About this song
- Written in the aftermath of the Falklands war, and originally donated to Robert Wyatt for his album of resistance songs "Nothing can stop us", Elvis examines the eternal links between jobs in industrial production...shipbuilding.... and the human costs of War in those same communities... . User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply. — lastfm
- "Shipbuilding" is a song with lyrics by Elvis Costello and music by Clive Langer. Written during the Falklands War of 1982, Costello's lyrics highlight the irony of the war bringing back prosperity to the traditional shipbuilding areas of Clydeside, Merseyside (Cammell Laird), North East England 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 Robert Sandall, the best version of the song is the one recorded and released as a single by English singer-songwriter Robert Wyatt in August 1982 a few months after the Falklands War, although it was not a hit until it was re-released eight months later on the first anniversary of the conflict. — wikipedia
