I left my heart to the sappers 'round Khe Sahn And I sold my soul with my cigarettes, to a black market man I've had to Vietnam cold turkey, from the ocean to the silver city And it's only other vets could understa-and 'Bout the long forgotten dockside guarantees How there were no V-day heroes in nineteen seventy-three How we sailed into Sydney Harbour, I saw an old friend but I couldn't kiss her And she was lined, and I was home to the lucky land
She was like so many more from that time on Their lives were all so empty, until they'd found there chosen one And their legs were often open but their minds were always closed And their hearts were held in fast suburban chains
And the legal pads were yellow, hours long paypackets lean And the telex writers clattered where the gunships once had been The carparks made me jumpy and I never stopped the dreams Or the growing need for speed and novacaine
So I worked across the country from end to end I tried to find a place to settle down, where my mixed up life could mend I held a job on an oil-rig, a-flyin' choppers when I could But the nightlife nearly drove me round the bend
And I've travelled round the world from year to year-ear-ear And each one found me aimless, one more year the worse for wear And I've been back to South East Asia, you know the answer sure ain't there But I'm driftin' north to check things out agai-ai-ain
Well the last plane out of Sydney's almost go-one And only seven flyin' hours, till I'll be landin' in Hong Kong And there ain't nothin' like the kisses from a jaded Chinese princess I'm gonna hit some Hong Kong mattress all night lo-ong
Well the last plane out of Sydney's almost gone-aca
Alecia Elliott lyrics