Van Der Graaff: Refugees, whats it about?

This song is awesome, but does anyone know its true meaning?  Sounds like Hammill is pretty passionate about this Mike and Suzie, and i have no clue what the song is about.

 

Thanks for the help!

They're his old house/flatmates.  I forget who they were for now, my brain's gone dead.

But I just think it's about his old friends and Peter himself moving on and how he wishes that they were still around.  He's reminiscing about his past.  He was at University in Manchester, so that could well indicate the North.

He then went South with the band (after initially forming in Manchester), to London and later 
Oxfordshire and Wiltshire (but this was after this song was written I believe).

West is a better place, maybe it's a metaphor for heaven?  Who knows, but Mike and Susie are still alive, so it's not so likely.

From Peter himself:

"For six months I shared a flat with Mike and Susie, who are among my oldest friends. When the time for departure came, I was washed with the melancholia which normally attends moving from 'home' and the physical memories it retains, heightened in this instance by the knowledge that, from being the closest of triads, we were committing ourselves to a separation in which months could easily slide into years. In this knowledge, the last vestiges of hope lay only in a future Utopia and re-joining of the hands.
In the writing, however, the song developed a life of its own (as is always the best way), and the hope becomes much more than that for reunion with my friends. We are all refugees, and there is no home but hope."


Edit: I believe Susie is Susan Penhaligon, a British actress, who was far more well known in the '70s than now and Mike, was Michael Brand, a musician, but I'm sure I've read that he is someone else, I'll consult my VdGG tome tomorrow and find out.

And as The Wizard rightly says: They were also mentioned in Peter Hammill's solo track "Easy To Slip Away".

Refugees

North was somewhere years ago and cold:
Ice locked the people's hearts and made them old.
South was birth to pleasant lands, but dry...
I walked the waters' depths and played my mind.
         
East was dawn, coming alive in the golden sun:
the winds came gently, several heads became one
in the summertime, though august people sneered;
we were at peace, and we cheered.
         
We walked along, sometimes hand in hand,
between the thin lines marking sea and sand;
smiling very peacefully,
we began to notice that we could be free,
and we moved together to the West.
         
West is where all days will someday end,
where the colours turn from grey to gold,
and you can be with the friends.
And light flakes the golden clouds above;
West is Mike and Susie,
West is where I love.
         
There we shall spend our final days of our lives,
tell the same old stories... yeah well, at least we tried.
So into the West, smiles on our faces, we'll go;
oh, yes, and our apologies to those
who'll never really know the way.
         
We're refugees, walking away from the life
that we've known and loved;
nothing to do nor say, nowhere to stay; 
now we are alone.
We're refugees, carrying all we own
in brown bags, tied up with string;
nothing to think, it doesn't mean a thing,
but we can be happy on our own.
West is Mike and Susie,
West is Mike and Susie.
West is where I love,
West is refugees' home.

Edited by Geck0

Not a problem Trotsky.

Are you an Orwell fan?

Geck0 wrote: Not a problem Trotsky. Are you an Orwell fan?

Yes I am GeckO ... I own around 8 or 9 of his works ... although the last three I read were  the non-fiction accounts Down And Out in Paris And London, Road To Wigan Pier and Homage To Catalonia ...

Have I missed a glaring reference? It's been ages since I read the other books ...

Ooohhhh... i allmost started crying when reading thos lyrics they are so beautifull.. And the music is not of this world

According to the booklet notes to the Virgin Universal VDGG compilation CD 'I Prophesy Disaster', the song was "composed in the aftermath of the political upheavals of 1968", which would give the melancholy lyrics even more resonance.

By the way, the aforementioned CD features the rare 1970 single version of the song (different than the one that appeared on 'The Least We Can Do...'), along with its even more rare B-side 'The Boat of Millions of Years', a Hammill digression into Egyptian mythology. To these ears the shorter, orchestral version of 'Refugees beats the album mix hands down.

back to my western New York Winter hibernation (yes, even in mid April)...

Trotsky wrote: Geck0 wrote: I've not read much of his stuff.  I'm half way through Down and Out in Paris and London, that's an excellent read, I shall finish it one day. I was just thinking of the name Trotsky... of course, in Animal Farm he's not Trotsky I don't think (correct me if I'm wrong), but isn't he portrayed in it?  I must read that book sometime. I have a big book of his work, Down And Out, Road To Wigan Pier, Homage To Catalonia, plus some of his essays, including a review of Mein Kampf. Yup, the Trotsky character in Animal Farm is "Snowball" ... the real brains behind the revolution who gets outmanouevred by the Stalin character "Napoleon" ... He is a great read and even if not every example may seem relevant nowadays, the principles are sound, IMO

Orwell is amazing. I only have Animal Farm and 1984, but I love both of them. Good stuff, good stuff.