Big Big Train Brave Captain
[Part 1: Captain Albert Ball cradled in the arms of Mademoiselle Lieppe - Coulon, May 7th, 1917]
[Instrumental]
[Part 2: Memorial to Captain Albert Ball, Nottingham Castle grounds 1973]
A statue of a young man
Defiantly stands
Glove held in left hand
With an Angel close by his shoulder
At the stroke of midnight
When no one's in sight
Beneath the floodlights
What does she whisper?
What has he told her?
Sunshine through the leaves
Back in '73
With my parents and we
Were eating ice cream
In the shade of the old trees
I asked "Who was he?"
My Dad said to me
"Although he was only twenty
He was a hero who'd died for his country"
Well, you should have seen me
Who would believe me now?
Racing around the castle grounds
Wild imagination in full flight
My arms stretched wide
I'll be a brave Captain of the Skies
[Part 3: "The Great Game"]
You were a flying ace
From the history books
Thrilling deeds and dashing looks
Fulfilling your destiny
Simply doing your duty
For King and Country
You were the poster boy
Who shunned your own fame
Who didn't take to the accolades
Even when propaganda
Screamed your name
You believed celebrity to be nonsense
You were a loner, a solitary man
Practical minded
And good with your hands
Your letters sent home
Revealed, this weapon had a conscience
Until at long last your plane emerges
From out of the low cloud
Inverted
Flying upside-down
Too close to the ground to recover
Heading earthbound
No engine sound
Black smoke trailing
Silently falling down
Brave Captain of the Skies
[Part 4: Annoeullin (The Present Day]
Brave Captain of the Skies