Jackie
Placebo Lyrics

Jackie left on a cold, dark night
Jackie left one night without any indication of when he’ll come back, leaving the singer in confusion and worry

Telling me he'd be home
Jackie had promised the singer that he will return home, but didn’t give a specific date

Sailed the seas for a hundred years
Jackie had been on his journey for so long that it feels like a hundred years to the singer

And left me all alone
Jackie didn’t take the artist along in his journey and left them feeling isolated and abandoned

Now I've been dead for twenty years
The artist has been feeling spiritually dead and lost since Jackie left, now it seems like two decades have passed

I've been washing the sand with my ghostly tears
The singer’s tears have become a ritualistic form of ‘washing’ the sand as they have been crying for so many years

Searching the shores for my Jackie-oh
The singer is trying to locate Jackie's presence in the surroundings they shared, and feel their closeness again

And I remember the day that the young man came
The artist recalls the moment when they first heard about the loss of Jackie, and how it felt like a stab in the chest

Said, your Jackie's gone, he is lost in the rain
The young man informs the artist that Jackie might have lost his way when he was out in the rain, which is why he hasn’t come back

And I ran to the beach
The artist immediately rushes to the shoreline after hearing about Jackie's disappearance

And laid me down
The singer collapses on the ground beside the beach, feeling defeated by life's harshness

You're all wrong, I said
The artist refuses to believe that Jackie is lost somewhere and won't return; they have faith in his navigation skills and believes he’ll come back

And they stared to the sand
The others around the singer were taken aback by their reaction of disbelief

That man knows the sea like the back of his hand
The singer is convinced that Jackie knows the ocean too well to get lost or disappear, so he must be traversing his way back to the land

He'll be back some time
The singer confidently assures the others that Jackie will come back, and soon

Laughing at you
The artist envisions Jackie mocking the people who doubted him upon his return

And I've been waiting all this time
The artist has been waiting patiently for Jackie's return for so many years

For my man to come, take his hand in mine
The singer longs for the touch and familiarity of Jackie, wanting to hold his hand once again

And lead me away
The singer wishes for Jackie to take them away from their current, miserable existence towards a different, more promising future

To unseen shores
The artist wants to go somewhere they’ve never been before, away from the difficulties of their past life

And I'll walk the sea forever more
The artist vows to keep searching for Jackie's essence until they can find him, no matter how long it takes

‘til I find my Jackie-oh
The artist uses the moniker ‘Jackie-oh’, symbolizing the closeness they shared with Jackie, and their unstoppable quest to find him

Jackie-oh
Repetition of Jackie’s name, showcasing how the singer is fixated on him and his return