Labour & Pop Culture: Dead End Street

This week’s installment of Labour & Pop Culture is “Dead End Street” by the Kinks. The 1966 song looks at poverty among the lower class in the UK. The song was written to highlight that not everyone experienced the 1960s as fun and flamboyance.

Instead, many remained trapped by a strict class system that included high level of un- or under-employment. This is reflected in the lyrics “Out of work and got no money” and:

What are we living for?
Two-roomed apartment on the second floor.
No chance to emigrate,
I'm deep in debt and now it's much too late.

Interestingly, as Guy Standing notes in The Precariat, not all that much has changed for many Britons. There remains a significant intergenerational transmission of advantage and disadvantage in the UK and elsewhere.

The video (wherein the band play Victorian undertakers) was one of the first ever music videos:



There's a crack up in the ceiling,
And the kitchen sink is leaking.
Out of work and got no money,
A Sunday joint of bread and honey.

What are we living for?
Two-roomed apartment on the second floor.
No money coming in,
The rent collector's knocking, trying to get in.

We are strictly second class,
We don't understand,
(Dead end!)
Why we should be on dead end street.
(Dead end!)
People are living on dead end street.
(Dead end!)
Gonna die on dead end street.
Dead end street (yeah)
Dead end street (yeah)

On a cold and frosty morning,
Wipe my eyes and stop me yawning.
And my feet are nearly frozen,
Boil the tea and put some toast on.

What are we living for?
Two-roomed apartment on the second floor.
No chance to emigrate,
I'm deep in debt and now it's much too late.

We both want to work so hard,
We can't get the chance,
(Dead end!)
People live on dead end street.
(Dead end!)
People are dying on dead end street.
(Dead end!)
Gonna die on dead end street.
Dead end street (yeah)
Dead end street (yeah)
(Dead end!)

People live on dead end street.
(Dead end!)
People are dying on dead end street.
(Dead end!)
Gonna die on dead end street.
Dead end street (yeah)
Dead end street (yeah)
Dead end street (yeah)
Head to my feet (yeah)
Dead end street (yeah)
Dead end street (yeah)
Dead end street (yeah)
How's it feel? (yeah)
How's it feel? (yeah)
Dead end street (yeah)
Dead end street (yeah

-- Bob Barnetson