem mais ordena
Terra da fraternidade
Grândola, vila morena

Em cada esquina, um amigo
Em cada rosto, igualdade
Grândola, vila morena
Terra da fraternidade

Terra da fraternidade
Grândola, vila morena
Em cada rosto, igualdade
O povo é quem mais ordena

À sombra duma azinheira
Que já não sabia a idade
Jurei ter por companheira
Grândola, a tua vontade

Grândola a tua vontade
Jurei ter por companheira
À sombra duma azinheira
Que já não sabia a idade

Grandola, sunburnt village, land of brotherhood!
The people are the ones who rule inside of you, oh city! On every corner a friend, equality in every face.
Grandola, sunburnt village, land of brotherhood! In the shade of an oak tree that didn’t know its age I swore to take your will as my comrade, Grandola!