Border Song

Elton John

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


Lyrics submitted by Novartza

Border Song Lyrics as written by Elton John Bernie Taupin

Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group

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Border Song song meanings
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  • 0
    General CommentBernie (writer) claims that the song is about nothing in particular.

    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!
    Lord Choc Iceon June 21, 2004   Link
  • 0
    General CommentTo me, this is the OBVIOUS black movement idea going on here, Taupin (Elton's Lyricist) was making a stab at the racisit people by just writing in the view of a black person, it's FAR TOO EVIDENT, I cannot believe these people didn't see it. I mean BOrder, hint hint-foreigners?? It is also in the form of a gospel song, well not form but it has that feeling, it's great, one of my fave's. Cheers
    sebastianquilton September 28, 2004   Link
  • 0
    General CommentSure this is a homage to the black movement around 1970, at a troubled time (city violence, increasing crime, disarray after the murders of Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King, and the resistance of Nixon and others who wanted to think it was all through now and the blacks had got all they bargained for).

    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.
    tinderboxon July 23, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General CommentIt's funny. I've got a bunch of elton john cd's, and one of them had this song. I ripped it onto my computer, and the title appeared as "Candle in the Wind." I put it onto my mp3 player, and it appeared as "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me
    Cocytuson November 09, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General CommentWhy is this not on the "Greatest Hits 1970 - 2002"?
    Pure brilliance. Love it, almost as much as THE KING MUST DIE. Look that one up. Most people who like this like it.
    youtube.com/…
    Arialon November 28, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General CommentThis song is about racism. In the first stanza he has been disconnected from Black people, in the second he realizes he has been brainwashed, and the rest speaks for itself.
    meshellleon February 26, 2010   Link
  • 0
    Song MeaningI think it's about the palestinian exodus after the six-day war (1967). Let's see:
    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).
    adao112376on February 14, 2016   Link
  • 0
    My Interpretation"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"

    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".
    MattBiancoon May 15, 2016   Link
  • 0
    General CommentThis is the lament of a man who goes to the South during the 60's, probably to march against segregation, but feels overwhelmed by the negativity he sees in the form of racism. The "spectre" is the image of the KKK, and the ghostly white sheets that they wear.

    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.
    JT1968on November 10, 2018   Link
  • -1
    General CommentI'm not sure what this song's about, exactly,lol, i don't feel like thinking sbout it right now....but it's a great song-and i love the seemingly Mary Poppins reference- "Now the wind has changed direction and I'll have to leave"....
    emoBettyrocketon April 08, 2004   Link

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