40 Mark Strasse

Album: Port Of Morrow (2012)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Shins frontman James Mercer's father was in the Air Force and the lived in both England and Germany with his family in his youth. This nostalgic ballad is about a stretch near the US-run Ramstein Air Force Base in Germany where prostitutes solicited their trade. "I spent three years living in Germany as a kid," he explained to Spinner. "And it was right near Ramstein Air Force Base, which was a massive American military complex. And near there was a town called Kaiserslautern. And heading back to Ramstein there was a stretch the Americans called '40 Mark Strasse,' which is where young prostitutes would solicit. And I, as a kid, was told about this, and I asked, because these kids looked like the kids at the high school that was very near the elementary school that I went to, and I guess that that was the basis of that song, just my confusion about it and my curiosity, and when you're young and you just love girls and you don't exactly know why and all that. It was just a strange thing to learn about these kids. I mean, some of these girls I remember looking very young."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

James Bond Theme Songs

James Bond Theme SongsMusic Quiz

How well do you know the 007 theme songs?

Dexys (Kevin Rowland and Jim Paterson)

Dexys (Kevin Rowland and Jim Paterson)Songwriter Interviews

"Come On Eileen" was a colossal '80s hit, but the band - far more appreciated in their native UK than stateside - released just three albums before their split. Now, Dexys is back.

Director Wes Edwards ("Drunk on a Plane")

Director Wes Edwards ("Drunk on a Plane")Song Writing

Wes Edwards takes us behind the scenes of videos he shot for Jason Aldean, Dierks Bentley and Chase Bryant. The train was real - the airplane was not.

Metallica

MetallicaFact or Fiction

Beef with Bon Jovi? An unfortunate Spandex period? See if you can spot the true stories in this Metallica version of Fact or Fiction.

Director Paul Rachman on "Hunger Strike," "Man in the Box," Kiss

Director Paul Rachman on "Hunger Strike," "Man in the Box," KissSong Writing

After cutting his teeth on hardcore punk videos, Paul defined the grunge look with his work on "Hunger Strike" and "Man in the Box."

Spooner Oldham

Spooner OldhamSongwriter Interviews

His keyboard work helped define the Muscle Shoals sound and make him an integral part of many Neil Young recordings. Spooner is also an accomplished songwriter, whose hits include "I'm Your Puppet" and "Cry Like A Baby."