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Turkish Song Of The Damned Lyrics
I come old friend from Hell tonight
Across the rotting sea
Nor the nails of the cross
Nor the blood of Christ
Can bring you help this eve
The dead have come to claim a debt from thee
They stand outside your door
Four score and three
Did you keep a watch for the dead man's wind
Did you see the woman with the comb in her hand
Wailing away on the wall on the strand
As you danced to the Turkish song of the damned
You remember when the ship went down
You left me on the deck
The captain's corpse jumped up
And threw his arms around my neck
For all these years I've had him on my back
This debt cannot be paid with all your jack
And as I sit and talk to you I see your face go white
This shadow hanging over me
Is no trick of the light
The spectre on my back will soon be free
The dead have come to claim a debt from thee
Across the rotting sea
Nor the nails of the cross
Nor the blood of Christ
Can bring you help this eve
The dead have come to claim a debt from thee
They stand outside your door
Four score and three
Did you keep a watch for the dead man's wind
Did you see the woman with the comb in her hand
Wailing away on the wall on the strand
As you danced to the Turkish song of the damned
You left me on the deck
The captain's corpse jumped up
And threw his arms around my neck
For all these years I've had him on my back
This debt cannot be paid with all your jack
This shadow hanging over me
Is no trick of the light
The spectre on my back will soon be free
The dead have come to claim a debt from thee
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This song was recorded for the reasons listed above, but you failed to mention a few parts. The song is borrowed greatly from Celtic Sailor's myth. Throughout such tales there are plenty of stories of [un]dead pirate and sailor captains who are immortal, ever heard the phrase Davy Jones' Locker (which refers to the very bottom of the ocean)...yeah, Jones was Scottish. Anyhow, the debt is collected by a servant, who typically is already dead and carries a "shadow" on their back (Meaning a curse) and is sent to collect the debt from whomever still has not paid, dead or alive. These such stories go back centuries in Celtic mythology as does the "Woman with a comb in her hand" which refers to a Banshee, a type of faerie spirit from Ireland (or sometimes Scotland) who forewarns someone of a death by singing a song of mourning and typically carries a silver comb.
Its about a man whos "freind" left him on a sinking ship to die. He seems to come to collect the debt of abandoning all those people.
Well, that may be what it's about, but Shane wrote it because there's a song by the Damned that the Pogues sometimes did onstage, that has something about Turkey in it, and one night a drunk kept yelling they should play "that Turkish song by the Damned"...
I've heard a similar story as fairportfan's, except that it was something about them being in Turkey and hearing a Damned song.
Some of the lyrics are paraphrased from Samuel Taylor Coleridge's "Rime of the Ancient Mariner". Shane also used the phrase about the minstrel "who stoppeth one in three", from the same poem, in the song "Fiesta".
Haven't really thought about the meaning, I just love the music, makes my skin get all tingly.
opiate addiction.plain and simple.