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Bilbao Song Lyrics

Artist: Marianne Faithfull
Album: The Seven Deadly Sins

Bill's beer hall in Bilbao, Bilbao, Bilbao,
Was the most fantastic place I've ever known.
For just a dollar you'd get all you wanted,
All you wanted, all you wanted
Of whatever kind of joy you called your own.
But if you had been around to see the fun
Well I don't know you might not like what you'd've seen;
The stools at the bar were damp with rye,
On the dancefloor the grass grew high,
Through the roof the moon was shining green
And the music really gave you some return on what you paid.
Hey Joe, play that old song they always played.

That ol' Bilbao
Down where we used to go
Who remembers the words ...
It's so long ago.
I don't know if it would have brought you joy or grief but
It was fantastic
It was fantastic
It was fantastic
Beyond belief.

Bill's beer hall in Bilbao, Bilbao, Bilbao,
Came a day the end of May in 1908
Four guys from Bristol came with sacks of coal dust,
Sacks of coal dust, sacks of coal dust
And the time they showed us all was really great.
But if you had been around to see the fun,
Well I don't know you might not like what you'd've seen;
The brandy bottles smashing through the air
And the chairs flying everywhere,
Through the roof the moon's still shining green
And those fog eyes all going crazy with their pistols blazing high,
"Think you can stop 'em ? Go ahead and try!"

That ol' Bilbao
Down where we used to go
Da da da da da da...
Who remembers the words ?
That ol' Bilbao
Casting its golden glow,
That ol' Bilbao
Love never laid me low
That ol' Bilbao
Why does it haunt me so ?
I don't know if it would have brought you joy or grief but
It was fantastic
It was fantastic
It was fantastic
Beyond belief.

Bill's beer hall in Bilbao, Bilbao, Bilbao,
Now they've cleaned it up and made it middle class
With potted palms and aspree
Very bourgeois, very bourgeois
Just another place to put your ass,
But if you could come around to see the fun
Well, I don't know, you might not find it such a strain,
Ha, they've cleaned up all the booze and broken glass,
On parquet floors you can't grow grass,
They've shut the green moon out because of rain
And the music makes you cringe now when you think of what you paid.
Hey Joe, play that ol' song they always played;

That ol' Bilbao
Down where we used to go
That ol' Bilbao
Casting its golden glow
That ol' Bilbao moon
Love never laid me low
That ol' Bilbao
Why does it haunt me so ?
I don't know if it would have brought you joy or grief but
It was fantastic
It was fantastic
It was fantastic
Beyond belief.
So long ago.

Comments/Interpretations

by armo on 1/22/2018 11:11am
The lyrics are a bit wrong. Coal dust (Geld sack) is Gold dust.
The line further on is 'fog eyes' which makes no sense. That's because the original words are"vier Herren" or 'four guys'.