Oh my brave hearts, we must leave this land tomorrow,
We can't live here anymore,
And in the quiet hours, we talk before the dawn;
And the old hearts, they are calling from the shadows,
Telling us we must not go, oh but we cannot fight,
The power of the gun, to take away our land,
They take it from our sons, swear it on my hand,
We will return to run here like the wolf,
And see the hunter's moon, and watch our river flow,
It's not gone forever;
Oh my bold hearts, we will go down to the city,
We will live by city light, but in the darkest hour,
Keep this fire alive;
We will grow strong, we will bring our wealth together,
Never showing what we have,
And when the time has come, we'll reach out for the gun,
Taking back our land, take it for our sons,
Swear it on my hand,
We will return to run here like the wolf,
And see the hunter's moon, and watch our river flow,
We will return to touch the open sky,
And see the eagle fly, and feel the morning rain,
It's not gone forever,
We will return,
Oh my brave hearts,
We gonna come back, we gonna come back,
We will return,
Oh my brave hearts,
We will return.
"This was an earlier one that I wrote with Steve last summer. It was funny because the melody came out, and I was trying to imagine 'What is this trying to say to me...' What I came up with is that it felt to me like a group of people sitting around a fire, late into the night, talking. Maybe Indians in America, maybe people dispossessed in Bosnia, maybe in Africa... It doesn't really matter where, but it's about people who have to leave their land. They are being thrown out, they are being forced away. It starts 'Oh, my brave hearts, we must leave this land tomorrow, we can't live here any more. And in the quiet hours, we talk before the dawn.' And the ghosts of their ancestors are saying 'You must not leave.' But they can't fight the power of the gun; obviously, they're being dispossessed by force. And the chief, or the leader, of the group is talking to them and saying 'Well, what we have to do is acknowledge the fact that we are beaten now...' but he's also saying 'Swear it on my hand that we will return to run here like the wolf and see the hunter's moon - and watch our river flow. It's not gone forever...' So what they decide to do is that they'll go and live the Western way, they'll go down to the cities, take in city life, make money, work hard - and they will come back and re-possess. It's a very atmospheric track, and one of my big favourites on this record. It's a mid-tempo song."
The Getaway Gazette, April 1994
Albums
"Oh My Brave Hearts" appears on the following albums:
