Songs from the Cold War #1: Chew the fat

While reading Pandora's Keepers I couldn't help thinking about how strongly the threat of nuclear war had affected our culture. I grew up in the 80s and it seemed like a lot of the music I listened to expressed this fear that war between the US and the USSR was imminent – a war in which nobody would come out a winner. Some were obvious and others might just be my imagination but I made a list of songs that I thought were specifically about nuclear war or the Cold War. So, here's my list – one at a time – of some of my favorite 80s Songs from the Cold War.

I've already posted about "Red Skies" by The Fixx, which may or may not have been about the Cold War. Another that's not so clear is "The Gap" by the Thompson Twins. The lines "East is East, West is West / Two different colors on the map" seemed to refer to the USSR and USA, and "Break the line, chew the fat / Keep moving out into the gap" sounded like urging the two superpowers to resolve their differences. (Am I reading too much into it?) Anyway, most of all I love that my kids are embarrassed that I still like music like this! (Sorry, I couldn't find a video for this song, and this was better than the live performances I found.).