Hell's Ditch

[graham love]

Can anyone tell me where the title for this comes from? (and don't just say track 4 on the album!)

The sleeve notes make a reference to a military metaphor but after my exhaustive research (ok, ok, wikipedia) I can't find said metaphor

[pogues24]

To the best of my knowledge Hell's Ditch is a military metaphor. However, the title track on the album is influenced by the writings of Jean Genet and also one's experiences in a rather squalid, nightmarish prison.

Iain

[graham love]

thanks iain

[Masa]

military metaphor for what?

[Simon Maguire]

military metaphor for what?

I guess something along the lines of when you enter the Military your entering Hell's Ditch?

[pogues24]

military metaphor for what?

On the inner sleeve of the liner notes in the new remastered version of the album, it refers to Hell's Ditch as a military metaphor. Again, I always thought the songs was influenced by literary legend Jean Genet, and those of a nightmarish prison. Maybe Mr. Chevron can shed some light on the title?

Iain

[pogues24]

military metaphor for what?

I guess something along the lines of when you enter the Military your entering Hell's Ditch?

You couldn't be more accurate in your description. I'm in the damn military (well the Air Force, so it's not as nearly as bad as the Army and Marines.) But once you step off that bus at boot camp and the military training instructors start in, it does feel as if you entered "Hell's Ditch."

Iain

[philipchevron]

military metaphor for what?

On the inner sleeve of the liner notes in the new remastered version of the album, it refers to Hell's Ditch as a military metaphor. Again, I always thought the songs was influenced by literary legend Jean Genet, and those of a nightmarish prison. Maybe Mr. Chevron can shed some light on the title?

Iain

It has all these meanings and more, I suppose. Personally, I always saw the imagery of The Pogues' bus stuck in a ditch and all of us, shoulder to the wheel, grappling to pull it out. That's why I think of the album as a pastoral, a sort of rural cure for the urban ills we had accumulated from 1982 to 1990.