In regards to the meaning of this song:
Before a live performance on the EP Five Stories Falling, Geoff states “It’s about the last time I went to visit my grandmother in Columbus, and I saw that she was dying and it was the last time I was going to see her. It is about realizing how young you are, but how quickly you can go.”
That’s the thing about Geoff and his sublime poetry, you think it’s about one thing, but really it’s about something entirely different. But the lyrics are still universal and omnipresent, ubiquitous, even. So relatable. That’s one thing I love about this band. I also love their live performances, raw energy and Geoff’s beautiful, imperfectly perfect vocals. His voice soothes my aching soul.
Around the strangers moved, the shouts I felt within
New panoramas seen (I loved it as it was).
Forests of pylons built, the scaffolding is raised
And how the men pursue their worrk
They act convinced of freedom.
Crossed over by the bridge
The brook was running ill.
We recognised the place - places we knew as children
We wept upon the sight, and progress tore our hearts
Fences divide the land, homes boxed like rabbit hutches.
Goodbye to the village
Goodbye to the village
Where soil will not provide, no king and land are one
Monopolise the holy ground, all that we hold as sacred
No harvest moon shall rise, no valley homestead seen
And now the cities never end, and how the cities stretch forever
And in the morning promise me great times will come again
And the homelands in our hearts will never fade away
Let the legends promise me the earth shall rise again
And homelands in the hearts of men shall never fade away.
Goodbye to the village
Goodbye to the village
Goodbye to the village
Goodbye to the village
I'll never never see my home
I'll never never see my home
You'll never never see your home
You'll never never see your home
New panoramas seen (I loved it as it was).
Forests of pylons built, the scaffolding is raised
And how the men pursue their worrk
They act convinced of freedom.
Crossed over by the bridge
The brook was running ill.
We recognised the place - places we knew as children
We wept upon the sight, and progress tore our hearts
Fences divide the land, homes boxed like rabbit hutches.
Goodbye to the village
Goodbye to the village
Where soil will not provide, no king and land are one
Monopolise the holy ground, all that we hold as sacred
No harvest moon shall rise, no valley homestead seen
And now the cities never end, and how the cities stretch forever
And in the morning promise me great times will come again
And the homelands in our hearts will never fade away
Let the legends promise me the earth shall rise again
And homelands in the hearts of men shall never fade away.
Goodbye to the village
Goodbye to the village
Goodbye to the village
Goodbye to the village
I'll never never see my home
I'll never never see my home
You'll never never see your home
You'll never never see your home
Lyrics submitted by fractured_sanity
Goodbye to the Village Lyrics as written by Matthew Ferguson Jeremy Coleman
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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This is my favourite from this album. "Rubicon", "Goodbye to the Village" and "Exile" make a perfect, bitter ending of a perfect, bitter album "Brighter Than A Thousand Suns". The meaning of this song is pretty clear. It describes pain felt inside after realizing that the nature had been replaced with civilisation. I only wonder if it's a 100% metaphor of the changing world or if Jaz really had spent his childhood in a village which later was turned to a city.
great great song! it should have been a single or even a hitsingle back in 86 but hey..! as shockingly crazy but true as this is ( to me it is anyway =) this superb killing joke tune wasn't even on the record 'brighter'!.. only released with the cd as a bonus track.. i don't know how that could have happened but i regret it because its inclusion would have made benefited the album greatly.