I was working an office job and playing this collection of Australian folk songs over and over until I had tears in my eyes. The Peter Allen song, “I Still Call Australia Home,” killed me, particularly this stanza:
Someday we’ll all be together once more
When all of the ships come back to the shore
I realise something I’ve always known
I still call Australia home
As I age, I get more nostalgic. I’ve led a fractured life all over the planet so hearing the words, “Someday we’ll all be together once more” touches on my yearning for healing, wholeness and reconciliation. I remember or imagine times in my childhood when I felt connected with family and friends and I yearn for that again. When I converted to Orthodox Judaism, to an extent, I cut myself off from my previous life (I lost many childhood friends, they felt that by choosing another religion, I was saying that their choices were wrong). I was born again. I was an orphan (from the standpoint of Jewish law, a convert doesn’t say kaddish or yizkor for his gentile parents and family).
Ironically, much of what inspired my conversion was my desire to connect, and yet my self-defeating and isolating habits get in my way over and over.
Here’s the whole song:
I been to cities that never close down
From New York to Rio and Old London Town
But no matter how far or how wide I roam
I still call Australia home
I’m always travelling
I love being free
And so I keep leaving the sun and the sea
But my heart lies waiting over the foam
I still call Australia home
All the sons and daughters
Spinning around the world
Away from their family and friends
But as the world gets older and colder
Its good to know where your journey ends
Someday we’ll all be together once more
When all of the ships come back to the shore
I realise something I’ve always known
I still call Australia home
But no matter how far or wide I roam
I still call Australia
I still call Australia
I still call Australia home
But no matter how far or wide I roam
I still call Australia
I still call Australia
I still call Australia home
