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One More Candle
Album: The World Seems Happy...
I wrote this song sitting in a detention centre in Dover, south east England. I had been in Amsterdam for quite some time and decided that London might be fun, but the customs man decided differently after I innocently let slip that I would be busking to cover my travel expenses. And although street performance is now widely accepted as a modern day artform, the old fashioned way of thinking had Mr Customs man sternly looking down at me and informing me that I would be denied entry into his country due to 'begging' being against the law and totally unacceptable. As I tried to come to terms with his judgements, for the first time in my life I understood, to some degree, what refugees must go through. The difference was I had peace of mind knowing that I could return to a beautiful home in Australia whenever I wanted to.
While awaiting their decision on where and when I was going to next, I toyed with boredom - daydreaming of the home I had just come from and my Aussie homeland and flipping over into the mind of someone sitting in a detention centre for months on end with no hope in sight. The song emerged as my mind shifted from detained muso to downtrodden refugee.
As I sat and pondered about my fraudulent slip, I realised there was more to it. I summed myself up as an honest, well educated, financially independent travelling gypsy at that point in my life. Wearing op shop clothing for convenience and comfort rather than as a fashion statement. But the eyes behind the customs counter saw only an image they frowned upon.
It made me wonder... isn't a disorderly image how most refugees would look after escaping the daily struggle and hardships of a war torn or poverty sticken country and then embarking upon a long voyage in a desperate attempt find freedom and hope? Is it this image that determines how asylum seekers are treated by those they seek help from at a dismal, yet somewhat hopeful time in their life. Is there any respect or understanding for who they may be behind the appearance and what they may offer their new country and the communities within it?
My experience got me interested in the systems... and I soon learnt that these 'seekers' - who are simply doing anything they can to make a positive change in their lives are treated as criminals in most cases – screened and isolated until it is decided what the consequences of their actions may be. Months or even years behind barbed wire fences with confused children by their side may pass by.
It all seems radically unfair. There must be a better, more just solution to the way in which disadvantaged people are treated in this day and age. Considering the rapid advancement in many other areas of human achievement, sadly it seems human rights is still keeping us in the dark ages.
One More Candle :: Lyrics
Words and Music by Johnnie McCarthy (1991) Copyright
One more candle burning
One more gypsy down
Don't talk down to me Mr Customs Man
Just let me into your town
Well they won't let me into my future
And they won't let me out of my past
Hey I don't mind the present never lasts
One more candle burning
Watch it going down
Had to leave my gypsy wagon
Back in my damned town
Well I'm broke and beat to look at
But how different can a human be
They don't judge me on what I am
But what they conceive
CHORUS And so the weeks crawl by in apathy
I should be out by now
But the arrogant conceit of the customs man
Has left my mind completely null
Time and the flux of change, they pass away from me
The dim dusk binds this dusty camp in gloom
This smoky hazy landscape will be memories
For the present and this refugee camp will soon be gone
One more candle burning
Watch it going down
Had to leave my gypsy wagon
And the strongest love I've known
I'm in love with my own freedom
But your city's bound round my brain
Hey, I don't mind the present's sure to change
REPEAT CHORUS AND LAST VERSE
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