So this has been.my favorite song of OTEP's since it came out in 2004, and I always thought it was a song about a child's narrative of suffering in an abusive Christian home. But now that I am revisiting the lyrics, I am seeing something totally new.
This song could be gospel of John but from the perspective of Jesus.
Jesus was NOT having a good time up to and during the crucifixion. Everyone in the known world at the time looked to him with fear, admiration or disgust and he was constantly being asked questions. He spoke in "verses, prophesies and curses". He had made an enemy of the state, and believed the world was increasingly wicked and fallen from grace, or that he was in the "mouth of madness".
The spine of atlas is the structure that allows the titan to hold the world up. Jesus challenged the state and in doing so became a celebrated resistance figure. It also made him public enemy #1.
All of this happened simply because he was doing his thing, not because of any agenda he had or strategy.
And then he gets scourged (storm of thorns)
There are some plot holes here but I think it's an interesting interpretation.
Down in Albion
They're black and blue
But we don't talk about that
Are you from 'round here?
How do you do?
I'd like to talk about that
Talk over
Gin in teacups
And leaves on the lawn
Violence in bus stops
And the pale thin girl with eyes forlorn
More gin in teacups
And leaves on the lawn
Violence in dole queues
And the pale thin girl
Behind the checkout
If you're looking for a cheap sort
Set in false anticipation
I'll be waiting in the photo booth
At the underground station
So come away, won't you come away
We could go to
Deptford, Catford, Watford, Digberth, Mansfield
Ohh, anywhere in Albion
Anywhere in Albion
Anywhere in Albion
Yellowing classics
And canons at dawn
Coffee wallahs and pith helmets
And an English song
Mm, Reebok classics
And canons at dawn
Terrible warlords, good Warlords
And an English song
Ohh, if you're looking for a cheap sort
All glint with perspiration
There's a four-mile queue
Outside the disused power station
Now come away, oh say you'll come away
We'll go to
Satsworth, Senford, Weovil, Woomoyle, New Castle
If you are looking for a cheap tart
Don't glint with perspiration
There's a five-mile queue
Outside the disused power station
Now come away (away), won't you come away
We'll go to,
Bedtown, Oldham, Nunthorpe, Rowlam, Bristol
Anywhere in Albion
Anywhere in Albion
Anywhere in Albion
Anywhere in Albion
Anywhere in Albion
They're black and blue
But we don't talk about that
Are you from 'round here?
How do you do?
I'd like to talk about that
Talk over
Gin in teacups
And leaves on the lawn
Violence in bus stops
And the pale thin girl with eyes forlorn
More gin in teacups
And leaves on the lawn
Violence in dole queues
And the pale thin girl
Behind the checkout
If you're looking for a cheap sort
Set in false anticipation
I'll be waiting in the photo booth
At the underground station
So come away, won't you come away
We could go to
Deptford, Catford, Watford, Digberth, Mansfield
Ohh, anywhere in Albion
Anywhere in Albion
Anywhere in Albion
Yellowing classics
And canons at dawn
Coffee wallahs and pith helmets
And an English song
Mm, Reebok classics
And canons at dawn
Terrible warlords, good Warlords
And an English song
Ohh, if you're looking for a cheap sort
All glint with perspiration
There's a four-mile queue
Outside the disused power station
Now come away, oh say you'll come away
We'll go to
Satsworth, Senford, Weovil, Woomoyle, New Castle
If you are looking for a cheap tart
Don't glint with perspiration
There's a five-mile queue
Outside the disused power station
Now come away (away), won't you come away
We'll go to,
Bedtown, Oldham, Nunthorpe, Rowlam, Bristol
Anywhere in Albion
Anywhere in Albion
Anywhere in Albion
Anywhere in Albion
Anywhere in Albion
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Yes.
But not Britain...
Albion = England
an ode to the sights and sounds of working class england, albion is a ship that leads to arcady, utopian place that can only be found through hard work and self destruction. other songs like Love on the Dole tie in with the idea of beauty only existing for us, the people singing for their supper and trying to reach our dreams.
so sail the good ship albion to arcady, and maybe we can all be beautiful dreamers, maybe.
peace love drama
albion = britain the song's just about being british
i adore this song, it's soo beautiful.. and yes, it's about britain
boring lovechild, i think you'll find that the places in the lyrics vary from recording to recording :]
my dad heard one of the first ever live playings of this track, when pete used to work in a bar in north london - the libertines used to play tiny warm-up gigs to like, 6 or 7 people in this pub before they got famous x]
This was Pete first ever song. It was a poem he performed it when he was in the libertines.
hhmmm lykd yor comment joefox im a big big pete........libertines........babyshambles fan th libertines music was wot first hit me its amazin and th whole pete life story that unfolding in front of us is fascinating. albion duznt seem to b gettin great rewies but i think its a decent song. so wot do ppl think of th nu album then?
First of all, the lyrics as printed here are both wrong in places and incomplete for not naming the towns listed as symbols of Pete's imagined England (and, yes, must echo that it is England, not Britain). William Blake (who had such an influence on Jim Morrisson) portrayed Albion in his poems as a sort of mystical England, the new jerusalem. Doherty is tapping into this vision. I like the song a lot but some parts feel laboured (where the hell in England is there a queue outside a disused power station?) Still, it stands well as a name check of a miscellany of the young, bored and working-class English experience. Hope Pete doesn't do a Morrisson.
laboured???how can you say that? we have already established it's a poem. not everything in a poem has to be entirely literal. there may be no queues but there atre certinly disused power stations. yes the lyrics are incomplete but if you are a real Pete fan you'll know that he changes the place names every time he sings the song. so for johnnymac to put '...' is fair enough, because if he put the place names from one version they would be incorrect according to another.
the guitar that plays right after the chorus is beautiful
Those who the song is just about England, Albion is the Ancient name for Great Britain and the name of the ship that is sailing Doherty and anyone who wants it better to a fictional Utopia where there are no rules or boundaries.