O tema Refugees de Van Der Graaf Generator, de 1970, é único pela melodia, pela atmosfera, pela melancolia, pela vocalização, pelos arranjos, pela forma como progride e, claro, pela letra de Peter Hammill.
Como vivo (e adoro viver) na zona Oeste, onde há luz do sol até este desaparecer no horizonte, muitas vezes num retinto alaranjado que torna douradas as paisagens ao pôr-do-sol, o texto (versão em português) desta faixa diz-me muito: "West is where the colours turn from grey to gold, and you can be with the friends. And light flakes the golden clouds above all; West is where I love."
Além da reunião com os amigos, "Refugees" fala dos que se rebelam e seguem um caminho próprio, alternativo (para Oeste e não para Norte, Sul ou Este), de despojamento e de esperança em direcção ao essencial da vida e do bem-estar ou felicidade:
"We're refugees, walking away from the life that we've known and loved; nothing to do or say, nowhere to stay; now we are alone. We're refugees, carrying all we own in brown bags, tied up with string; nothing to think, it doesn't mean a thing, but we'll be happy on our own."
E diz mais: "Smiling very peacefully, we began to notice that we could be free, and we moved together to the West." "Into the West, smiles on our faces, we'll go; oh, yes, and our apologies to those who'll never really know the way. West is refugees' home." "There we shall spend our final days of our lives; tell the same old stories: yeah well, at least we tried."
De acordo com um artigo publicado na revista MOJO em Maio de 2002, a "Susie" referida em "Refugees" é a actriz Susan Penhaligon.
No livro Killers, Angels, Refugees (1974), o próprio Peter Hammill fala do contexto ou história por detrás do tema:
"For six months I shared a flat with Mike and Susie, who are among my oldest friends. When the time for departure came, I was washed with the melancholia which normally attends moving from 'home' and the physical memories it retains, heightened in this instance by the knowledge that, from being the closest of triads, we were committing ourselves to a separation in which months could easily slide into years. In this knowledge, the last vestiges of hope lay only in a future Utopia and re-joining of the hands."
E diz mais :"In the writing, however, the song developed a life of its own (as is always the best way), and the hope becomes much more than that for reunion with my friends."
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