Why Aye Man (Mark Knopfler)

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"Why Aye Man", que en el dialecte geordie del nord d'Anglaterra equival a un "hola, què tal?", és la primera cançó del disc Ragpicker's Dream de Mark Knopfler. Però abans de sortir a la llum en aquest cd, el solo de guitarra el va fer servir la BBC com a fons musical dels crèdits que tancaven l'emissió d'un programa anomenat Auf Wiedersehen, Pet (tercera temporada, any 2002, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auf_Wiedersehen,_Pet) que, com la peça, tractava el fenomen de les migracions. En aquest cas, l'emigració dels treballadors de les rodalies de Newcastle cap a Alemanya, en els temps del Thacherisme dur. Així és com vaig conèixer aquella nova cançó, mentre m'afaitava... La veu de Mark Knopfler no se sentia, però la seva guitarra l'identificava.

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Why Aye Man

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We had no way of staying afloat

We had to leave on the ferry boat

Economic refugees

On the run to Germany

We had the back of Maggie's hand

Times were tough in Geordieland

We got wor tools and working gear

And humped it all from Newcastle to here

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Why aye man, why aye, why aye man

Why aye man, why aye, why aye man

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We're the nomad tribes, travelling boys

In the dust and dirt and the racket and the noise

Drills and hammers, diggers and picks

Mixing concrete, laying bricks

There's English, Irish, Scots, the lot

United Nation's what we've got

Brickies, chippies, every trade

German building, british-made

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Why aye man, why aye, why aye man
Why aye man, why aye, why aye man

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Nae more work on Maggie's farm

Hadaway down the autobahn

Mine's a portacabin bed

Or a bunk in a nissen hut instead

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There's plenty deutschmarks here to earn

And German tarts are wunderschön

German beer is chemical-free

Germany's alreet with me

Sometimes I miss my river Tyne

But you're my pretty fraulein

Tonight we'll drink the old town dry

Keep wor spirit levels high

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Why aye man, why aye, why aye man

Why aye man, why aye, why aye man

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Mark Knopfler

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