My child arrived just the other day
He came to the world in the usual way
This song was used as the background to one of the most effective
television commercials which I have ever seen. As far as I can remember
it was made by the McCann-Ericson agency.
But there were planes to catch and bills to pay
He learned to walk while I was away
The product being offered was the RUC's (Northern Ireland Police
Service) confidential telephone line. This let concerned people who had
knowledge of terrorist activity leave anonymous tip-offs.
He said, "Thanks for the ball, Dad, come on let's play
"Can you teach me to throw?"
I said, "Not today, I got a lot to do"
He said, "That's ok"
The advert told the story of a man involved on the fringes of an
unidentified terrorist group. The song played all the way
through, and there was no narration or dialogue. The
gist was that this guy was missing out on spending time with his young son
because he was too busy driving getaway cars for pub shootings (graphically shown), serving
time in prison and the
like.
As in the song he eventually loses touch with his boy.
I've long since retired, my son's moved away
I called him up just the other day
I said, "I'd like to see you if you don't mind"
He said, "I'd love to, Dad, if I can find the time"
Years later, we see the son grown up. He has no time to talk to his
reformed father because he's on the way to machine-gun down a rival/enemy
whilst his son looks on, hands covering his ears, splattered with
blood.
And as I hung up the phone it occurred to me
He'd grown up just like me
Yeah, my boy was just like me
It still brought a lump to my throat when I seen it on a compilation show
recently. My flatmates stood round open mouthed.
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