Liverpool Exile
In England, in about the mid-70’s, I’d been living and working in so many places, with ‘home’ being the place where I kept my guitar, that I was losing track of who I was. I’d had a tune in the back of my mind for some time, but I’d never really had any use for it. So I decided to write a song about the places I’d been, and work in the names of some well-known folk songs. So I started on ‘Liverpool Exile’. The first verse came out OK, and the second started all right – but that was the last verse I wrote! As you will see...
I’ve worked and travelled all around this green and soggy country,
I’ve been to folk clubs far and near to hear and sing folk song.
But now I find I miss, the Irish Sea breeze kiss-
So I guess I’m going back where I belong.
I’ve walked the streets of London and I’ve watched the Thames flow softly,
With oily timbers, long-dead cats a-floating with the tide.
And oh! that mucky foam, it reminds me of my home
So I guess I’m going back to Merseyside.
I’ve been to folk clubs far and near to hear and sing folk song.
But now I find I miss, the Irish Sea breeze kiss-
So I guess I’m going back where I belong.
I’ve walked the streets of London and I’ve watched the Thames flow softly,
With oily timbers, long-dead cats a-floating with the tide.
And oh! that mucky foam, it reminds me of my home
So I guess I’m going back to Merseyside.
After that last three lines, I couldn’t really go any further! And, before any Londoners think of lynching me, the Thames really was like that in the sixties! In fact, just about every major river in Britain, that ran through big cities, was in the same state. Why, even Shakespeare knew about Liverpool’s river, when he wrote: “the quality of Mersey is not strained...”.