BEGIN AGAIN (© Alan Reed, 2011)

My heart belongs to a nation that's lost in self-pity,
Looking back through the factory smoke and the rain.
I can remember the cobble-stone streets and the dark city walls,
So I'm more than content to let history speak for it all..

But I'll never surrender the feeling I get when I'm home..
There's a spirit inside, taking pride claiming me as it's own

Legends created from yesterday's black-leaded sorrows,
Fermented in casks to be borne on the emigrant tide.
Forging the links in a brotherhood chain - stretching all around the world
To a homeland that's drowning in tears from expatriate eyes

But I'll never surrender the feeling I get when I'm home..
There's a spirit inside, taking pride claiming me as it's own

Ohh.. Take me away from the hillside and the glen,
Away from the ghosts of the shipyard and foundry men
Why can't we surpass this obsession with the past?
Is it hope beyond reason it might be the season at last

..to begin again

Hiding our dreams in the dark of another man's shadow
Pretending to blame him for all of our sadness and pain
When will we learn that our fortunes will turn on the choices that we make
Let the past be the past, we must start down the road once again.

But I'll never surrender the feeling I get when I'm home..
There's a spirit inside, taking pride claiming me as it's own

Ohh.. Take me away from the hillside and the glen,
Away from the ghosts of the shipyard and foundry men
Why can't we surpass this obsession with the past?
Is it hope beyond reason it might be the season at last

..to begin again