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Albion Lyrics

Down in Albion
Ah, they're black and blue
But we don't talk about that
Are you from 'round here?
How do you do?
I'd like to talk about that

Talk over
Gin in teacups
And leaves on the lawn
Violence in bus stops
And pale thin girl with eyes forlorn

Aah, gin in teacups
And leaves on the lawn
Violence in dole queues
And pale thin girl behind the checkout

But if you're looking for a cheap sort
Glint with perspiration
There's a four-mile queue
Outside the disused power station
Now come away, won't you come away
We'll go to
Deptford, Digby...
Anywhere in Albion

Yellowing classics
And canons at dawn

But if you're looking for a cheap sort
That's in false anticipation
It'll be waiting in the photo booth
At the railway station

Ah come away, won't you come away
We're going to...
Watford, London Fields
Anywhere oh

If you're looking for a cheap sort
That's in false anticipation
It'll be waiting in the photo booth
At the underground station

Oh come away, won't you come away
We're going to...
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45 Meanings

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Cover art for Albion lyrics by Babyshambles

Yes.

But not Britain...

Albion = England

Cover art for Albion lyrics by Babyshambles

an ode to the sights and sounds of working class england, albion is a ship that leads to arcady, utopian place that can only be found through hard work and self destruction. other songs like Love on the Dole tie in with the idea of beauty only existing for us, the people singing for their supper and trying to reach our dreams.

so sail the good ship albion to arcady, and maybe we can all be beautiful dreamers, maybe.

peace love drama

Cover art for Albion lyrics by Babyshambles

albion = britain the song's just about being british

Cover art for Albion lyrics by Babyshambles

i adore this song, it's soo beautiful.. and yes, it's about britain

Cover art for Albion lyrics by Babyshambles

boring lovechild, i think you'll find that the places in the lyrics vary from recording to recording :]

my dad heard one of the first ever live playings of this track, when pete used to work in a bar in north london - the libertines used to play tiny warm-up gigs to like, 6 or 7 people in this pub before they got famous x]

Cover art for Albion lyrics by Babyshambles

This was Pete first ever song. It was a poem he performed it when he was in the libertines.

Cover art for Albion lyrics by Babyshambles

hhmmm lykd yor comment joefox im a big big pete........libertines........babyshambles fan th libertines music was wot first hit me its amazin and th whole pete life story that unfolding in front of us is fascinating. albion duznt seem to b gettin great rewies but i think its a decent song. so wot do ppl think of th nu album then?

Cover art for Albion lyrics by Babyshambles

First of all, the lyrics as printed here are both wrong in places and incomplete for not naming the towns listed as symbols of Pete's imagined England (and, yes, must echo that it is England, not Britain). William Blake (who had such an influence on Jim Morrisson) portrayed Albion in his poems as a sort of mystical England, the new jerusalem. Doherty is tapping into this vision. I like the song a lot but some parts feel laboured (where the hell in England is there a queue outside a disused power station?) Still, it stands well as a name check of a miscellany of the young, bored and working-class English experience. Hope Pete doesn't do a Morrisson.

laboured???how can you say that? we have already established it's a poem. not everything in a poem has to be entirely literal. there may be no queues but there atre certinly disused power stations. yes the lyrics are incomplete but if you are a real Pete fan you'll know that he changes the place names every time he sings the song. so for johnnymac to put '...' is fair enough, because if he put the place names from one version they would be incorrect according to another.

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Cover art for Albion lyrics by Babyshambles

the guitar that plays right after the chorus is beautiful

Cover art for Albion lyrics by Babyshambles

Those who the song is just about England, Albion is the Ancient name for Great Britain and the name of the ship that is sailing Doherty and anyone who wants it better to a fictional Utopia where there are no rules or boundaries.