Lyr Req/Add: Lost Children of the Empire(B Watson)

Subject: RE: req/ADD: Lost Children of the Empire(Bruce Watson)
From: GUEST,mg
Date: 06 Sep 14 - 02:10 AM

the people, it seems mostly older men now, are starting to speak up due to the child abuse hearings going on in australia. it is truly awful what happened to them.

Subject: RE: req/ADD: Lost Children of the Empire(Bruce Watson)
From: GUEST,SqueezeMe
Date: 06 Sep 14 - 02:07 AM

I stand corrected, Joe.

Bruce writes some fine songs and is an extremely entertaining performer. Well worth a listen to the CDs, but his live performances are well worth catching too if you have the chance.

Subject: RE: req/ADD: Lost Children of the Empire(Bruce Watson)
From: GUEST,Marion
Date: 04 Sep 14 - 08:18 PM

Thanks everyone.

And since starting this thread I've found that you can hear the song on Myspace, for those in Spotify-free countries:

https://myspace.com/brucewatsonmusic/music/song/lost-children-of-the-empire-60127456-65570587

Marion

Subject: RE: req/ADD: Lost Children of the Empire(Bruce Watson)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 04 Sep 14 - 07:03 PM

...and a wonderful singer and songwriter. This is the first I've heard of him, so we owe thanks to Marion for starting this thread.
-Joe-

Subject: RE: req/ADD: Lost Children of the Empire(Bruce Watson)
From: JennieG
Date: 04 Sep 14 - 06:47 PM

Joe, those are the lyrics as in the CD booklet, which I have in my hand as we speak. Bruce's nots says: "Much like Australia's stolen generation, the child migrants from England were parted from their family, often with good intentions, but often with such devastating consequences. 10,000 children came to Australia alone through this scheme, which continued right up until 1967."

If you search for "child migration to Australia" you will find more sites than I can list here.

Bruce's website - he is a really nice bloke.

Subject: ADD: Lost Children of the Empire (Bruce Watson)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 04 Sep 14 - 03:41 PM

SqueezeMe's transcription was near perfect, but there are a few words I hear differently - most significantly the word "well" in the second verse and a couple of words, "the" and "that," in the third. Anybody else have corrections to offer? It's available on Spotify. Can anybody give us a more detailed background story for this powerful song? When did this happen?

LOST CHILDREN OF THE EMPIRE
(Bruce Watson)

From England out to Australia they came,
Grubby faces, overcoats and shorts;
No one told them why they had to change their names,
No one gave them a thought.
They weren't convicts, they'd done no crime;
Just kids with no one of their own.
And this is not in some far-off time,
But just a few short years ago.

CHORUS:
Lost children of the Empire
Searching for their past;
Souls caught in the crossfire,
Ten thousand broken hearts.

Michael's mother was just fifteen years old,
They said she couldn't keep her son;
'Cos back in those days, well, you did what you were told,
She had to give him to the nuns.
They put him on a ship at seven years of age,
They told him that his mum had died.
Out on the station they worked him like a slave,
Each night in bed, Michael cried.
CHORUS

Michael started on the search for his past,
Fifty years down the road;
At every step there were hurdles in his path,
No one wanted to know.
He traced his mother after years in the maze,
Only to find that she'd just died.
Michael cried as he stood by her grave;
For all those years they had lied.
CHORUS

from the 2004 Bruce Watson album, A Moving Feast

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Lost Children of the Empire Bruce Watson
From: Rumncoke
Date: 04 Sep 14 - 11:53 AM

I met up with some people who as children were sent to Australia.

It was very strange - I first 'met' one on a machine knitting list and it was mentioned that they were coming to England under some scheme which helped families get back in touch. When I asked where they were coming to, it was here - just a few streets away, close to the school my children went to when they were youngsters.

They were such forlorn souls. Their mother had died and they were sent away by their father without the knowledge of the rest of the family. They managed to meet up with almost all the people still alive, but it was by no means a joyful reunion for them.

They seemed to have done fairly well for themselves, had married and made homes, but they were broken inside.

Subject: ADD: Lost Children of the Empire (Bruce Watson)
From: GUEST,SqueezeMe
Date: 04 Sep 14 - 02:39 AM

Lost Children of the Empire - Bruce Watson


From England out to Australia they came,
Grubby faces, overcoats and shorts;
No one told them why they had to change their names;
No one gave them a thought.
They weren't convicts; they'd done no crime;
Just kids with no one of their own.
And this is not in some far off time,
But just a few short years ago.

Chorus:
Lost children of the Empire
Searching for their past;
Souls caught in the crossfire;
Ten thousand broken hearts.

Michael's mother was just fifteen years old;
They said she couldn't keep her son;
'Cos back in those days, when you did what you were told,
She had to give him to the nuns.
They put him on a ship at seven years of age;
They told him that his mum had died.
Out on the station they worked him like a slave;
Each night in bed, Michael cried.

Michael started on the search for his past,
Fifty years down the road;
At every step there were hurdles in his path;
No one wanted to know.
He traced his mother after years in a maze,
Only to find she'd just died.
Michael cried as he stood by her grave;
For all those years they had lied.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Lost Children of the Empire Bruce Watson
From: GUEST
Date: 04 Sep 14 - 02:24 AM

Chorus: Lost children of the Empire
Searching for the past
Souls caught in the crossfire
Ten thousand broken hearts

well, it's a start....

Subject: Lyr Req: Lost Children of the Empire Bruce Watson
From: Marion
Date: 03 Sep 14 - 11:50 PM

Hello all. Does anybody have the lyrics for this Bruce Watson song about the emigration of British home children to Australia? It's on the album Moving Feast.

Thanks, Marion