[Intro Spoken Words]
My nan crossed water.
My dad crossed rain.
My mum crossed every question at the border gate.
I was born here.
That should be the end of it.
[Hook]
Island of strangers, Starmer said it on the floor
Island of strangers, my dad cleaned the corridor
Strange how the stranger held the country through the cold
Island of strangers, that's the story never told
Say stranger like they didn't hear the accent build the road
[Verse 1]
Braverman said swamp, then Starmer echoed strain
Close your eyes and guess which mouth is selling the pain
Same headline, different party, still the same old shame
Red tie, blue tie, they're both hunting the same game
The Sun don't need a policy, the fear sells itself
Every boat that crosses moves more papers off the shelf
September, Farage's march, six figures in the street
Misinformation dressed in boots with army feet
Southport. July. The feed filled up.
Twenty-seven million posts before they checked the name
He wasn't from a hotel, nothing like what they said
Just a boy from Cardiff but the hotels took the blame
Rotherham that August, somebody's nan sleeps scared
Twenty years on the estate, three stamps to prove she's there
The bouncer runs the border like he owns the whole club
The fire always knows exactly which door stays locked
[Hook]
Island of strangers, Starmer said it on the floor
Island of strangers, my dad cleaned the corridor
Strange how the stranger held the country through the cold
Island of strangers, that's the story never told
Say stranger like they didn't hear the accent build the road
[Verse 2]
He left with just a photograph sewn into his coat
Iranian on paper but the Channel don't check notes
The water's forty-three miles wide and doesn't hold a grudge
The tide don't ask your paperwork before you start to judge
July, Starmer flew to Paris, shook hands on the deal
One in, one out, a nightclub bouncer working for the reel
Four deported in the first three months, they called it done
He was number three, got France, then caught another one
Not the gangs that brought him back, no traffickers involved
Just a man who couldn't stay somewhere left unresolved
They logged him interchangeable
A unit in a brief
The Channel's forty-three miles back
It doesn't charge a fee
The paper called him a number, the water called him cold
You can't deport a destination, that's the truth he told
[Hook]
Island of strangers, Starmer said it on the floor
Island of strangers, my dad cleaned the corridor
Strange how the stranger held the country through the cold
Island of strangers, that's the story never told
Say stranger like they didn't hear the accent build the road
[Verse 3]
I was born in Birmingham, my mum came here by plane
She brought plantain and patience to a flat on Smethwick Lane
My dad grafted twenty years in a ward on the night rounds
They called him key worker when the country hit the ground
I'm watching Rotherham on a cracked phone in the heat
The crowd outside the hotel gates, I recognise the street
The flags they're holdin', I can see the eyes inside those frames
My mum is in the kitchen, I don't want to say its name
Yvette Cooper said small boats, Starmer said the same
Labour crossed the floor and brought the tabloid in the frame
Strange how power always finds the same address to knock
Island of strangers, Mum, what did they call your block?
Strange.
I've got a British passport and a Birmingham postcode
The island was always full of strangers, that's the note
I was born here to be called it
[Hook]
Island of strangers, Starmer said it on the floor
Island of strangers, my dad cleaned the corridor
Strange how the stranger held the country through the cold
Island of strangers, that's the story never told
Say stranger like they didn't hear the accent build the road
[Outro]
The Channel is forty-three miles and doesn't count the cost
The file says interchangeable, the water says who's lost
Four in three months, one came back, the headline barely blinked
The policy keeps sailing, never stops to think
Mum's in the kitchen, she hasn't seen the news
The British passport in the drawer's got my name on it too
Strange.