Sting - Island Of Souls Lyrics
Billy was born within sight of the shipyardFirst son of a riveters sonAnd billy was raised as the ship grew a shadowHer great hull would blot out the light of the sunAnd six days a week he would watch his poor fatherA working man live like a slaveHed drink every night and hed dream of a future,Of money he never would saveAnd billy would cry when he thought of the futureSoon came a day when the bottle was brokenThey launched the great ship out to seaHe felt hed been left on a desolate shoreTo a future he desperately wanted to fleeWhat else was there for a shipbuilders sonA new ship to be built, new work to be doneOne day he dreamed of the ship in the worldIt would carry his father and heTo a place they would never be foundTo a place far away from this town.Trapped in the cage of the skeleton shipAll the workmen suspended like fliesCaught in the flare of acetylene lightA working man works till the industry diesAnd billy would cry when he thought if the futureThen what they call an industrial accidentCrushed those it couldnt forgiveThey brought billys father back home in an ambulanceA brass watch, a cheque, maybe three weeks to live,And what else was there for a riveters sonA new ship to be built, new work to be doneThat night, he dreamed of the ship in the worldIt would carry his father and heTo a place they could never be foundTo a place far away from this town,A newcastle ship without coalsThey would sail to the island of souls.
