Al Bowlly's In Heaven - Richard Thompson

Well we were heroes then, and the girls were all pretty

And a uniform was a lucky charm, bought you the key to the city

We used to dance the whole night through

While Al Bowlly sang «The Very Thought Of You»

Now Bowlly’s in heaven and I’m in limbo now

Well I gave my youth to king and country

But what’s my country done for me but sentenced me to misery

I traded my helmet and my parachute

For a pair of crutches and a demob suit

Al Bowlly’s in heaven and I’m in limbo now

Hard times, hard hard times

Hostels and missions and dosser’s soup lines

Can’t close me eyes on a bench or a bed

For the sound of some battle raging in my head

Old friends, you lose so many

You get run around, all over town

The wear and the tear, oh it just drives you down

St Mungo’s with its dirty old sheets

Beats standing all day down on Scarborough Street

Al Bowlly’s in heaven and I’m in limbo now

Can’t stay here, you got to foot-slog

Once in a blue moon you might find a job

Sleep in the rain, you sleep in the snow

When the beds are all taken you’ve got nowhere to go

Well I can see me now, I’m back there on the dance floor

Oh with a blonde on me arm, red-head to spare

Spit on my shoes and shine in me hair

And there’s Al Bowlly, he’s up on a stand

Oh that was a voice and that was a band

Al Bowlly’s in heaven and I’m in limbo now