Simon Oak's Independent Artist Pages

Song by Simon Oak, based on the famous traditional, to remember the Covid 19 pandemic.

End of April 2020, we were very keen on keeping safe distances, especially from the oldies, but that didn´t stop us from celebrating my mother’s 85^th birthday. Yes, that´s her, the dark haired lady, and that´s her true colour. She kept it till her dying day in June 2025. May she cycle peacefully in heaven!

Keeping a safe distance!

Later, in August 2020, safety measures were everywhere, sometimes a bit over the top, like on the empty ferry in Germany, out on the water and in the wind! Most of the time, we respected the rules, even when they made little sense. In spite of the restrictions, we had a great fiets holiday, crossing multiple country borders without problems, and I hope, without contributing to the spread of the killer virus.

Safety first on the Rhine Ferry in Germany

Here´s a home recording of the song. Please forgive me consistently singing the wrong words in the last chorus line.

Lyrics

Chorus after every verse:
And it’s home, boys, home
Home I’d like to be, home FOR A WHILE, and not a century
Between the devil and the sea we’ll dance attentively
Unless you want to lie in bed and live eternally

^1. When this nasty virus came along, I didn’t have a clue
I went into the public house to do what people do
For laughter and little drop, it is my only joy
Tis what I have been doing since I was a little boy

^2. Now the doctors and the nurses, the virologists
They are the best of human kind, fair play to their assists
I’d have died long ago, they know what’s good for me
At home I stay because they say it’s for our safety

^3. Not a fan of politicians I hate the way they talk
They are afraid of standing strong, be bitten by a dog
The dogs indeed are nasty, but the expert is no liar
No fire brigade would like wait to fight a smouldering fire

^4. Well I have a little garden and in the month of May
The grass is growing greener and I watch the robins play
The thrushes sing their melodies but as the evening falls
I find myself a-talking to the windows and the walls

^5. Come the day that this is over and we go out again
My hair has grown an inch or two, the world has gone insane
I cannot hug, I cannot kiss, embrace my mother dear
And in the pub the barman decontaminates my beer

^6. Let’s not forget the suffering, the sorrow and the pain
Of those who lost a friend and only memories remain
It is a killer virus, but we must defy the fear
As soon as we begin to live the end is always near.

November 11