If on every ocean the ship is a throne
And for each mast cut down another sapling is grown
Then I could believe that I'm bound to find
A better life than I left behind [ Lyrics from: http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/e/elvis_costello/long_journey_home.html ]
But as you ascend the ladder
Look out below where you tread
For the colors bled as they overflowed
Red, white and blue
Green, white and gold
So I had to leave from my country of birth
As for each child grown tall
Another lies in the earth
And for every rail we laid in the loam
There's a thousand miles of the long journey home
But as you ascend the ladder
Look out below where you tread
For the colors bled as they overflowed
Red, white and blue
Green, white and gold
Both parents and older brother born in belfast ireland father left due to work and the troubles, to make a better life for his family. It's always been a long jouney home for him.
by Unregistered on Oct 1st 2011 9:09 am
The song, i think, is about the irish famine - having to leave ireland
on the "coffin ships"; probably never to see ireland again. The colors
refers to the british (red, white and blue) and the irish (green, white
and gold) and the troubles british rule created.