Holy Moses I have been removed
I have seen the spectre he has been here too
Distant cousin from down the line
Brand of people who ain't my kind
Holy Moses I have been removed
Holy Moses I have been deceived
Now the wind has changed direction and I'll have to leave
Won't you please excuse my frankness but it's not my cup of tea
Holy Moses I have been deceived
I'm going back to the border
Where my affairs, my affairs ain't abused
I can't take any more bad water
Been poisoned from my head down to my shoes
Holy Moses I have been deceived
Holy Moses let us live in peace
Let us strive to find a way to make all hatred cease
There's a man over there
What's his colour I don't care
He's my brother let us live in peace
He's my brother let us live in peace
He's my brother let us live in peace
I have seen the spectre he has been here too
Distant cousin from down the line
Brand of people who ain't my kind
Holy Moses I have been removed
Holy Moses I have been deceived
Now the wind has changed direction and I'll have to leave
Won't you please excuse my frankness but it's not my cup of tea
Holy Moses I have been deceived
I'm going back to the border
Where my affairs, my affairs ain't abused
I can't take any more bad water
Been poisoned from my head down to my shoes
Holy Moses I have been deceived
Holy Moses let us live in peace
Let us strive to find a way to make all hatred cease
There's a man over there
What's his colour I don't care
He's my brother let us live in peace
He's my brother let us live in peace
He's my brother let us live in peace
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Elton says that it's about how alienated Bernie felt in London at the time ("Brand of people who ain't my kind") and his desire to visit home as much as he could.
*NOTE: Elton actually wrote the last verse of the song!
It's also a very skilful blend of Gospel and retro ballad songwriting. Inevitably, Aretha Franklin did her own strong version a few years later.
Pure brilliance. Love it, almost as much as THE KING MUST DIE. Look that one up. Most people who like this like it.
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1)HOLY MOSES (also a prophet in Quran).
2)I HAVE REMOVED ( to Jordan).
3)DISTANT COUSIN FROM THE LINE (both religions descended from Abraham).
4)HOLY MOSES ... LIVE IN PEACE (pretty obvious).
There's a man over there
What's his colour I don't care
He's my brother let us live in peace"
Above makes it difficult to speculate much about the meaning, even if the earlier versus are ambiguous. The end is quite clear.
And if the environment around you is "poisoned" by bigotry, and you feel "deceived" by political "winds" blowing the wrong way, then you too will "have to leave" to where "people" may not be your "kind", but "your affairs are not abused".
The "Holy Moses" exclamation is a reference to Martin Luther King, who was thought of as a modern day Moses, leading his people to freedom. In his famous final public speech, King himself embraced this role, and remarked that, like Moses in the Bible, he might well die just before his people got to the Promised Land.