Companion song to The Sentry. UKSC semi-finalist 2010
Medium-sized singer songwriter. Likes beer, motorbikes and jelly babies.
Story behind the song
The guards and the prisoners are just the same...
Lyrics
Fugitive… Running. Fugitive… Running
So they’ve been teasing you in school about your name again?
Because it’s foreign and because they were our enemy back then.
Well let me tell you why you bear that name, my son
The reason’s buried in that war that no-one wanted; no-one won.
I was a soldier back when I was just eighteen
My eyes still burn with all the smashed and broken men and boys I’ve seen
We tried to fight but fear and hunger wore us down
They sent me as a captive to a prison camp four hundred miles from any town
They told us not to even think about escaping
But I could not endure inside just working, sleeping, endless waiting
They said we’d freeze or starve in days outside the wire
I made to run and fate decide if I would live or if and how I’d die.
Fugitive… Running. Fugitive…Running
I made it to the wire through night unseen
The sentry seemed distracted – just a boy like me a boy about eighteen
I’d fashioned up some cutters made from spoons and wire
But they were blunt and hurt my hands and he would turn and he would fire…
He raised his gun and looked straight to my very soul
The air around us seemed to freeze and silence clutched at dark and cold
The boy before me stretched his hand “Come on - let’s go”
And suddenly we’re running through the night in fear with faces full of joy and snow.
Fugitive… Running. Fugitive…Running
For three long months we moved on knowing they pursued
We stole from farms. A sheep – a coat. We used the gun to shoot our food.
They caught us at the border. Our bribe was too small.
I fled away. My friend was shot. I turned my head. I saw him dead. I saw him fall.
So they’ve been teasing you in school about your name again?
Because it’s foreign and because they were our enemy back then.
My friend the sentry bore that name, my son
He saved my life and yours in that war no-one wanted; no-one won.
Fugitive… Running. Fugitive…Running
Comments
The artist currently doesn't allow comments.
