9 Meanings
Add Yours
Follow
Share
Q&A
Green And Grey Lyrics
The time I think most clearly, the time I drift away
Is on the bus-ride that meanders up these valleys of green and grey
I get to think about what might have been and what may yet come true
And I get to pass a rainy mile thinking of you
And all the while, all the while, I still hear that call
To the land of gold and poison that beckons to us all
Nothing changes here very much, I guess you'd say it never will
The pubs are all full on Friday nights and things get started still
We spent hours last week with Billy boy, bleeding, yeah queuing in Casualty
Staring at those posters we used to laugh at:
Never Never Land, palm trees by the sea
Well there was no need for those guys to hurt him so bad
When all they had to do was knock him down
But no one asks to many questions like that since you left this town
Chorus:
And tomorrow brings another train
Another young brave steals away
But you're the one I remember
From these valleys of green and the grey
You used to talk about winners and losers all the time - as if that was all there was
As if we were not of the same blood family, as if we live by different laws
Do you owe so much less to these rain swept hills than you owe to your good self?
Is it true that the world has always got to be something
That seems to happen somewhere else?
For God's sake don't you realise that I still hear that call
Do you think you're so brave just to go running to that which beckons to us all?
Chorus:
No, not for one second did you look behind you
As you were walking away
Never once did you wish any of us well
Those who had chosen to stay
And if that's what it takes to make it
In the place that you live today
Then I guess you'll never read these letters that I send
From the valleys of the green and the grey
Is on the bus-ride that meanders up these valleys of green and grey
I get to think about what might have been and what may yet come true
And I get to pass a rainy mile thinking of you
And all the while, all the while, I still hear that call
To the land of gold and poison that beckons to us all
Nothing changes here very much, I guess you'd say it never will
The pubs are all full on Friday nights and things get started still
We spent hours last week with Billy boy, bleeding, yeah queuing in Casualty
Staring at those posters we used to laugh at:
Never Never Land, palm trees by the sea
Well there was no need for those guys to hurt him so bad
When all they had to do was knock him down
But no one asks to many questions like that since you left this town
And tomorrow brings another train
Another young brave steals away
But you're the one I remember
From these valleys of green and the grey
As if we were not of the same blood family, as if we live by different laws
Do you owe so much less to these rain swept hills than you owe to your good self?
Is it true that the world has always got to be something
That seems to happen somewhere else?
For God's sake don't you realise that I still hear that call
Do you think you're so brave just to go running to that which beckons to us all?
No, not for one second did you look behind you
As you were walking away
Never once did you wish any of us well
Those who had chosen to stay
And if that's what it takes to make it
In the place that you live today
Then I guess you'll never read these letters that I send
From the valleys of the green and the grey
Add your song meanings, interpretations, facts, memories & more to the community.
this is one of the most beautiful songs there is. that's all i can say. the music and lyrics together is just amazing.
Site is called songMEANINGS.net... I'd much appreciate if someone enlightened me what this song is about.
Site is called songMEANINGS.net... I'd much appreciate if someone enlightened me what this song is about.
it's pretty transparent this one, DexterF. About small towns and those who leave because they feel as though "the world has always got to be something that seems to happen somewhere else".
it's pretty transparent this one, DexterF. About small towns and those who leave because they feel as though "the world has always got to be something that seems to happen somewhere else".
The lyrics are pretty literal, and follow a common NMA theme of a letter to an old friend, or maybe a brother in this one. I'm not sure where Belfast would come into it. One guy stays in the small town where they grew up, the other follows the bright lights to the city.
There's some descriptions of small town life, people out drinking, getting into fights, excessive violence. The stuff about the posters refers to the awful 'holiday' style posters you used to get in accident and emergency waiting rooms. A misguided attempt at trying to make the place look a bit more cheerful I suppose. Nowadays it's all adverts for ambulance chasers.
The one who left was a 'big man' locally and painted himself as a brave adventurer when he left, off to seek his fortune elsewhere. The one who stayed is angry or maybe just sad, not because they left, but because they cut off ties with everyone they left behind.
He asks the question, which of them is brave and which is the coward? The one who abandoned his roots and his family to find the life he wanted for himself, or the one who felt the pull of that life, but stayed behind because of his ties and responsibilities to his hometown. He knew what he was giving up, and the life he was accepting by staying, but he stayed anyway.
This track speaks to me personally as I actually come from the Leeds / Bradford area where New Model Army started as a band. Living in West Yorkshire you are always surrounded by the valleys of green and grey - green for the wood and grass covered hills and grey of the soot marked stone that is commonly used to build the local mills / buildings and terraced houses.
Yes even now in small town West Yorkshire, places like Bradford, Huddersfield, Halifax, Morley, Batley you can get your head kicked in by the locals on a Friday night for having hair longer than the approved length, still get called a 'poof' - even though I dont think gay guys ever had long hair styles frustratingly!
Obviously the song is referring to friends / brothers etc who have since departed the small town birthplace for sunnier climes or more exciting / rewarding careers in the big smoke (London?) and few never look back. As someone who moved out of my hometown to move to a better place, albeit not that far away I can empathize with the sentiment of the lyrics. It does seem to suggest that people who leave home somehow betray their roots, but given the limited options / smalltown mentality they are escaping who can blame them? Not me, I'm one of them in a way. So from these valleys of the green and the grey, and the rain soaked hills of West Yorkshire, I send you humble greetings. And if 'Slade the Leveller' ever reads this, nice work pal!
@jonleeds Definitely, I grew up in the same sort of world but on the other side of the Pennines. Growing up I was in a group of punks and hippys and was the only one of the group to go to uni (a bit later in life when I was about 20) It was pretty much just to get away from the town that had a small town mentality and big city problems. When I came back at christmas a friend drunkenly sang this to me, a few weeks later he came to visit and within months he left the...
