Lyrics

Gideon Fletcher
I looked out across the river today –
Saw a city in the fog and an old church tower
Where the seagulls play.
Saw the sad shire horses walking home in the sodium light,
And a pale sun shrinks from the empty streets
And the day falls into night.

All this time the river flowed endlessly to the sea.

Captain
Wallsend.

Gideon
Yeah, Wallsend, more like the world’s end.

Our teachers told us, the Romans built this place,
They built a wall and a temple,
At an edge of the empire garrison town,
They lived and they died, they prayed to their gods
But the stone gods did not make a sound.
And their empire crumbled, ‘til all that was left
Were the stones the workmen found.

All this time the river flowed endlessly to the sea.
If I had my way, I’d take a boat from the river,
And I’d bury the old man, bury him at sea.

Nothing’s ever changed round here,
Not in ten thousand years I fear,
Same bend in the river, where the tide slows down,
And the seagulls circle this dirty old town.
So I ask myself why the Hell would I stay?
Just churches and pubs where ye drink or ye pray,
And the sky’s still the same old battleship grey,
If only the pubs stayed open all day.

All this time the river flowed
In the falling light of a northern sun.
Well I had my way, I took a boat from the river
Cos men go crazy in congregations
They only get better one by one.

Gideon & Ensemble
One by one (all this time, yeah ee-yeah)
All this time, yeah ee-yeah
One by one by one (all this time, yeah ee-yeah)
All this time, yeah ee-yeah
One by one (all this time, yeah ee-yeah)

I looked out across the river today...