Boat Train

[SickBed]

There's a part of the song "Boat Train" that I can't quite make out and it does not appear on any lyrics websites that I have found.

All I can make out of it is: "Then we went through customs . . . first they looked for bombs and guns, and then they looked for drugs . . ."

Anyone have any idea what this stanza is really saying?

[Christine]

Then we went through customs
With a couple of crazy thugs
First they looked for bombs and joints
Then they looked for drugs
Stuck a flashlight up my ass
Told some Irish jokes
Said "Fuck off now, paddy"
So I headed for a smoke


This is from the wonderful Parting Glass lyrics site, where you'll find more details. http://www.poguetry.com/

[Fitzgerald]

It would be the wildest, most insane trip one could ever even imagine taking. Meeting with Napper Tandy, shaking his hand, puking constantly, drinking everything... You go threw customs, receiving all sorts of humiliation, then you hear some guy start randomly singing old Irish songs, someone starts bitching about the Pakis and the Jews... you try to sit down and read the newspaper, but then all of sudden it's pouring rain and your staggering and swaggering in London town. Fucking amazing.

[Simon]

Yea sounds like a trip you never will forget after that trip i think i would need lullaby of London.

[Simon Maguire]

Yea sounds like a trip you never will forget after that trip i think i would need lullaby of London.

No, I'd need another drink.

[paddys pistol]

sorta reminds me of the time i took a cruise through the greek islands for my grade 12 trip a few years back

[Eyeball_Kid]

I'd probably feel like Mr Chevron supposedly did when they were on the ferry in - I think - 1986.

[Arthur]

I dunno..

I reckon I would be a little repulsed by the whole thing, people throwing up everywhere when you go up the gangplank, theives onboard, drunks in the corner then nursing their hang overs in the toilet, not to mention getting a flash light up your arse while going through customs....I think I would need a holiday after that.

(P.S. as I was typing this Boat Train came on my i-pod, freaky)

[Scotty Anxiety]

Ummm. I'm ignorant, and american... I've been wondering, what IS a boat train exactly?



scott

[firehazard]

Ummm. I'm ignorant, and american... I've been wondering, what IS a boat train exactly?

Ah. A boat train is what you call a train that links up with a ferry. So in the song they arrive at the port of Holyhead (in north Wales) having come across on the ferry, and then get on the train to England that starts from the port, taking on board passengers arriving by boat. So that's a boat train...

[robertc]

Why is one verse of Boat Train never in the printed lyrics? It's not even in the CD notes for the newer version of Peace and Love. It's not printed in the Poguetry book also.

[pogues24]

Why is one verse of Boat Train never in the printed lyrics? It's not even in the CD notes for the newer version of Peace and Love. It's not printed in the Poguetry book also.

Not really sure. The same can be said as too why Red Roses For Me never contains the lyrics to any of the album's songs in the liner notes. But, hey Boat Train is still a classic song and one of the highlights on Peace and Love.

Iain

[Jaster]

What is the significance of Napper Tandy in Boat Train? I know a (very) little of who he was and what we did, so being a quite contraversial figure I'm sure there must be some reason he features in particular, but for the life of me I can't figure it out.

Cheers

[Zuzana]

The excellent Poguetry.com website explains that the lyrics allude to the Irish rebel song "The Wearing of the Green":

I met with Napper Tandy, and he took me by the hand,
And he said, "How's poor ould Ireland, and how does she stand?"

More info here.

[Jon]

Napper Tandy is also cockney rhyming slang for Brandy