I left my heart
to the sappers round Khe Sanh
And my soul was sold with my cigarettes to the
black market man
I’ve had the Vietnam cold turkey
From the ocean to the Silver City
And its only other vets could understand
About the long forgotten dockside guarantees
How there were no V-day heroes in 1973
How we sailed
into Sydney harbour
Saw an old friend but I couldn’t kiss her
She was lined and I was home to the lucky land
And she was like so many more from that time on
Their lives were all so empty, till they found their
chosen one
And their legs
were often open
But their minds were always closed
And their hearts were held in fast suburban chains
And the legal pads were yellow, hours long, paypackets lean
And the telex writers clattered where the gunships once had been
But the
carparks made me jumpy
And I never stopped the dreams
Or the growing need for speed and novocaine
So I worked across the country from end to end
Tried to find a place to settle down, where my mixed up life could mend
Held a job on
an oil-rig
Flying choppers when I could
But the nightlife nearly drove me round the bend
And I’ve travelled round the world from year to year
And each one found me aimless, one more year the more for wear
And I’ve been
back to South East Asia
And the answer sure aint there
But I’m drifting north, to check things out again
You know the last plane out of Sydney’s almost gone
Only seven flying hours, and I’ll be landing in Hong Kong
There aint
nothing like the kisses
From a jaded Chinese princess
I’m gonna hit some Hong Kong mattress all night long
Well the last plane out of Sydney’s almost gone
Yeah the last plane out of Sydney’s almost gone
And it’s really
got me worried
I’m goin’ nowhere and I’m in a hurry
And the last plane out of Sydney’s almost gone
also widely considered to be the greatest this country has produced. If you are
interested, I could provide you with a further selection of equally powerful
lyrics their chief songwriter Don Walker has penned.