15 Meanings
Add Yours
Follow
Share
Q&A
A Bottle of Buckie Lyrics
Nine years down the road and I remember it still
Standing on the corner back in Govanhill
Nine days out from home, feeling no pain
That northern city sun breaking through the rain
That warmthless sun barely shining on
Me and you and a bottle of Buckie
Nine years come and gone since I left you at home
And this restless soul of mine had me starting to roam
But the first time I stood by the banks of the Clyde
I was so glad to have you standing back by my side
I was so proud of what we were doing
Me and you and a bottle of Buckie
Well, I knew by the dew in your starry eyes
It was the day we both had studied for for all of our lives
Whether bold missionaries, or a Children's Crusade
No fear, pioneers, we were on our way
And there never were nothin' that could get in our way
Then the Neds, with their knuckles and their Burberry scarves
They said, "How'd ye Jersey boys ever make it this far?"
But you jumped in between and said, "Listen, my son—"
You said, "You don't know nothin' 'bout where we're from,
And you don't know nothin' 'bout why it's now
Me and you and a bottle of Buckie"
Three times I've been back in my wandering ways
Last time it was July during Marching Days
When someone said to run from that bitter parade
But I knew what you would do and I decided to stay
And I knew no one ever got the better of me and you
Standing on the corner back in Govanhill
Nine days out from home, feeling no pain
That northern city sun breaking through the rain
That warmthless sun barely shining on
Me and you and a bottle of Buckie
And this restless soul of mine had me starting to roam
But the first time I stood by the banks of the Clyde
I was so glad to have you standing back by my side
I was so proud of what we were doing
Me and you and a bottle of Buckie
It was the day we both had studied for for all of our lives
Whether bold missionaries, or a Children's Crusade
No fear, pioneers, we were on our way
And there never were nothin' that could get in our way
They said, "How'd ye Jersey boys ever make it this far?"
But you jumped in between and said, "Listen, my son—"
You said, "You don't know nothin' 'bout where we're from,
And you don't know nothin' 'bout why it's now
Me and you and a bottle of Buckie"
Last time it was July during Marching Days
When someone said to run from that bitter parade
But I knew what you would do and I decided to stay
And I knew no one ever got the better of me and you
Song Info
Submitted by
dvel On Feb 16, 2007
More Ted Leo and the Pharmacists
Me and Mia
Little Dawn
Counting Down The Hours
Timorous Me
The Ballad Of The Sin Eater
Add your song meanings, interpretations, facts, memories & more to the community.
This is an incredible song!
I don't know who the "you" is in this song. I imagine it being a brother or best friend or something.
But I love it. This is one of Ted Leo's best.
Buckie is a nickname for Buckfast tonic wine.
Well the Clyde is a river in glasgow scotland... To me it sounds like he gets out of a bad life by leaving the town (glasgow). He then comes back to old times maybe which is his old friends and their buckfast tonic water.
Well, July during Marching Days has got to be referring to all the Orange marches in the North of Ireland.
The last verse may refer to Northern Ireland; when he refers to having 'been back,' he might be grouping all the UK together for simplicity and lyricism's sake. However, the rest of the song definitely refers to Scotland, as Buckfast is extremely popular among teenage hooligans known as 'neds,' who also tend to wear Burberry. While Buckfast is also popular in certain other regions in England and Ireland, the term 'ned' is exclusive to Scotland.
The Orange Marches are just as prominent in Glasgow as they are in Northern Ireland, particularly in July. Half of Glasgow is of Irish origin and the divide is still pretty strong.
Also, Govanhill is an area in the south of Glasgow.
"Buckie" is what they call buckfast in northern ireland... chavs (or neds, as they call them in scotland, or spides in northern ireland) tend to drink it, but that's what we call it over here. And on july 12th, thats like... the day when all the orange parades are happening. So i think the song has a connection with northern ireland AND scotland.
this song is me and my friend's "song"...even though we havent known each other as long and we aren't the couple that the song talks about, its just how we always seem to end up - through good and bad times, we'll always come back together. its what it all comes down to - me, her, and a bottle of, well, in our case, some JD.
Well, no, it has nothing to do with Northern Ireland. As has already been established, Buckfast is called "Buckie" in Glasgow too and the Orange marches are prominent in Glasgow as well. Just because similar phenomena is present in Northern Ireland, doesn't mean it's an exlusive reference to that when the rest of the song blatantly refers to Glasgow, where the same terms are commonplace.
Plus, in an interview in Pitchfork, Ted Leo said himself the song is about Glasgow.
@Keyser Soze 1984
@Keyser Soze 1984
@Keyser Soze 1984 ~ excerpt from Pitchfork interview " Even some of the faster ones, like "Bottle of Buckie," other than the fact that it relates to something that took place in Glasgow, it makes me think of Scotch, because I think I was drinking a lot of it when I wrote it [laughs]. And "C.I.A", actually, that's a caffeine song. That was me, actually sitting in a café, drinking espressos and really thinking, reworking, rearranging.
@Keyser Soze 1984 ~ excerpt from Pitchfork interview " Even some of the faster ones, like "Bottle of Buckie," other than the fact that it relates to something that took place in Glasgow, it makes me think of Scotch, because I think I was drinking a lot of it when I wrote it [laughs]. And "C.I.A", actually, that's a caffeine song. That was me, actually sitting in a café, drinking espressos and really thinking, reworking, rearranging.