Got out of town on a boat, going to Southern islands.
Sailing a reach before a following sea.
She was making for the trades on the outside, and the downhill run to Papeete.

Off the wind on this heading lie the Marquesas,
we got eighty feet of the waterline, nicely making way.
In a noisy bar in Avalon, I tried to call you.
But on a midnight watch I realized why twice you ran away.

Think about how many times I have fallen. Spirits are using me, larger voices calling.
What heaven brought you and me cannot be forgotten.
I have been around the world, looking for that woman-girl who knows love can endure.
And you know it will, and you know it will.

When you see the Southern Cross for the first time,
you understand now why you came this way.
Cause the truth you might be running from is so small.
But it's as big as the promise, the promise of a coming day.
So I'm sailing for tomorrow, my dreams are a dying.
And my love is an anchor tied to you, tied with a silver chain.
I have my ship and all her flags are a flying.
She is all that I have left and music is her name.

Think about how many times I have fallen. Spirits are using me, larger voices calling.
What heaven brought you and me cannot be forgotten.
I have been around the world, looking for that woman-girl who knows love can endure.
And you know it will, and you know it will.

So we cheated and we lied and we tested
and we never failed to fail, it was the easiest thing to do.
You will survive being bested.
Somebody fine will come along, make me forget about loving you at the Southern Cross.


Lyrics submitted by Duffmyster99

Southern Cross song meanings
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  • +4
    My Interpretation

    I think his journey on the sea represents his emotional journey of leaving a girl whom he has been with for a long time. The song seems to suggest that the physical and emotional journeys are happening together. He makes note of many landmarks, which describe a long nautical distance. I think in doing so he is emphasizing what a long emotional journey this is. In the hussle and bussle of life (represented by a "noisy bar in Avalon" he clings to her, but when he has time to reflect ("on a midnight watch") he knows it's time to move on. This certainty is elucidated by his description of the sea voyage: "sailing a reach before a following sea," which means he is going with the current, "nicely making way," and later references to "larger voices calling" him onward.

    I think the reference to the Southern Cross is a crucial symbol in the song. Sailors navigate by this constellation, and in the song it brings him emotional navigation too. Throughout the ages, people have felt a sense of awe looking at the stars, which make them feel like such a tiny piece of the universe ("the truth you might be running from is so small"), and for him it reiterates how small a piece of his life that relationship was, and it makes him feel like "larger voices [are] calling" him to another saga in his life: to "the promise of the coming day". Then he starts to view her as an anchor, holding him back from his resolution of following a larger calling.

    Despite this resolve, he makes it a point to remember her fondly ("what heaven brought you and me cannot be forgotten," describing his ties to her as "a silver chain"), admitting that her loss leaves him feeling bereft nonetheless ("my dreams are a dying" and "she [the ship] is all that I have left").

    It's a profound and eloquent song about moving on from a failed relationship.

    cadenceson February 23, 2012   Link

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