Lyrics
The Long Voyage
Words: Hector Zazou; music: John Cale
Ocean, ocean is a voyage
This is a voyage
Ocean is a voyage
This is a voyage
A long, long voyage
Going up, up, up
Going down, down, down
Going up, up, up
Going down, down, down
The sea is flecked with bars of gray
The dull dead wind is out of tune
And like a withered leaf the moon
Is blown across the stormy bay
Going up, up, up
Going down, down, down
Going up, up, up
Going down, down, down
Etched clear upon the pallid sand
Lies the black boat, a sailor boy
Clambers aboard in careless joy
With laughing face and gleaming hand
And overhead the curlews cry
Don't lose the voyage
This is a voyage
Don't lose the voyage
This is a voyage
A long, long voyage
Going up, up, up
Going down, down, down
Going up, up, up
Going down, down, down
Going up, up, up
Going down, down, down
Going up, up, up
Going down, down, down
And overhead the curlews cry
Where through the dusky upland grass
The young brown throated reapers pass
Like silhouettes against the sky
Going up, up, up
Going down, down, down
Like silhouettes against the sky
Going up, up, up
Going down, down, down
Like silhouettes against the sky
Going up, up, up
Going down, down, down
Going up, up, up
Going down, down, down
This is a voyage
A long, long voyage
This is a voyage
This is a voyage
A long, long, long voyage
This is a voyage
A violent voyage
A long, long voyage
This is a voyage
As far as the eye can see, a voyage
A long, long voyage
This is a voyage
As far as the eye can see, a voyage
A violent voyage
As far as the eye can see, a voyage
About this song
A duet with American singer-songwriter Suzanne Vega, on the Hector Zazou album Songs From the Cold Seas (1995). He also wrote the music for the track. The lyrics are based on Les Silhouettes, a poem by Irish poet and playwright Oscar Wilde. Cale also collaborated with Zazou in 1992 on the Sahara Blue album.