4 Meanings
Add Yours
Follow
Share
Q&A
Emigre Lyrics
The clocks are broken
And my hair is changing colour now
And nothing ever changes on the Great Western
But you'll have me believe
There's no water in the river
But the box kicks and the swallow dives
Always makes me feel alive
And when the rain falls down
It feels like a holiday
A holiday
And as we cross the bridge
We should stay
We should stay
Twenty years of leaving
And you never knew the reasons
Two hundered miles of sleepers
Taking you nearer
To decide what you love
And what you don't hate
And follow the new bypass to from
where you came
And when the rain falls down
It feels like a holiday
A holiday
And as we cross the bridge
We should stay
We should stay
And my hair is changing colour now
And nothing ever changes on the Great Western
But you'll have me believe
There's no water in the river
But the box kicks and the swallow dives
Always makes me feel alive
It feels like a holiday
A holiday
And as we cross the bridge
We should stay
We should stay
And you never knew the reasons
Two hundered miles of sleepers
Taking you nearer
To decide what you love
And what you don't hate
And follow the new bypass to from
where you came
It feels like a holiday
A holiday
And as we cross the bridge
We should stay
We should stay
Song Info
Submitted by
k24 On Aug 04, 2006
More James Dean Bradfield
Which Way To Kyffin
Say Hello To The Pope
That's No Way To Tell A Lie
Still A Long Way To Go
Bad Boys and Painkillers
Add your song meanings, interpretations, facts, memories & more to the community.
The title is French for "a person who has migrated."
The reference to two hundred miles of sleepers is the distance between London and Cardiff by train, which James does lot on the Great Western.
He wrote a lot of the lyrics for the album travelling between Paddington and Cardiff Central.
I think the song is about dealing with separation from the people and things you love and how that changes you over time.
You're on the button - according to JDB himself its about missing Wales
it means much the same to JDB as it does to myself...I miss Wales too. And the feelings are the same, he's quoted to have a great Hiraeth (longing) to be home.
Emigre...has a deeper meaning, this word is especially used in the context of political/idealistic migration. The famous Manics Manifesto...to prove a point and then destroy themselves? Now James is returning home and the use of this title is much deeper for him....