Cover art for Evacuee by Enya

Evacuee

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Evacuee Lyrics

[Verse 1]
Each time on my leaving home
I run back to my mother’s arms
One last hold and then it’s over

[Verse 2]
Watching me, you know I cry
You wave a kiss to say goodbye
Feel the sky fall down upon me

[Chorus]
All I am
A child with promises
All I have
Are miles full of promises of home

[Verse 3]
If only I could stay with you
My train moves on, you’re gone from view
Now I must wait until it’s over

[Interlude]

[Chorus]
All I am
A child with promises
All I have
Are miles full of promises of home
[Verse 4]
Days will pass, your words to me
It seems so long, eternity
But I must wait until it’s over

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About

Genius Annotation

8th track off her 1991 album Shepherd Moons.

Q&A

Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning

What did Enya say about "Evacuee"?
Genius Answer

According to Enya.sk, Enya revealed in a 1992 interview for Jazziz Magazine that this was about the bombing of London and a little girl recounting the story of her separation from and subsequent reunion with her parents :

Well, this is based in London in the Blitz during the war. While she was relating this story, she still felt this moment and started to cry, and myself and Roma felt very strongly about this. Therefore, when I played the melody to Roma, the melody then became ‘Evacuee’ and it’s about this little girl at the train station saying goodbye and waiting until it’s all over.

On Enya’s YouTube channel, in the comments of the video for the Shepherd Moons 30th birthday, she wrote:

I remember her face. She told of how she had been an evacuee during the Second World War. As she told her story she began to cry like the little girl she had been half a century before. The pain of her separation from her parents registered with immediacy on her face. As a child she could not understand why she had to leave them, and the effect of this stayed with her. The only hope she had as a child was a promise that they would all be together again. It is a great sadness that even today in this world of ours, on our tiny planet, children still endure that same separation.

Credits
Produced By
Written By
Instrumentation
Lyricist
Mixing Engineer
Arranger
Recording Engineer
Vocals
Remastering Engineer
Recorded At
Aigle Studios, Artane, Dublin, Ireland; SARM West Studios, London, UK
Release Date
November 4, 1991
Evacuee Samples
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