Gary Miller Songs

I stood and watched the last boat leaving here for the last time
Alone among my townsfolk without a tear in my eye
As the weeping sky took pity on the souls I'd left to bleed
For all life was my victim in my battle to succeed

Like a young tree seeking rich soil uprooting from a barren land
I went seeking greener pastures in the city far away
With profit as my master I returned with the gift of death
For one man's final chapter is another's opening page

I never shed a tear for my family torn apart
My proud father disowned me, my poor mother broke her heart
And my brother swore he'd kill me if I crossed his path again
When I turned my back on all I knew I left without a friend

So where do I go from here? Where does my life now stand?
Where are all the choices I once held at my command?
Now I've become the victim of this selfishness and greed
Heed this broken mind in the weak hands you now see

The brass band fading out of sight and out of sound at last
Blows a final farewell fanfare to my present and my past
And then I know that they have marched like ghosts across my grave
Lamenting something dead in me to which I can put no name (*)

I stood by my beliefs as they tore my town apart
No stranger to indifference with no sleeve to place my heart
But now I've come to realise just where my heart does lie
A traitor to my conscience as well as my own kind

Now I find there's no one else can clear the shadow from my name
No one else can share my sorrow or the burden of my shame
Or know my mental anguish or shoulder any of my blame
When guilt is the safety valve which so selfishly I claim

[* Additional verse not used on original recording]

(Gary Miller)

© 1998 Whippet Records

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