@jonleeds Definitely, I grew up in the same sort of world but on the other side of the Pennines. Growing up I was in a group of punks and hippys and was the only one of the group to go to uni (a bit later in life when I was about 20) It was pretty much just to get away from the town that had a small town mentality and big city problems. When I came back at christmas a friend drunkenly sang this to me, a few weeks later he came to visit and within months he left the town as well! Just seeing that there is something else can be enough.
After years listening to music and spending lots of money in music and discovering new artists this song is still my #1. I agree with blackaliss, the best song there is.
yeah but whats it about? is it about brits going to Belfast or what? are the new model army one of these english patriotic bands ultimately? do they love the world? because i love the bands music but i hate the name - cromwells murdering army that commited genocide on Ireland or do the fans know anything about the real meaning of the new model army?
I highly doubt the members of NMA condone what theNew Model Army did. Their music is very much anti-war, and takes every oppurtunity to denounce nationalism and out-group hostility.
I highly doubt the members of NMA condone what theNew Model Army did. Their music is very much anti-war, and takes every oppurtunity to denounce nationalism and out-group hostility.
During the british civil war the New Model Army was the army equipped with the most advanced gear available. So my guess here the idea is that the band carries the name to tell they have the most advanced weaponry: instruments and lyrics.
During the british civil war the New Model Army was the army equipped with the most advanced gear available. So my guess here the idea is that the band carries the name to tell they have the most advanced weaponry: instruments and lyrics.
Sometimes a band's name is used mockingly. jeglikerkuken is right about this band, they are very anti-war and anti-nationalist. A similar example is the band Die Krupps. They are named after the Krupps family/corporation who supplied munitions to the nazi's in the 30's and 40's. Their name is not in tribute, it is to remind people of the horrors that occurred and how these willing participants in such atrocities still linger today.
Sometimes a band's name is used mockingly. jeglikerkuken is right about this band, they are very anti-war and anti-nationalist. A similar example is the band Die Krupps. They are named after the Krupps family/corporation who supplied munitions to the nazi's in the 30's and 40's. Their name is not in tribute, it is to remind people of the horrors that occurred and how these willing participants in such atrocities still linger today.
@naturesbest The best answer would be to listen to the song My Country...it will tell you everything you need to know!
@naturesbest The best answer would be to listen to the song My Country...it will tell you everything you need to know!
I interpret it as a guy (Sullivan) singing about a friend, brother, perhaps an older brother with some idolisation. The lyrics suggest what happened to Billy Boy wouldn't have happened if that person were still there, so he was a protector to an extent.
When you grow up in a country town or village, or northern industrial green/grey town, there are people who leave and people who stay. I relate to that, I moved to Australia (palm trees by the sea). I have friends from my youth who're still there, they never left. Have I achieved anything from moving to Australia? Perhaps, or perhaps it's just different. Am I better than them for moving to a "better" place? I pitty them at times for not achieving more (winning and losing), and I never really looked back. You move on, you forget about people who used to matter.
That's the meaning the song has to me at this point in time. I've listen to it countless times before but never really considered it. Beautiful song.
@pfeds I agree with you and blackaliss — this one isn’t mysterious and just says what it is, but maybe not everyone knows the situation so thanks for expressing for those who wanted it spelled out.
@pfeds I agree with you and blackaliss — this one isn’t mysterious and just says what it is, but maybe not everyone knows the situation so thanks for expressing for those who wanted it spelled out.
@pfeds I agree — this one isn’t mysterious and just says what it is, but maybe not everyone knows the situation so thanks for expressing for those who wanted it spelled out.
@pfeds I agree — this one isn’t mysterious and just says what it is, but maybe not everyone knows the situation so thanks for expressing for those who wanted it spelled out.
Sorry I posted that I agreed with myself (part of the sentence voice to text autocorrect I didn’t notice before posting and then can’t edit or delete any more....
Sorry I posted that I agreed with myself (part of the sentence voice to text autocorrect I didn’t notice before posting and then can’t edit or delete any more....
On the face of it this song appears to describe how two people no longer see each other, one of them has moved on the other has stayed…
But this being New Model Army suggests there are other things going on. The song seems to be dealing with loyally, and loyalty to the place where you come from.
Well received when played live in Yorkshire, the area that the song appears to describe. Local people can connect themselves, the places described and their lives with the song.
It’s interesting that away from the region it sometimes doesn’t go down well, perhaps either people see it as geographically not describing their own patch or maybe the listener has indeed been lured to ‘To the land of gold and poison’.
The song ends by suggesting that by leaving you have betrayed.
As a metaphor the song could be seen as how people are not ‘awake’ to their environment and leave in pursuit of something unattainable, forgetting their past, where they have come from and the people they have known.
@HeathA interesting, i think that’s probably true for many. I have loved this song for decades and not from Yorkshire or similar climate originally, nor where I live lately. Although I do know some valleys of green and gray from where my grandparents lived so who knows ... But I’ve always been able to relate to the general feeling of this of leaving vs staying where you grew up - a salient theme in my life. But even before I’d gone anywhere as a 13 year old i understood to it and loved it and imagined it, and only years...
@HeathA interesting, i think that’s probably true for many. I have loved this song for decades and not from Yorkshire or similar climate originally, nor where I live lately. Although I do know some valleys of green and gray from where my grandparents lived so who knows ... But I’ve always been able to relate to the general feeling of this of leaving vs staying where you grew up - a salient theme in my life. But even before I’d gone anywhere as a 13 year old i understood to it and loved it and imagined it, and only years later experience being in that actual landscape or situation myself.
this song came out on my 0th birthday
today in 89 :D