Home
DETAINEE
My Song Book

DETAINEE

Words by Lachlan Irvine, adapted from "Deportee", words and music by Woody Guthrie

[G][Gsus4][G][G][Gsus4][G]

[G] They came to this country to [C] seek our pro-[G]-tection,
[G] With hopes that their families could [C] be safe and [G] free;
But [C] we raised the drawbridge and [G] showed them no mercy,
[G] We built them a prison, [C] over the [G] sea. [Gsus4][G]
[C] Goodbye Abiyan, fare-[G]-well baby Asha,
We're [D] not the free country you [G] thought us to be;
[C] You won't need a name when you [G] fly across the ocean,
[G] All we will call you will [C] be ... "Detai-[G]-nee." [Gsus4][G][G][Gsus4][G]

[G] Risking their own lives for [C] their children's [G] future,
[G] They fled persecution [C] of every [G] kind;
But [C] we introduced them to a [G] new kind of torture
[G] Out of our sight and way [C] out of our [G] minds. [Gsus4][G]
[C] Goodbye Abiyan, fare-[G]-well baby Asha,
We're [D] not the free country you [G] thought us to be;
[C] You won't need a name when you [G] fly across the ocean,
[G] All we will call you will [C] be ... "Detai-[G]-nee." [Gsus4][G][G][Gsus4][G]

[G] All of you mothers and [C] all of you [G] fathers
[G] Who sent us your children for [C] medical [G] care;
[C] We'll send them back to [G] our island prison
[G] To live out their lives in [C] hopeless des-[G]-pair. [Gsus4][G]
[C] Goodbye Abiyan, fare-[G]-well baby Asha,
We're [D] not the free country you [G] thought us to be;
[C] You won't need a name when you [G] fly across the ocean,
[G] All we will call you will [C] be ... "Detai-[G]-nee." [Gsus4][G][G][Gsus4][G]

[G] Is this the best way we can [C] treat human [G] beings,
[G] In the land of the fair go, the [C] home of the [G] free?
[C] To close off our hearts as we [G] close off our borders
And [G] know them by no name [C] except "Detain-[G]-ee?" [Gsus4][G]
[C] Goodbye Abiyan, fare-[G]-well baby Asha,
We're [D] not the free country you [G] thought us to be;
[C] You won't need a name when you [G] fly across the ocean,
[G] All we will call you will [C] be ... "Detai-[G]-nee." [Gsus4][G]

[C] Goodbye Abiyan, fare-[G]-well baby Asha,
We're [D] not the free country you [G] thought us to be;
[C] You won't need a name when you [G] fly across the ocean,
[G] All we will call you will [C] be ... "Detai-[G]-nee." [Gsus4][G][G][Gsus4][G]





I wrote this song at the time of two cases of refugees being brought to Australia from offshore detention camps for medical treatment only to be sent back into detention. One was a woman given the code name "Abiyan" for media purposes, and the other was a baby known as "Baby Asha". The deportation of Baby Asha caused a public blockade of the hospital in which she was held, led by hospital medical staff.

More recently, when I have performed this song, in the last chorus I change the names to "Goodbye to you Priya, Farewell little Tharnaca" for the "Biloela family," to demonstrate that Australia's cruelty to refugees has not ended.

This was the first of my songs to be played on the radio, when folk music DJ Doc Wright played it on his Programme "Lark in the Morning" on 2XX Canberra.

To hear my home-made recording of this song, go to:

DETAINEE

Enter content here

BACK TO MY SONG BOOK

Enter supporting content here