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On The Border Lyrics
The fishing boats go out across the evening water
Smuggling guns and arms across the Spanish border
The wind whips up the waves so loud
The ghost moon sails among the clouds
Turns the rifles into silver on the border
On my wall the colours of the maps are running
From Africa the winds they talk of changes coming
The torches flare up in the night
The hand that sets the farms alight
Has spread the word to those who're waiting on the border
In the village where I grew up
Nothing seems the same
Still you never see the change from day to day
And no-one notices the customs slip away
Late last night the rain was knocking at my window
I moved across the darkened room and in the lampglow
I thought I saw down in the street
The spirit of the century
Telling us that we're all standing on the border
In the islands where I grew up
Nothing seems the same
It's just the patterns that remain
An empty shell
But there's a strangeness in the air you feel too well
The fishing boats go out across the evening water
Smuggling guns and arms across the Spanish border
The wind whips up the waves so loud
The ghost moon sails among the clouds
Turns the rifles into silver on the border
On the border
On the border
On the border
Smuggling guns and arms across the Spanish border
The wind whips up the waves so loud
The ghost moon sails among the clouds
Turns the rifles into silver on the border
From Africa the winds they talk of changes coming
The torches flare up in the night
The hand that sets the farms alight
Has spread the word to those who're waiting on the border
Nothing seems the same
Still you never see the change from day to day
And no-one notices the customs slip away
I moved across the darkened room and in the lampglow
I thought I saw down in the street
The spirit of the century
Telling us that we're all standing on the border
Nothing seems the same
It's just the patterns that remain
An empty shell
But there's a strangeness in the air you feel too well
Smuggling guns and arms across the Spanish border
The wind whips up the waves so loud
The ghost moon sails among the clouds
Turns the rifles into silver on the border
On the border
On the border
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So, I feel a bit daft but, this is about the Spanish Civil War, right?
Arms trafficking, the republican efforts to secure enough rifles, Franco's African Army, the to-and-fro of the frontlines, social upheaval, particularly in rural areas..
@hnryvk spot on bro. bless those republicans and damn Franco to hell. not sure which side stewart comes down on. that is why i came to this site. dummy me; will someone make it clear and say why. i'm thinking the arms are coming from africa (from franco) to his horrid rebels. ...and those country folk were born nazis weren't they? gads i always thought the best of stewart and thought he would have backed the republican anarchists. oh well another rocker angel god goes falling down to earth pants on fire in my humble opinion. maybe i will still...
@hnryvk spot on bro. bless those republicans and damn Franco to hell. not sure which side stewart comes down on. that is why i came to this site. dummy me; will someone make it clear and say why. i'm thinking the arms are coming from africa (from franco) to his horrid rebels. ...and those country folk were born nazis weren't they? gads i always thought the best of stewart and thought he would have backed the republican anarchists. oh well another rocker angel god goes falling down to earth pants on fire in my humble opinion. maybe i will still play him on occasion and pretend not to suspect that which logic dictates me to believe.
We just went to an Al Stewart concert at the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix, and before performing this song, he talked about how he saw the terrorist attacks on civilians coming when he wrote, "On the Border". Take a reread of this stanza:
Late last night the rain was knocking at my window I moved across the darkened room and in the lampglow I thought I saw down in the street The spirit of the century Telling us that we're all standing on the border
@AzRunner that line still gives me chills!
@AzRunner that line still gives me chills!
No the reference to "gun smuggling" is to the Basque troubles in Northern Spain , late 70's and the reference to "from Africa the winds they talk of change is coming" and " the hands that set the farms alight" is to the Rhodesian bush war, in what is now Zimbabwe, also in the late 70's. Makes sense. Al Stewart wrote the song in 1976. All about the dying days of colonialism in Africa.
"On my wall the colours of the maps are running" I just love the metaphor in that line.
First of all, I really love the tunes and the text of this music. Somehow it creates a mood of melancholia plus the sceneries he describes are impressive.