STORM THE EMBASSY

Its official......I read it in the newspapers today.

Its 30 years ago today since the SAS Stormed the Iranian Embassy in London....
and here was the birth of a GREAT GREAT song, one of the most under performed.

Not a nice event at the time but every cloud has a silver lining.

CMUK

Storm The Embassy wasnt referring to the London incident.
It refers to the 50 Americans who were held hostage in Iran for, 444 days in 1979/1980. They were released on the eve of Ronald Reagan becoming president.

50 men taken captive in a hostile, foreign land
scorching sun beating down onto miles and miles of sand
A middle east country being ruled by a man who think's it's fun
to hold our people in return for a Shah that's on the run

It was a rewrite of a Bloodless Pharoes song called "Boys having babies". Same music with different lyrics.

I agree with many of you that this song has always been understimated by the Cats themselves.... BUT many otehr songs from other albums should have been played live and they haven't.....

Lord Vincent Blackshadow wrote:

Storm The Embassy wasnt referring to the London incident.
It refers to the 50 Americans who were held hostage in Iran for, 444 days in 1979/1980. They were released on the eve of Ronald Reagan becoming president.

50 men taken captive in a hostile, foreign land
scorching sun beating down onto miles and miles of sand
A middle east country being ruled by a man who think's it's fun
to hold our people in return for a Shaa that's on the run

It was a rewrite of a Bloodless Pharoes song called "Boys having babies". Same music with differant lyrics.

Oh i didn't know that. I thought it was about the embassy in london. That's what we heard about on the news every night. There were even newsflashes in the middle of the world snooker final! That was the last straw for me!
Thanks for the info - i presumed Brian was singing about the london one because they were over here in uk at the time

I wonder whether Setzer would be in the mood of rewriting it into the Iraq war.......

I've always found this debate very interesting. For years, I believed that the song was about the London incident but got told otherwise about 10 years ago. However I'm still not convinced that that is correct. My reasoning - The lyrics clearly state - "Storm the Iranian Embassy". The US incident was the United States Embassy in Tehran, not the Iranian Embassy. Secondly, The first line of the song talks about 15 men being held captive. I know that some people believe that this is 50, but I've just listened again to the 4 live versions and the one studio version on my PC, and there is absolutely no doubt that Brian sings 15 every single time. The US incident saw 66 hostages which became 52 very shortly. The London incident involved 19 hostages - far closer to the number sung about by Brian. I suppose that only rian know sthe true answer.

Swansea City wrote:

The first line of the song talks about 15 men being held captive. I know that some people believe that this is 50,

It's 50... and they're in a hostile, foreign land... they were being held in exchange for the former Shah was was living in NYC at the time getting chemo. I don't think there's any question that's it's about the US Embassy in Iran, personally. That song seems to have a stronger following overseas as opposed to here in the States. I don't know if it's just because it was a dark time in our history, or by the time Stray 1 was making it's way around here (after Built for Speed), it seemed like ancient history already.

Budgie's Having Babies

Though I guess there are some who would consider London a "hostile, foreign land!!"

Budgie, I understand your view point and I am sure you are correct, but there is no way in a million years it is 50 - you can hear the N being pronounced every single time.

Swansea City wrote:

Budgie, I understand your view point and I am sure you are correct, but there is no way in a million years it is 50 - you can hear the N being pronounced every single time.

Nahhhh... You just don't understand "New Yawk-ese!!!" LOL!!

It's 50 ,for sure and it does refer to the US hostages in Iran. Aint no doubt about that.

I dont think at the time ,Brian would,ve been too concerned with what happened in London. But the US hostages situation would definatly have been on his radar ,as it probably was with most Americans at that time.

"Scorching sun beating down on to miles and miles of sand". I lived in London for 18 months and have visited several times and I dont remember miles and miles of sand anywhere.

The rest of the lyrics are clearly about the US Iran hostage situation. You couldn't be an American citizen in 1979-81 and not have the hostage crisis in Iran be the foremost news event on your mind. 3 television networks, no CNN, no TV tabloid crap, much fewer distractions - the Iran hostage situation was everywhere. All the other lyrics are unmistakenly about the US situation, so I wouldn't throw out the entire premise of the song over a numerical dispute.

It is possible at the last minute that it was changed to 15 to apply to the British situation, possibly at the urging of Dave Edmunds. Think about this: although 19 hostages were freed when the SAS stormed the Iranian embassy in England, if the Cats were in the UK mere months after this rescue, they might have read where 4 hostages had been released earlier in the siege - 19 minus 4 = 15. (There were originally more than 19 hostages). Moreover, the fact that the British regiment did "Storm the Embassy" might have put the idea in Brian's head to write about a situation where we could "Storm the Iranian embassy" to get our hostages back.

In any case, it is one of the few songs that truly sounded "current" back in November 1980, and no doubt was extremely popular in the early days of the Cats' history. With only one album out at the time, you can bet it would get performed fairly frequently at those earlier shows.

Here's another theory, from a speech therapy point of view. Brian has a bit of a lisp, especially in the early days. Kinda odd considering one of his big hits is called "Stray Cat Strut." Often, a lisp or other aberration of the "s" sound (I have a slight one as well) is caused because of an underbite, overbite, or because the tongue extends beyond the palate. (Great. I'm writing that Brian has a long tongue and Kelley is nowhere to be found! ) Anyway, could it be possible that when Brian says "50" and goes to form the "m" sound on "men" or "moms" (the only 2 words that follow "50" or "15") that his tongue accidentally forms an "n" sound, making "50" sound like "15?"

Last theory: Maybe it first went from "Boys Having Babies" to a pirate song, where he used the line "15 men on a dead man's chest," and then, when he changed it to be about a current event, he accidentally left "15" in the song.

Thwashbuckler-billy





I was about to post this, when I see Lord Vincent has weighed in. His word is law. 50 shall it be evermore.

Yes , I have spoken and Yes, I am all knowing.

50 men taking a bath at a public facility
Scorching sun beating down on their shameless nudity
A middle aged women over the knees of some guy who thinks it's fun
to use his hands to redden the cheeks of her somewhat shapely bum

I think it's funny
He called her honey.......and so on and so forth

Guys......thanks for the interesting debate & most important I've learned something new here, & Lord Vincent....you should be Knighted for those lyrics........arise Sir Vincent Blackshadow......excellent

After trying to hi jack that song for us Brits, I've got to agree with you that it most likely refers to the US situation, however at the time it seemed so relevant to the UK situation too.

Anyway....lets talk RUMBLE IN BRIGHTON........now thats definately a song about the troubles between the Mods & Rockers here in the UK....try & take that from us!!!!

CMUK

crazy mixed up kid wrote:

Anyway....lets talk RUMBLE IN BRIGHTON........now thats definately a song about the troubles between the Mods & Rockers here in the UK....try & take that from us!!!!

Where's the beach??

Budgie wrote:

crazy mixed up kid wrote:

Anyway....lets talk RUMBLE IN BRIGHTON........now thats definately a song about the troubles between the Mods & Rockers here in the UK....try & take that from us!!!!

Where's the beach??

Well Brighton beach is about two miles from my house.....HOVE beach is a mile nearer.....but i haven't been to either in 20 years.....nowhere to park.....cost me £78 in parking fine last time i went to walk on the pier.