Shipbuilding (song)

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Shipbuilding is a song written by singer/songwriter Elvis Costello and producer Clive Langer. Written during the Falklands War of 1982, Costello's lyrics discuss the contradiction of the war bringing back prosperity to traditional shipbuilding areas Liverpool, North East England (Cammell Laird) and Belfast (Harland and Wolff) to build new ships to replace those being sunk in the war, whilst also sending off the sons of these areas to fight and, potentially, lose their lives in those same ships.

According to Clive Langer, he'd written the tune for Robert Wyatt but wasn't happy with the lyrics that he written himself. Langer played the tune to Costello at a party hosted by Nick Lowe, and within days Costello had written lyrics he described as "the best lyrics I've ever written" [1].

[edit] Versions

Wyatt released the song in 1983 and reached number 36 in the UK charts in May of that year [2]. Costello recorded his own version the song for his 1983 album Punch the Clock, featuring a hauntingly beautiful performance by veteran jazz trumpeter Chet Baker. Other versions have been recorded by Suede, Hue and Cry and Tasmin Archer