It's almost time to go! It's been terrific to know you / But we really can't stay / Tomorrow's new country / Calls us home…for the day. All of these Marillion songs are great but skip ahead to the 6:35 mark in this composite video to hear Tomorrow's New Country. This is the only video I could find with this song in it.
The Marillion album F.E.A.R. (F*** Everyone And Run) has a song called The Leavers about how it is to tour in the band. The last song on the album is this quiet gem reprising that theme. It's about that pull to be somewhere new until you feel the pull of the next place. It's a bit of poetry for this Foreign Service life abroad:
There are scars in our eyes
From a thousand goodbyes
That was great
You can write
But I won't reply
You know we are the Leavers - I’ll tell you a secret…
It's better to leave us alone
It's been terrific to know you
But we really can't stay
Tomorrow's new country
Calls us home
…for the day.
Here are the lyrics to The Leavers which is the epic multi-part prog rock song mentioned above. We're the Leavers and even though we don't bring our "noise and light" like a band, we do have our stories and knick-knacks. These collected experiences and things from living abroad and off-the-beaten-path travels are entertaining to the Remainers when we visit them on the way to the next country. We'll be visiting some Remainers when go back to the U.S. for home leave.
i. Wake Up in Music
We are the Leavers
And the road rolls beneath us
We sleep as we’re driven
We arrive before dawn
We wait in grey truck-stops
For the night to release us
Then slip in from ring-roads
And our work starts again
Unloading our cargo
The thrills of the night
Our boxes of noises
Our boxes of light
We are parties that travel
Movies that move
Jokes that span fields
Conversations that chatter
From one town to another
Laughter that passes
Thoughts on the wind
We will make a show
And then we'll go.
We are the Leavers
Bottles that empty
From Dover to Calais
From Paris to Hamburg
Strasbourg to Stockholm
On buses that rumble from Newport ..to New York!
We nod-off in London or Lisbon or Lima
We wake up in Munich
Wake up in music
We are the Leavers
We are the Leavers
Be careful. We’ll leave you..
ii. The Remainers
The Remainers remain in their homely places
Go home, wash their faces, lay down their heads
As the Leavers take with them their lonely craziness
Our fast-moving laughter
Our fast-moving beds
And our hearts slowly lose focus
Like gypsies at fairs
We will meet someone new somewhere else
iii. Vapour Trails in the Sky
We are the Leavers
And the world turns beneath us
We’re somewhere above you
Vapour trails in the sky
Days and nights scrambled
Hurtling to somewhere
From somewhere forgotten
Somewhere forgotten
We’re born out of recklessness
The thirst for the thrill
We’re revelry’s children
Life’s too short for standing still
iv. The Jumble of Days
Our lives slowly unravel
Like wool pulled from sweaters
We'll knit something new somewhere else, so forget us.
We are the Leavers
You'll stay and we'll travel
You'll know where you are, always
We'll be vague in our jumble of days
We can never be sure
But be sure of one thing
When the thrills are all done
We'll be gone.
The Remainers can try to persuade us, and tame us
And train us and save us and keep us at home
As we try to fit in with the family life
The mind-numbing comedown
The trouble and strife
All the misunderstandings, defensive attacks
The walls we don’t dare relax
And the hurt in your eyes, I know you know that I pray
For the phone-call that takes me away
We won't be much use to you dead
v. One Tonight
The Remainers are leaving their homely places
With excited faces, drawn to the night
Preparing their minds for a break from the sensible life
As the leavers bring with them their noise and light, their wild wonder cure-all of crazy religion
In one sacred ritual
Unmasked and undressed
We all come together
We’re all one tonight
We come together
We come together
There are scars in our eyes
From a thousand goodbyes
That was great
You can write
But I won't reply
I won’t reply.
Here's a live version of the song's end piece called One Tonight. I couldn't find the rest of it on YouTube but this part is great. There's so much confetti!
Life's too short for standing still so we'll give our thousand goodbyes and ramble on!
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