A song off their debut album recorded in the late seventies.
At the time, the song intrigued me, so I studied it a bit. Just now, I looked it up again on Songmeanings website, and a number of people offered their opinions of what the song meant.
The people's analysis was too superficial, in my opinion. I think the song is about the fall of Western Civilization.
He ends the song asking about the lions, and what happened to them? The lions are very brave-- but there's just a scared young woman relying upon astrology to get her home. The song's tone is bleak. No question about it. Even the "red sun" going down sounds ominous.
See if you don't agree.
Updated:
6.6.19:
A revision, but only a slight one. It isn't exactly about Western Civ, but mostly about the UK. The setting is at Trafalgar Square, which commemorates a British naval victory. The Lions are on Trafalgar Square. Metaphorically, they guard the Empire. What happened to the Lions? They are the old generation. In other words, the Lions are made of stone. They are dead and gone with the old generation. The new generation cares little about the old glories, and won't even have children to replace themselves when they die. The result is that something has to fill the vacuum, and it won't be British.
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| "The starlings are tough, but the Lions are made of stone." |
6.2.19:
Compare and contrast with Social Disaster. That is, if you agree that the Dire Straits song is about social decay in the West ( particularly the UK). One thing that could stand out is popularity. One is popular, the other is not. Does popularity really mean as much as is attributed to it, then?
You'd have to agree with Western decline to be able to answer that question. For it requires that as a premise.
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