(Composed: Elvis Costello/Paddy Moloney). If on every ocean the ship is a throne. And for each mast cut down another sapling is grown. Then I could believe that I'm bound to find. A better life than I left behind. But as you ascend the ladder. Look out below where you tread. For the colors bled as they overflowed. Red white and blue. Green white and gold. So I had to leave from my country of birth. As for each child grown tall. Another lies in the earth. And for every rail we laid in the loam. There's a thousand miles of the long journey home. But as you ascend the ladder. Look out below where you tread. For the colors bled as they overflowed. Red white and blue. Green white and gold.