Refugee Blues Lyrics
Some are living in mansions, some are living in holes:
Yet there's no place for us, my dear, yet there's no place for us.
Once we had a country and we thought it fair,
Look in the atlas and you'll find it there:
We cannot go there now, my dear, we cannot go there now.
In the village churchyard there grows an old yew,
Every spring it blossoms anew:
Old passports can't do that, my dear, old passports can't do that.
The consul banged the table and said,
"If you've got no passport you're officially dead":
But we are still alive, my dear, but we are still alive.
Went to a committee; they offered me a chair;
Asked me politely to return next year:
But where shall we go to-day, my dear, but where shall we go to-day?
Came to a public meeting; the speaker got up and said;
"If we let them in, they will steal our daily bread":
He was talking of you and me, my dear, he was talking of you and me.
Thought I heard the thunder rumbling in the sky;
It was Hitler over Europe, saying, "They must die":
O we were in his mind, my dear, O we were in his mind.
Saw a door opened and a cat let in:
But they weren't German Jews, my dear, but they weren't German Jews.
Went down the harbour and stood upon the quay,
Saw the fish swimming as if they were free:
Only ten feet away, my dear, only ten feet away.
Walked through a wood, saw the birds in the trees;
They had no politicians and sang at their ease:
They weren't the human race, my dear, they weren't the human race.
Dreamed I saw a building with a thousand floors,
A thousand windows and a thousand doors:
Not one of them was ours, my dear, not one of them was ours.
Stood on a great plain in the falling snow;
Ten thousand soldiers marched to and fro:
Looking for you and me, my dear, looking for you and me.
About
In this poem Auden uses as a template the blues tradition, which developed in Black communities in the United States and has its origins in slave songs. Though composed through improvisation, the blues has a rigid pattern and strong use of repetition.
Auden applies this format to the plight of Jews in Europe at the time of the Nazi persecution in the 1930s and the difficulties and indifference they faced when seeking asylum. In setting the poem to the template of a blues song Auden could be drawing an analogy; both people have suffered.
Structure
The poem comprises three lined stanzas known as tercets. The first two lines of each stanza rhyme. The third line of each stanza is divided into two sections, internally rhymed, but separated by the refrain ‘my dear’. This works like the repeating chorus of a song.
The twelve tercets match the traditional twelve bar construction of the blues genre.
Language and Imagery
The poem uses simple, accessible language appropriate to a blues lyric. The child-like tone is ironic; it describes experiences that are deadly serious and anything but suitable for children. The impact is heightened by comparison with the privileges of the German people, for example, pet dogs and cats were pampered while Jews were exterminated.
Q&A
Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning
- Refugee Blues
