One of Our Submarines

[jef@wind.bellcore.com (Jonathan E. Flamm)]

[From the Love-Hounds delay queue:  -- |>oug ]

I would like to know any interpretations and backround to the Thomas
Dolby song "One of Our Submarines."  It is obviously about a submarine
being wrecked in shallow water -- is there a story behind it?

Here are the lyrics:

A Hungry heart/ to regulate their breathing/ one more night/
the Winter Boys are freezing in their spam tin/ the Baltic moon/
along the Northern seaboard/ and down below/
the Winter Boys are waiting for the storm

chorus:
bye-bye Empire, Empire bye-bye/ shallow water -- channel and tide/
and I can trace my history/ down the generations to my home/
in one of our submarines

the red light flicker, sonar weak/ air valves hissing open/
half her pressure blown away/ flounder in the ocean/
see the Winter Boys -- / drinking heavy water from a stone

chorus:
bye-bye Empire, Empire bye-bye/ shallow water -- channel and tide/
bye-bye Empire, Empire bye-bye/ tired illusions drown in the night

and I can trace my history/ down one generation to my home/
in one of our submarines/ one of our submarines is missing tonight/
seems she ran aground on manoeuvres/ one of our submarines

Jonathan Flamm