This is about bronies. They communicate by stomping.
It's all there in the gospels
The Magdalene girl comes to pay her respects
But her mind is awhirl when she finds the tomb empty
The stone had been rolled
Not a sign of a corpse in the dark and the cold
When she reaches the door, sees an unholy sight
There's this solitary figure in a halo of light
He just carries on floating past Calvary Hill
In an almighty hurry, aye but she might catch him still
"Tell me where are ye going Lord, and why in such haste?"
"Now don't hinder me woman, I've no time to waste!
For they're launching a boat on the morrow at noon
And I have to be there before daybreak
Oh, I cannot be missing, the lads'll expect me
Why else would the good Lord himself resurrect me?
For nothing will stop me, I have to prevail
Through the teeth of this tempest, in the mouth of a gale
May the angels protect me if all else should fail
When the last ship sails"
Oh, the roar of the chains and the cracking of timbers
The noise at the end of the world in your ears
As a mountain of steel makes its way to the sea
And the last ship sails
It's a strange kind of beauty, it's cold and austere
And whatever it was that ye've done to be here
It's the sum of yer hopes yer despairs and yer fears
When the last ship sails
Well, the first to arrive saw these signs in the east
Like that strange moving finger at Balthazar's Feast
Where they asked the advice of some wandering priest
And the sad ghosts of men whom they'd thought long deceased
And whatever got said, they'd be counted at least
When the last ship sails
Oh, the roar of the chains and the cracking of timbers
The noise at the end of the world in your ears
As a mountain of steel makes its way to the sea
And the last ship sails
And whatever you'd promised, whatever you've done
And whatever the station in life you've become
In the name of the Father, in the name of the Son
And whatever the weave of this life that you've spun
On the Earth or in Heaven or under the Sun
When the last ship sails
The Magdalene girl comes to pay her respects
But her mind is awhirl when she finds the tomb empty
The stone had been rolled
Not a sign of a corpse in the dark and the cold
When she reaches the door, sees an unholy sight
There's this solitary figure in a halo of light
He just carries on floating past Calvary Hill
In an almighty hurry, aye but she might catch him still
"Tell me where are ye going Lord, and why in such haste?"
"Now don't hinder me woman, I've no time to waste!
For they're launching a boat on the morrow at noon
And I have to be there before daybreak
Oh, I cannot be missing, the lads'll expect me
Why else would the good Lord himself resurrect me?
For nothing will stop me, I have to prevail
Through the teeth of this tempest, in the mouth of a gale
May the angels protect me if all else should fail
When the last ship sails"
Oh, the roar of the chains and the cracking of timbers
The noise at the end of the world in your ears
As a mountain of steel makes its way to the sea
And the last ship sails
It's a strange kind of beauty, it's cold and austere
And whatever it was that ye've done to be here
It's the sum of yer hopes yer despairs and yer fears
When the last ship sails
Well, the first to arrive saw these signs in the east
Like that strange moving finger at Balthazar's Feast
Where they asked the advice of some wandering priest
And the sad ghosts of men whom they'd thought long deceased
And whatever got said, they'd be counted at least
When the last ship sails
Oh, the roar of the chains and the cracking of timbers
The noise at the end of the world in your ears
As a mountain of steel makes its way to the sea
And the last ship sails
And whatever you'd promised, whatever you've done
And whatever the station in life you've become
In the name of the Father, in the name of the Son
And whatever the weave of this life that you've spun
On the Earth or in Heaven or under the Sun
When the last ship sails
Lyrics submitted by sillybunny
The Last Ship Lyrics as written by Gordon Sumner
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Know who the Magdalene girl is? Probably a fictional girl. I wasn’t sure what the song was saying. Faint thoughts of feegles were flitting through my mind but I put that down to a touch of cosmic humor. Dancers at the End of Time flashed through but then why not? Was it Christ became man and ran off to catch the last what—sailing? Hurrah? Wanted an in when the whole shebang was ready to end and be wished up again in the “holodome”? Something like “save the last dance for me”? All guesses. How come the song “Overture. Curtain. Lights” is making a comeback? Start of the ship show? Oh, wow. Could be. Didn’t think of that until just now. hb
Too bad dups can't be deleted ...
This is a song about the Geordies in 1980s England. The area around the Tyne was famous for shipbuilding but as heavy manufacturing declined many of the shipyards closed. This is where the biblical references (Magdalene is from John 20:1) tie in. The ship workers, who had finally been abandoned to their fate under Thatcherism, were the figurative ghosts of the old England, watching their world end with the last ship sailing out of the yard.
Hello Jane: No doubt that Gordon has it in for Thatcherism. Any person with a sense of justice would; however, I think that the story about MM and JC at the beginning of the song might also refer to the inevitability of death in a literal sense. Regardless of who you are, like the son of god, and/or your station in life, that ship waits. Also, many of the songs in the show (Autumn Winds, The Night The Pugilist Learned How To Dance, I Love Her But She Loves Someone Else, So To Speak) are intimate and character driven, rather than polemical in nature. Perhaps there's enough material in The Last Ship to cover many aspects of existence. What do you think?
‘When the last ship sails’ is in fact for most of us ‘when we have had our last breath on earth’. Like Jesus was resurrected and Mary Magdeline was the first witness, this person was spiritually resurrected and we, who recognize this, are the first witnesses. They were resurrected because of some unfinished business on earth and because those who believe have a mobile spiritual presence that transcends life on earth. Their unfinished business was regarding those who they loved on earth and their powerful desire to help them with earthly struggles and to give them with hope. Balthazar’s feast is the biblical story that represents the modern phrase of ‘the writing on the wall’ and its reference indicates that those who first arrive to see the writing on the wall, as did the three Magi from the east, will be counted amongst the spiritual transcending, no matter what else they did during their life on earth. I was Stung by Sting in the late seventies when our feet were both solidly on earth. Then with Sacred Love, our feet, one on earth and one in heaven. Now it’s less and less on earth and mostly in heaven in the name of the Father and of the Son. FSG
The Magdalene girl, rolling a rock from a tomb, resurrection, Calvary Hill, these all seem to make a reference to the Bible where Mary Magdalene finds Jesus resurrected. Calvary hill is where Jesus was crucified.
Balthazar's feast is also a biblical reference. Balthazar was a kind of Babylonia. He destroyed the first temple and had a feast after that with what had been plundered in the temple. During the feast the hand of God (the finger in the lyrics) comes down and writes on the wall. God writes that Balthazar will die soon, and that very day he does die. Incidentally this is where the saying "You can see the writing on the wall" come s from.
Know who the Magdalene girl is? Probably a fictional girl. I wasn’t sure what the song was saying. Faint thoughts of feegles were flitting through my mind but I put that down to a touch of cosmic humor. Dancers at the End of Time flashed through but then why not? Was it Christ became man and ran off to catch the last what—sailing? Hurrah? Wanted an in when the whole shebang was ready to end and be wished up again in the “holodome”? Something like “save the last dance for me”? All guesses. How come the song “Overture. Curtain. Lights” is making a comeback? Start of the ship show? Oh, wow. Could be. Didn’t think of that until just now. hb
you should take something for your schizophrenia