Internal Exile Lyrics

I saw a blue umbrella in Princes Street Gardens
Heading out west for the Lothian Road
An Evening News stuffed deep in his pocket
Wrapped up in his problems to keep away the cold

Grierson's spirit haunts the dockyards
(Where) the only men working (are on the) documentary crews
Shooting film as the lines get longer
As the seams run out, as the oil runs dry

Hey there laddie, internal exile
When will you (realise) {see that} we've got to let go?
Hey there lassie, internal exile
When will you realise (we've) {you've} got to let go?

Starlings wheeling round Georgian spires
And the fires of Grangemouth burn the skies
A lion sleeps in a tenement close
In the country that's tired and deaf to his roar

Hey there laddie, internal exile
When will you (realise) {see that} we've got to let go?
Hey there lassie, internal exile
When will you realise (we've) {you've} got to let go?

+ {We've got to go now}
+ {Won't you please let us go now?}

+ They bury a wasteland deep in the wilderness
+ Poison the soil and reap the harvest
+ Of blind indifference, greed and apathy
+ Sowed way back in our history + The fish are few and the harbours are empty
+ The keels now rot on our oil slicked shores
+ The sheep are gone, the farms deserted
+ (We're) {It's} out of sight and we're out of mind

+ Hey there laddie, internal exile
+ When will you (realise) {see that} we've got to let go?
+ Hey there lassie, internal exile
+ When will you realise (we've) {you've} got to let go?

{We're gonna go now}
{We're gonna go now}

Like our fathers before us we've eyes for America
Dream of a new life on foreign shores
(But) wherever we go we'll always know
That the land we stand on is never our own

Hey there laddie, internal exile
When will you (realise) {see that} we've got to let go?
Hey there lassie, internal exile
When will you realise (we've) {you've} got to let go?

{We're internal exiles}
{We've got to, got to let go}
{We're internal exiles}
{As if we've got to let go}
{We've got to let go}
{We've got to go now}
{Won't you please let us go now?}
{Internal exile}
{Internal exile}
{Won't you please let us go now?}

+ These lines are omitted from the 7" and karaoke edits

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