He was born on the border,
Up there in the North where the wind blows.
A smuggler just like his father,
He had fraud in his blood.
He'd wait for moonless nights
(When it's dark, it's much easier to cross)
To sneak by the great dunes
Where wind from the sea stings our eyes.
Oi, customs!
Oi, customs officers!*
Let loose all your dogs
Then hide
In the back of your shacks.
Watch at the top of the dune
The man that crosses there.
He is alone
Yet you won't catch him.
He doesn't care about customs
In the back of your shacks,
Go, hide
And let loose the dogs.
Oi, customs officers!
Oi, customs!
When he had nothing else to do,
On nights that were too bright,
He'd switch the border markers
And mix up the world**
Or sometimes, in the middle of a crossing,
When he had drunk his fill,
He'd scream like a true savage
And here I cross, hurry up.
Oi, customs!
Oi, customs officers!
Let loose all your dogs
Then hide
In the back of your shacks.
Watch at the top of the dune
The man that crosses there.
It's me, it's only me,
Yet you won't catch me.
I don't care about customs
In the back of your shacks,
Go, hide
And let loose the dogs.
Oi, customs officers!
Oi, customs!
He couldn't get it in his head
That the laws of men are deadly serious.***
He was like a kind of poet
And these guys are dangerous.
So on one night where the moon was up,
He was taking a stroll for fun,
They offed him on the dune
With gunshots to put an end to it.
Oi, customs!
Oi, customs officers!
Hide all your dogs
Then come over here.
From the back of your shacks,
This is fine work,
Only, tonight,
He was but a man.
He wasn't working.
Hear that, customs?
So you shouldn't have...
So hide
In the back of your shacks.
Oi, customs!
Oi, customs officers!