Missing you
Christy Moore Lyrics

In nineteen hundred and eighty six
The year 1986 was a time when there were limited options for carpenters except to engage in hard manual labor.

There's not much for a chippie but swinging a pick
A carpenter had few job prospects other than to do heavy physical work such as manual labor.

And you can't live on love, on love alone
It is impossible to live solely on love, it takes more to survive.

So you sail cross the ocean, away cross the foam
As a result, many carpenters had to emigrate to different countries to find work.

To where you're a Paddy, a Biddy or a Mick
When you leave your country for work, you become just another person from that country, regardless of your background.

Good for nothing but stacking a brick
Many immigrants had limited work opportunities and were only qualified for manual labor tasks.

Your best mate's a spade and he carries a hod
On the job site, the spade becomes their best friend and the hod carrier is someone they rely on.

Two work horses heavily shod
Working as a manual laborer means that you are like a horse which pulls loads every day, hence he is heavily shod.

Oh I'm missing you
The artist misses the person he is addressing.

I'd give all for the price of a flight
The artist is ready to give anything and everything to take a flight and see the person he misses dearly.

Under Piccadilly's neon
The singer is possibly in London and feeling lost surrounded by the bright neon lights of Piccadilly Circus.

Who did you murder, are you a spy?
The artist is asked sarcastically whether he is a spy who has committed a crime, due to his excessive drinking.

I'm just fond of a drink helps me laugh, helps me cry
The singer admits he drinks to escape his misery, and laughter and tears are the aftermath of alcohol.

So I just drink red biddy for a permanent high
Red biddy a type of cheap intoxicating liquor which the singer has taken to drinking more regularly since his arrival in a foreign land.

I laugh a lot less and I'll cry till I die
The singer is heartbroken and feeling down since his emigration experience, and he is not sure when he will stop feeling that way.

All ye young people now take my advice
The artist is advising young people to think twice before leaving their country for work elsewhere.

Before crossing the ocean you'd better think twice
Emigration should not be taken lightly and people must consider their options before boarding the boat.

Cause you can't live without love, without love alone
It is important to have more than just professional success when one is far from their loved ones.

The proof is round London in the nobody zone
There are many people who live alone and work hard as laborers in the big cities around the world, and this may lead to a sense of hopelessness.

Where the summer is fine, but the winter's a fridge
Living in a foreign land might be enjoyable in the summer, but the winter may be too harsh and difficult to tolerate.

Wrapped up in old cardboard under Charing Cross Bridge
The image painted here is of homeless people sleeping rough under London's Charing Cross Bridge in makeshift cardboard beds.

And I'll never go home now because of the shame
The artist has no plans of returning home due to the humiliation of having been unsuccessful in his new life abroad.

Of misfit's reflection in a shop window pane
The singer is haunted by his own reflection, which symbolizes his sense of inadequacy and not fitting in to the new environment where he finds himself.