(07) El Macho (5:29)

[shangri la 1]

El Macho (Mark Knopfler)

LYRICS

Your date has gone home
Now you left on your own sweet own
You’re a tough talking friend
Split on you in the bitter end

And you look like a fine thing Jerry
yeh you look like a fine thing Jerry
They say you’re a star
That’s what the boys all say you are

I don’t see much TV
So you don’t mean shit to me
But you look like a fine thing Jerry
Yeh you look like a fine thing Jerry

But they got a name for people like you
Yeh they do and they got a name for people like me too
El Macho, El Macho

Now they want you to sing
Don’t get shy or anything
The boys all here
Gonna buy you another beer

‘Cos you look like a fine thing Jerry
Yeh you look like a fine thing Jerry
El Macho, El Macho

CHORDS
https://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/m/mark_knopfler/el_macho_crd.htm

 

[Lis]

I may have brought this up before, but can't quite remember -- and couldn't find a thread.  Anyway, this has been bugging me, so I am bringing this back up. 

I think the 'Jerry' in El Macho is not Jerry Springer -- I am pretty certain that it is Geraldo Rivera.   Geraldo is/was a reporter on FOX network , but from 1987 to 1998 he was a (trash TV) talk show host -- with shows titled the likes of: "Men in Lace Panties and the Women Who Love Them".  The 'Geraldo' show was a precursor for Jerry Springer.
With his Puerto Rican descent, and his sense of 'style', Geraldo seems more fitting to be El Macho.  In the song he's also referred to as 'Jerry' -- with a hint of disdain -- interesting, since Geraldo was born 'Gerald', and only changed it to Geraldo to create a personality.  I also have a vague memory of hearing that Geraldo had a 'posse' back in the day (hence: "They say you’re a star.  That’s what the boys all say you are"). 

Any thoughts? 

[dustyvalentino]

As plausible a theory as any. Just as likely it's not based on anyone I suppose.