The Shores of Australia

from Australia E.P. by Twenty-One Crows

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This song is dedicated to the child emigres sent from their homes at the end of the second world war and orphaned by society.

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lyrics

-The Shores of Australia -

Sea, sea, iron-black sea,
You took all the children away with thee,
In ships tall as buildings and deep as the night,
You bore them away on your arms.
Did you rock them all gently and sing them to sleep,
And tell them we’d write to them soon?
Did you carry them safe all those miles so far,
From here to the shores of Australia?

Sea, sea, flint-black sea,
Where are the children you took with thee?
How long has it been now since they went away,
Silently borne on your arms?
So many letters we’ve written and sent,
The children, they never reply,
Oh Sea, won’t you please, won’t you please, won’t you please…
Bring them home from the shores of Australia…

- - -

Well now, let me see…
The children you say that I took with me?
Was it not that you gave them and sent them away,
So far away from their homes?
I rocked them all gently, I sang them to sleep,
I saw that they came to no harm,
And I carried them safe all the miles so far,
From your arms to the shores of Australia.
But the nuns took you children and hid them away,
They told them: ‘now you are alone;
Your families have all of them died in their sleep
And you will not ever go home.’
The letters you wrote them were burned every one,
The children heard never a word from you,
In truth, they were orphans the moment they stepped,
Onto the shores of Australia.

credits

from Australia E.P., released December 22, 2018
J.H. Griffin: Vocals and Guitar
Rebecca Tann: Accordion
Dominic Plucknett: Guitar and Vocals
Mary Hampton: Vocals

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Twenty-One Crows Brighton, UK

Twenty-One Crows are:
Dominic Plucknett, Rebecca Tann, Jon Griffin and Andy Thomas

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