This is about bronies. They communicate by stomping.
Billy was born within sight of the shipyard
First son of a riveter's son
And Billy was raised as the ship grew a shadow
Her great hull would blot out the light of the sun
And six days a week he would watch his poor father
A working man live like a slave
He'd drink every night and he'd dream of a future
Of money he never would save
And Billy would cry when he thought of the future
Soon came a day when the bottle was broken
They launched a great ship out to sea
He felt he'd been left on a desolate shore
To a future he desperately wanted to flee
What else was there for a riveter's son
A new ship to be built, new work to be done
One day he dreamed of the ship in the world
It would carry his father and he
To a place they would never be found
To a place far away from this town.
Trapped in the cage of the skeleton ship
All the workmen suspended like flies
Caught in the flare of acetylene light
A working man works till the industry dies
And Billy would cry when he thought of the future
Then what they call an industrial accident
Crushed those it couldn't forgive
They brought Billy's father back home in an ambulance
A brass watch, a cheque, maybe three weeks to live,
And what else was there for a riveter's son
A new ship to be built, new work to be done
That night, he dreamed of the ship in the world
It would carry his father and he
To a place they could never be found
To a place far away from this town,
A Newcastle ship without coals
They would sail to the island of souls.
First son of a riveter's son
And Billy was raised as the ship grew a shadow
Her great hull would blot out the light of the sun
And six days a week he would watch his poor father
A working man live like a slave
He'd drink every night and he'd dream of a future
Of money he never would save
And Billy would cry when he thought of the future
Soon came a day when the bottle was broken
They launched a great ship out to sea
He felt he'd been left on a desolate shore
To a future he desperately wanted to flee
What else was there for a riveter's son
A new ship to be built, new work to be done
One day he dreamed of the ship in the world
It would carry his father and he
To a place they would never be found
To a place far away from this town.
Trapped in the cage of the skeleton ship
All the workmen suspended like flies
Caught in the flare of acetylene light
A working man works till the industry dies
And Billy would cry when he thought of the future
Then what they call an industrial accident
Crushed those it couldn't forgive
They brought Billy's father back home in an ambulance
A brass watch, a cheque, maybe three weeks to live,
And what else was there for a riveter's son
A new ship to be built, new work to be done
That night, he dreamed of the ship in the world
It would carry his father and he
To a place they could never be found
To a place far away from this town,
A Newcastle ship without coals
They would sail to the island of souls.
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@[Diderik:33655] "Your a holiday!" Was a popular term used in the 50s/60s to compliment someone on their all around. For example, not only are they beautiful, but they are fun and kind too ... just an all around "holiday".
I think your first comment is closer to being accurate. The singer/song writers state "Millions of eyes can see, yet why am i so blind!? When the someone else is me, its unkind its unkind". I believe hes referring to the girl toying with him and using him. He wants something deeper with her, thats why he allows himself to be as a puppet (even though for her fun and games) as long as it makes her happy. But he knows deep down that she doesnt really want to be serious with him and thats what makes him.
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"There's a part - 'Cash in now honey, cash in Miss Smith.' Miss Smith is my Mother; our last name was Smith. Cashing in when she cashed in her life. So... she decided that, to her... at that time, she was desperate. Life wasn't worth it for her, that was her opinion. Some people think, never take your life, and some people find that their life isn't worth living. She was in love with my Dad, and my Dad was not faithful to her, and it broke her heart. She was very desperate and she did something that I know she regrets."
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It's about the yearning many have for a more spiritual life and how sometimes our work takes us in an opposite direction.
The shipbuilding was work that paid but was not fulfilling. "Her great hull would block out the light of the sun". Our need for connection, purpose, work that feeds our soul, doesn't steal it.
. From All This Time, the album Sting recorded following his father’s death and the subsequent disappearance of his muse, I think he’s saying he wished life would have been different between his father and him. Perhaps he imagined he and his father were shipbuilders because ships are more glamorous than milk—his dad was a milkman. Being an observant and perceptive person, Sting couldn’t help but notice his father’s despair over working long hours for what he would have liked to be more money and consoling himself with drinking. Billy’s father dies in an accident. Sting’s father died of Cancer. I think the song suggests he loved his father very much but the lives they were leading made the relationship between them tenuous at best.
The Island of Souls could be a heaven because it was a place to disappear in and no one was bothered by work—no coal on the ship—leisure sailing only.
If I stretch to imagine a Sting with a wealthy father who was fairly content with his life, I might also see a son who perhaps took over the family business—maybe even with private reluctance, not wishing to upset the father he loved—experiencing song writing only as a weekend hobby and perhaps only performing at the annual community players’ productions.
We are the splendid creatures we are because of the experiences we have had, not in spite of them
I saw this movie! Yuck! You saw the 1933 screen adaptation of H.G. Wells’s “The Island of Dr. Moreau” starring Charles Laughton. It was the island of lost souls—not the island of souls. Completely different story! Oh ….. then, never mind ….
Can you do anything better than him? Even in jest, I don’t think so. I really don’t seem to be all that proficient at anything. It seems like I am pretty much your under-achieving back-peddler. Sure? Yeah, I’m sure. Seems like I am forever indulging in sighs of relief before something else appears on the horizon. Fun song for them to do.
What a moody song!! Bagpipes at the intro sets the tone of the song and lyric paints a vivid picture. Not exactly a radio-friendly catcy song but excellent story telling in the back ground of a coastal town in England.
And excellent intro to the album.
A comment on the phrase "A Newcastle ship without coals." Sting comes from Newcastle (so does Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits.) It is a city where ships are built and shipping is a major industry. And through history, coal was a major export. There is an old expression, "Carrying coals to Newcastle," meaning to do something that is foolish or pointless, because there were LOTs of coals already in Newcastle. So here we have a ship built in Newcastle, but not carrying coals, or other commercial cargo, but instead carrying Billy and his father to a spiritual destination.
This is one of my favorite songs on my favorite of Sting's albums. I like the melancholy mood.
@SuXen Thanks for the insight on "A Newcastle Ship without coals." I was puzzled by this phrase, but you cleared it up for me.
@SuXen Thanks for the insight on "A Newcastle Ship without coals." I was puzzled by this phrase, but you cleared it up for me.
This is about someone who is sad about the fact that his father - and him too - are not able to fulfill their dreams. Both seem to be trapped in a world that uses their workforce. A world they cant escape. The "bottle" migth be the reason, why his father cant escape the "cage" of the ship (his life, with his responsibilities - but without fulfillment). When the bottle "is broken" the ship he worked on for so long disembraks without him. His labour for nothing. At least not for something in the long turn. Thats why Billy cries for his father. He sees, that there is no escape for them (or at least for his father). They will always build stuff (futures) for other people. But they will fail themselves. When the father dies, it is an early end for him. The reaction of the world showes, that they care (a "cheque and a watch" is more than nothing). But of course that is not, what the father and Billy dreamed of. But they dont know, what they re dreaming of. A better life of some sort, sure. But Billy is only looking forward to this "island of souls" where he will meet his father again. I think, its Billys idea of heaven. Billy will work his life down like his father did. Because he does not know any better. And cant imagine. Its sad. But I can understand now.
Go and figure out your dreams. Go and try to make them true. Or be Billy.
The song is about how capitalism in a liberal democracy crushes the human spirit as it crushes the worker. You can't be an honest, intelligent person and not realize the brutal anti-worker, anti-human, greed-based history of capitalism. It is simply undeniable. The song ends with the dismayed narrator wishing to go to a place that recognizes and values the human soul.