Level your fretting.
I won't be forgetting
The flush of your face
When I lifted you level
To me and a wattle tree
Framed your body

In whispers welling with
The dope of a new Spring
You said "Kill me a dynasty
Or our love won't mean a thing..."

A bullet for a diamond ring
A favor promised
A promise delivered
And more to you

It's only a war I'll be back
To your shore before
You know it I'm gone,
Then I'll cover you body

And if you have to go
Please go lightly
Keep it to a foxtrot
Whether he's a fox or not

Keep it cold,
Keep all your heat for me
I'll be needing it
For when I'm cold you see

Let your children
Remind you of me
Whether by another or
By the ghost in me in you
There goes my baby

I would think of you
And a palmtree would
Cover your body
You... in love and war

We are bound by a law,
It goes to you and then
To yours to recover my body

She bound me up and hugged me
'O how the mother loves thee'
She covered my body
In a ragged flag and bloody
O not on your life.


Lyrics submitted by sha_sha

Owen's Lament Lyrics as written by Richards

Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

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Owen's Lament song meanings
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5 Comments

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  • +1
    General Comment

    Told from the perspective of famous war poet Wilfred Owen.

    dibleighon May 26, 2006   Link
  • +1
    Song Meaning

    lol notethetrees i've been doing the same. I fucking love this song. The short bit at the end is the perfect way to end the album. I think the name might have come from traditional Irish songs by Turlough (O')Carolan called "Lament for Owen O’Rourke", or "Lament for Owen Roe O’Neill". Both are really nice. There is a sample at the end of this song of a reading (I don't know who by) of a diary kept by someone called Rowland Feilding in which he talks about his relationship with the Irish soldiers under his command in World War One. It says: "...Freezing, or snowing, or drenching rain; always smothered with mud; you may ask any one of them, any moment of the day or night, 'Are you cold?' or ' Are you wet?' and you will get but one answer. The Irishman will reply - always with a smile - 'Not too cold, sir,' or 'Not too wet, sir.' " The sample in Owen's Lament leaves some words out, and I think at the end he says "It makes me... fell sick."

    HowDoYouon May 25, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    Oh how this beautiful song just oozes pain and longing but in such a humble way! Best Augie March song.

    notethetreeson May 03, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    omg i have listened to this song like every day since march this year. ha! march! i love love love this song.

    notethetreeson July 19, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    Never heard the song, but could the title be a reference to the classic Scratch Acid song "Owner's Lament"?

    DrLorenzoon February 03, 2008   Link

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