We’ll drive to paradise,
Now the tide’s gone out and the weather’s nice
We’ll drive to paradise,
Hit the beach and set light to the effigies.

The bodies of the past,
And the elephants in the room.
Where you once were black & white,
Now you’re only black & blue.

So pack your bags, let’s go,
Put the windows down, it’s barely snowing,
Looping the same CD
That starts with Smiths and ends with Morrissey.

What we’ll remember most
Is how we never felt so far and yet so close,
And as we pass Larne,
I realise that we were never apart,
As the sun beats down on our heads.

And was it Cushendall,
No, I swear it was Cushendun,
Where we swam in from the coast,
And came together to laugh at a statue of a goat

Who’d died in a foot-and-mouth outbreak.
What a funny thing to celebrate.
But now he’d left us in the caves,
You’d swear we were the only ones ever there.

And as we navigate
The serpent roads of Murlough Bay
And step out into the air
Could you imagine any greater fear

Than leaping into the cold, cold sea
Like I’m told every Stark would do effortlessly
Yet it seems incomprehensible to me
That the sea is the cause of all grief,
And the sun beats down on our heads.

And as we speed through every startled village
And every cluster passing for a town
Each identical in image
But for the flags unfurling down

From every window, every lamp post,
Every raised voice, every breath,
It strikes me that our smiles & treaties
Like unsettled beneath the deaths.

Oh, Antrim’s young,
Thy will be done,
‘Til kingdom come,
Oh, Antrim’s young.

And even sturdy Carrickfergus
Watching over the endless sea,
You can’t avoid the burning feeling
That the castle is crumbling under our feet.

Though the orange king outside stands proud
Proclaiming ideologies,
You can’t swim over the sea so wide,
And wings to fly? Don’t even dream.
As the sun beats down on your head.

And through the silent corridor
All shrouded by the ancient trees,
You wonder if their gnarled-up shapes
Once stood up straight, unchained & free.

But centuries of love & hate
Shaved all the leaves of spring away
And left you with a holy land
That your neighbours always warned against.

At Dunluce there’s that battered cliff
Which we nearly ran our car straight off,
Before we caught a glimpse, surprised, off-guard,
Of a castle raised into the air,

All perched on threats of invading armies
And kept afloat by violent scenes
Had left us with this brutal beauty,
And I thought, if not here, then where?
As the sun beats down our heads.

We stood,
By a statue of some Celtic God
And looked out onto the last gasp of the Commonwealth,
And beyond that the other side itself.

And we gazed
And not a single voice was raised
And the songs and the screams suddenly seemed so small
And I thought world peace was possible after all.

Oh, Antrim’s young,
Your change is gonna come.
Oh, Antrim’s young,
Your change is gonna come.
Oh, Antrim’s young,
Your change is gonna come.
Oh, Antrim’s young,
God be with you, every one.

Tear down your father’s halls,
They’re no good to you any more,
Tear down these goddamn walls,
Speak to the souls that you’ve ignored,
And remember we’re all gods.

Live your father’s dreams
Of the united human being
It’s your chance to bring the change you want to see,
Oh be the change you want to see,
Oh be the change you have to be.

Yours is the kingdom and glory,
Yours is the natural beauty,
The friendly face, the painted town,
I’ve seen you smile now,
It cannot hurt to turn around.

I love you Antrim, covered in gorse,
My memories now will run their course
Oh, let your memories do that too,
Forget the things he said to you,

You are the trees, you are the breeze,
The castle, campsites, yellow, green,
You’re here not to divide but be,
Stretch out your arms and laugh with me,
We’ll all be free, we’ll all be free,
Be free, be free, be free, be free…