Undertow

Born in a Devonshire seaside town 21 years ago,
Failed At school, broken home, you know the scars will show,
My girl Amy just 19, wants to be a nurse,
Says we need skills and if we don’t leave well end up somewhere worse

We talk about America, we dream of Spain,
Don’t want another winter here in the English rain,
We long for Australia I’ll catch waves all day,
We might have been born here, no way we’ll stay.

When summer comes round, I’ll be found, working all along the beach,
Hiring boards putting up chairs, trying to keep our dream in reach,
Staring at the stars Amy and me, soaking the sun warmed ground,
Or lying in the dunes, sand in her hair, as the moon turns round

We talk about America, we dream of Spain,
Don’t want another winter here in the English rain,
oooooo Australia we’ll catch waves all day,
We might have been born here, no way we’ll stay

Then one black night my best friend stole a car by the docks,
and If had seen the London plates, he never would have forced the locks,
He hit the M5 110, laughing as the clock span round,
Left it burning in a cliff top field it lit his way to town

He was almost home but they were waiting either end of his road,
Trapped in the yard at the back of the spar, where the vans and the lorries unload,
I remember sirens flashing lights, I found him left for dead,
Saw Amy at the A&E working all night, through the glass doors shaking her head,

No talk about America, no dreams of Spain,
But he’s got another winter now in the English rain,
Whoa Australia never catch waves all day,
You know he was born here, and here he’ll stay

ooo America, I could learn a trade,
We might make some money there, well have it made,
ooo Australia, we long to go,
but there’s another winter now in the undertow

the undertow

From Seaton to Sidmouth,
Exmouth round to Torquay,
Kingsbridge, Salcombe,
It’s always the same, same story
In the undertow.