I tried looking to see if this has been discussed before, but Mudcat wasn't cooperating with the search.

The song 1999 by Tommy Sands is about how the people in power kept the troubles going.

There is a segment in one of the verses that has my curiosity:

"I remember well your little girl she had ribbons in her hair
When she came to play that summer’s day with the children in the square
To think they could be here today still laughing and alive
If strong men had been wise men in 1979"

It has the feel of something that really happened, much like his beautifully sad "There Were Roses".

I know that fragment is obscure, but I am curious as to what occurred, if anything...and I thought if anyone knew it would be some one here.