Birds of Passage

Rather have roses, than guns

I had to get back to Belfast City

Where the jeeps are green and the girls are pretty

London time been getting me down

I gotta get out before the leaves turn brown

You and me both heading North

Back door drifters on an exile's course

Belfast City

But it could be anywhere

Where birds of passage

Flying through the air

Birds of passage

Leaving no forwarding address

No name, no number, no nationality

And no need to even impress

Oh no, to even impress

The marching band plays their short tirades

While Mother Ireland sways like a stripper on stage

And the politicians mix religious drinks

With the twists and the tricks

They nicked from all the Old Testament plagues

You and me both staying up late

Playing tapes well past their sell by date

Birds of passage

Leaving no forwarding address

It pays to wait all week

To discover Sunday's best

I'm telling you that Sunday's best

Everything American is on sale

Because it happened in a movie so long ago

Up and down the women go

Talk about a cinema on a sandy road

You and me know being born here

Wanting to leave is like learning how to breathe

For us birds of passage

Leaving no forwarding address

Me in my passport suit

You in your non-political party dress

Let's forget about that, party dress, let's go

Now it's getting near time to be moving on

Getting restless doesn't take that long

I'll meet you at the clock down by the docks

Where the birds swoop down from their parking lots

You and me both, driven so close

The pillar was our pillar and the coast our post

For us birds of passage

Leaving no address

Birds of passage

Leaving no forwarding address

When we fly this close