DEDICATION
The original Shire of the Northern Outpost Songbook was compiled by the late Lord Thomas MacSeamus, a.k.a. Tom the Tinker, a.k.a. Seamus, a.k.a. Tom Daunt. When I heard that there were no more known copies of this on disk available to the Shire, I set out to do something about it!
This contains all but one of the songs that were in the original songbook (I know, because I helped and I have the first printed copy!) with very little editing. I changed a few spelling errors, and added some missing words. I have added additional songs, since I had already planned to type them out for myself.
Thomas was a wonderful person and one of my dearest friends, and I still miss him enough to cry about it sometimes. I hope that by helping to keep the songbook tradition alive, a spark of him will remain in the Shire for years to come.
Away with us he's going,
The solemn-eyed:
He'll hear no more the lowing
Of the calves on the warm hillside
Or the kettle on the hob
Sing peace into his breast,
Or see the brown mice bob
Round and round the oatmeal chest.
For he comes, the human child,
To the waters and the wild
With a faery, hand in hand,
From a world more full of weeping than he can
understand.
W.B. Yeats
SnS
THE EARTH'S FIRE BREATHING DAUGHTER
HAAKON GOT RUN OVER BY A SHEILD WALL
HALLELUJAH! (THE GREAT STORM IS OVER)
THE HONOUR OF VISSIVALD SELKIRKSSON
JACK THE SLOB AND THE GODDESS OF LOVE
MY HUSBAND'S GOT NO COURAGE IN HIM
THE SNOWS OF FRANCE AND HOLLAND
Going in through the side door,
No need to worry now, the coast is clear.
We can make a little music now, the night is ours,
And it'll sound a lot sweeter after hours.
After hours, really let your hair down.
After hours when the lights are low,
Forget about your troubles and morning blues,
Put up another round.
Paddy sing the song like a good man,
Sing it in your own way like only you can,
You can give it all your feelings now, the floor is yours,
And it'll sound a lot sweeter after hours.
Out in the clear light of dawning,
Street seems so strange in the early morning.
Never heard the birds sing like this before,
And they sound a lot sweeter after hours.
Source: The Battlefield Band, On the Rise
Alas, my love, you've done me dirt.
You've sewn green sleeves on my purple shirt.
And then you did me worst of all
You made me go and wear it.
Oh what a dismal fate!
To be seen at events in this dismal state!
God, how I wish that I could be late
Say, seven days after it's over.
Alas, my love, I've got the blues
You've sewn pink lace on my orange shoes
And then you did me worst of all
You made me go out and wear them.
This song was originally meant as a contest, with each successive person coming up with a new and more unusual verse. Try it!
Source: The Concordia Songbook
They told all the fine young men
Of when this war is over
There will be peace,
And the peace will last forever.
In Flanders field, at Lonepine, and Barsheba
For King and country, for honor and duty
The young men fought, and cursed, and wept, and died.
They told all the fine young men,
Of when this war is over
In your country's grateful heart
We will cherish you forever.
At Tobruk and Alamein, at Bhuna and Kokoda
Like their fathers before, in a world mad with war
The young men fought, and cursed, and wept, and died.
For many fine young men
All the wars are over
They have found peace,
It's the peace that lasts forever.
When the call comes again
They will not answer
They're just forgotten bones
Lying far from their homes
As forgotten as the cause for which they died.
Ah, young men, can you see now why they lied?
Source: DeDannan, Ballroom, Green Linnet
On a damp Pennsic morning
Duck tape in my hair
Warm smell of my armor
Rising up through the air
Up ahead in the distance
I saw a shimmering knight
My sword grew heavy and my outlook grim
I had to stop for the fight.
There we stood on the listfield
I heard the herald's yell
I was thinking to myself,
"This could be Pennsic or this could be Hell."
Then she put up her hand and
Then she called out, "Oyez!"
I heard the voices from the shield wall
Thought I heard them say,
"Welcome to the Pennsic field of battle!
See the lovely mace. It will smash your face.
Plenty of room at the Pennsic field of battle.
You can find us here just this time of year."
She was vocally gifted,
Her garb was studded in gems.
She had a lot of pretty, pretty toys
That she called men.
See them fall on the listfield
All dripping with sweat.
Some fights you'll remember
Some fights you'll forget.
So I called to the herald,
"Please buy me some time.
We haven't cried out 'Hold!' here
Since A.S. 29!"
And still the shield wall was chanting from far away.
They shake you up in the middle of the fight
When you hear them say...
"Welcome to the Pennsic field of battle.
See the lovely mace. It will smash your face.
Plenty of mud on the Pennsic field of battle.
Can you hear the cries as we bruise your thighs?"
Banners to the ceiling
Bruises packed with ice
And she said, "We are all just personas here
With our own device."
In the 'castle' 's great hall
We gathered for the feast.
We stabbed it with our spoons and knives
Until our hunger ceased.
Last thing I remember
The king was such a bore.
I had to find the passage back
And get through the privy door.
"Hold," cried the herald.
"How rude can you be?
While the king is droning on
You can never leave!"
lute solo
Oh me and my cousin, one Arthur McBride
As we went a walking down by the sea side
Do mark what followed and what did betide
Being on Christmas morning.
