Where Have All the Rude Boys Gone?

After plundering Tommy’s DVD collection at the aforementioned party I was watching his Ted Leo DVD last night. Despite having heard the song hundreds of times it was only while watching the DVD that I realised that Where Have All the Rude Boys Gone? is about The Specials. It’s pretty obvious really.

I asked Jerry, he told Terry; Terry sang a song just for me
Lynvall gave a message to me
Rhoda screamed and then she asked me
"Where have all the rude boys gone?"

So below we have Ted Leo and the Pharmacists performing Where Have All the Rude Boys Gone followed by The Specials on The Old Grey Whistle Test from 1979 doing A Message to you Rudy. This is an article inspired by the song. And here’s a forum discussion about it, analysing the lyrics.