Khe Sanh - Cold Chisel - Lyrics Translations

LT → English → Cold Chisel → Khe Sanh

• Cold Chisel Khe Sanh 1 translation

✕ Proofreading requested English English I left my heart to the sappers round Khe Sanh And my soul was sold with my cigarettes To the blackmarket man I've had the Vietnam cold turkey From the ocean to the Silver City And it's only other vets could understand About the long forgotten dockside guarantees How there were no V-Day heroes in 1973 How we sailed into Sydney Harbour Saw an old friend but couldn't kiss her She was lined, and I was home to the lucky land And she was like so many more from that time on Their lives were all so empty Till they found their chosen one And their legs were often open But their minds were always closed And their hearts were held in fast suburban chains And the legal pads were yellow Hours long, pay-packets lean And the telex writers clattered Where the gunships once had been But the car parks made me jumpy And I never stopped the dreams Or the growing need for speed and Novocain So I worked across the country end to end Tried to find a place to settle down Where my mixed up life could mend Held a job on an oil-rig Flying choppers when I could But the nightlife nearly drove me round the bend And I've travelled round the world from year to year And each one found me aimless One more year the worse for wear And I've been back to South East Asia But the answer sure ain't there But I'm drifting north, to check things out again You know the last plane out of Sydney's almost gone Only seven flying hours, and I'll be landing in Hong Kong There ain't nothing like the kisses From a jaded Chinese princess I'm gonna hit some Hong Kong mattress all night long Well the last plane out of Sydney's almost gone Yeah the last plane out of Sydney's almost gone And it's really got me worried I'm goin' nowhere and I'm in a hurry And the last plane out of Sydney's almost gone

• Khe Sanh:

  Referring to the Battle of Khe Sahn in the Vietnam War

• And my soul was sold with my cigarettes:

  Referring to a smoking addiction, which (when the song was made) was very common among adults. However, government awareness caused the number of smokers in Australia to rapidly decrease.

• To the blackmarket man:

  A man on the black market. The black market is a term for any illegal retailer selling illegal items (e.g drugs, weapons, stolen credit cards, endangered species, etc).

• Silver City:

  Silver City is a nickname for Broken Hill, a small city in outback New South Wales.

• vets:

  veterans

• V-Day:

  Veterans Day

• How we sailed into Sydney Harbour:

  Sydney Harbour is/was the main port for the army to arrive and depart from, as Sydney is Australia’s most populated city.

• lucky land:

  In local English, Australia is often referred to as the lucky country.

• And their legs were often open:

  A sexual reference.

• Where the gunships once had been:

  Gunships were once docked there in the war

• Or the growing need for speed and Novocain:

  a drug addiction

• But the nightlife nearly drove me round the bend:

  Referring to his casual attendance at Australian nightlife (i.e pubs, clubs, etc).

• But I'm drifting north:

  Southeast Asia is north of Australia, so he is referring to going back to Asia.

• You know the last plane out of Sydney's ...:

  This is perhaps the most iconic line of the song.

• Only seven flying hours:

  A flight from Sydney to Hong Kong is only seven hours.

• There ain't nothing like the kisses From a ...:

  Referring to his need for sex from overseas women, in this case in Hong Kong

• hit some Hong Kong mattress all night long:

  Referring to having sex

• And it's really got me worried I'm ...:

  He is worried that his addiction to smoking, drugs and sex is getting worse.

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Share Submitted by Azura on 2019-04-08Contributors: MissAtomicLau ✕ Copyright: Writer(s): Donald WalkerLyrics powered by www.musixmatch.comPowered by

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Tongan

Idioms

1.	Cold turkey

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