Green And Grey

(album: Thunder And Consolation - 1989)

The time I think most clearly
The time I drift away
Is on the bus ride
That meanders
Up these valleys of green and grey

I get to think about what might have been
And what may yet come true
And I get to pass the rainy mile
Thinking of you

And all the while, all the while
I still hear that call
To the land of gold and poison
That beckons to us all

Nothing changes here very much
You used to say it never will
The pubs are all full on Friday nights
And things get started still

We spent hours last week with Billy-Boy
Bleeding, yeah, queuing in casualty
Staring at those posters we used to laugh at
Never-never land, palm trees by the sea

Well, there was no need for those guys to hurt him so bad
When all they had to do was knock him down
But no one asks too many questions like that anymore
Since you left this town

And tomorrow brings another train
Another young brave steals away
But you're the one I remember
From these valleys of the green and the grey

You used to talk about winners and losers all the time
As if that was all there was
As if we were not of the same blood family
As if we lived by different laws

Do you owe so much less to these rain swept hills
Than you owe to your good self?
Is it true that the world has always got to be something
That seems to happen somewhere else?

For God's sake
Don't you realize
That I still hear that call?
Do you think you're so brave
Just to go running
To that which beckons to us all?

And tomorrow brings another train
Another young brave steals away
But you're the one I remember
From these valleys of the green and the grey

No, not for one second
Did you look behind you
As you were walking away
Never once did you wish any of us well
Those who had chosen to stay

And if that's what it takes to make it
In the place where you live today
Then I guess you'll never read one of these letters that I sent
From these valleys of the green and the grey