When for recreation we went for a tramp
And we met Sergeant Tucker and Corporal Bampf
And a little, wee drummer intending to camp
The day being pleasant and charming.
"Good morning, good morning," the Sergeant did cry.
"And the same to ye gentleman," we did reply,
Intending no harm but content to pass by
It being on Christmas morning.
When he says, "My fellows, if you will enlist,
It's ten guineas in gold I will place in your fist
And a crown in the bargain for to kick off the dust
And drink the King's health in the morning.
"For a soldier he leads a very fine life
And he always is blessed with a charming young wife.
He pays all his debts without sorrow or strife;
He always lives pleasant and charming.
"Oh, a soldier, he always lives decent and clean;
In the finest of clothing he is constantly seen.
While other poor fellows go dirty and mean
And sup on thin gruel in the morning."
"But," says Arthur, "I would not be proud of your clothes
For you've only the lend of them, as I suppose
And dare not change them one night, for you know
If you do, you'll be flogged in the morning.
"And although at that we are simple and free
Well we take great delight in our own company,
And we have no desire strange faces to see
Although that your offers are charming.
"We've no inclination to take your advice.
All hazards and dangers we dare not chance.
For you would have no scruples and you'd send us to France,
Where we would get shot without warning."
Said the Sergeant, "Young fellows, I'll have no such chat,
And neither will take it from slackey nor brat.
And if you insult me with talk such as that
(ARTHUR MCBRIDE cont.)
I'll cut off your heads in the morning."
And Arthur and I we soon took our hats
We scarce gave them time to launch out their blades
When our whacking shillelaghs came over their heads
And bade them take that as fair warning.
And we having no money, paid them off in cracks
And we showed no respect to the two bloody backs
Ah, we lathered them well like a pair of wet sacks
And left them for dead in the morning.
And the little, wee drummer we rifled his bough
And we made a football of his rowdy dow dow
Kicked it out in the tide for to rock and to roll
And bade it a tedious returning.
And their own rusty rapiers which hung by their sides
Well, we flew them as far as we could tae the tide
Ah, take them, oh, devils, said Arthur McBride
And temper their edge in the morning.
Oh me and my cousin one, Arthur McBride
As we went a walking down by the sea side
Mark what followed and what did betide
Being on Christmas morning.
Source: Donal MacCian - Warwickshire Faire
Hail the day so long expected
Hail the year of full release
Zion's walls are now erected
And her watchmen publish peace.
Through the Shiloh's wide dominion
Hear the Trumpet loudly roar
Babylon is falling, is falling, is falling
Babylon is falling to rise no more.
Babylon is falling, is falling, is falling
Babylon is falling to rise no more.
All her merchants stand with wonder
What is this that comes to pass?
Murmuring like a distant thunder
Crying, "Oh, alas! Alas!"
Swell the sound ye kings and nobles
Preach to people rich and poor
Babylon is falling, is falling, is falling
Babylon is falling to rise no more.
Babylon is falling, is falling, is falling
Babylon is falling to rise no more.
Blow the trumpet in Mount Zion
Christ will come a second time
Ruling with a rod of iron
All who now as foes combine.
Babel's garments we've rejected
And our fellowship is o'er
Babylon is falling, is falling, is falling,
Babylon is falling to rise no more.
Babylon is falling, is falling, is falling
Babylon is falling to rise no more.
Source: Clam Chowder
When we pulled into Argo port in need of R and R
The crew set out investigating every joint and bar.
We had high expectations of their hospitality
But found out too late is wasn't geared for spacers such as we.
And we're banned from Argo, everyone;
Banned from Argo, just for having a little fun.
We spent a jolly shore leave there of just three days or four
But Argo doesn't want us anymore.
The captain's tastes were simple, but his methods were complex.
We found him with five partners, each of a different world and sex.
The shore police were on their way - we had no second chance -
Be beamed him up in the nick of time - and the remnants of his pants!
Our engineer would yield to none at putting down the brew;
He out drank seven space marines and a demolition crew.
The navigator didn't win, but he out drank almost all,
And now they've got a shuttlecraft on the roof of City Hall.
Our proper, cool First Officer was drugged with something green,
And hauled into an alley where he suffered something obscene.
He sobered up in Sickbay and he's none the worse for wear;
Except that he's taught the Ship computer how to swear.
The Head Nurse disappeared a while in the Major Dopr Bazaar,
Buying an odd green potion "guaranteed to cause Pon-Farr."
She came home with no uniform and an oddly cheerful heart
And a painful way of walking - with her feet a yard apart.
Our lady of Communications won a ship-wide bet
By getting into the planet's main communication's net.
Now every time someone calls up on an Argo telescreen
The flesh is there, but the clothes they wear are nowhere to be seen.
Our Doctor loves humanity, his private life is quiet.
The shore police arrested him for inciting whores to riot.
We found him in the city jail, locked on and beamed him free -
Intact except for hickeys and six kinds of V.D.
Our helmsman loves exotic plants; the plants all love him too;
He took some down on leave with him, and we wondered what they'd do
'Til the planetary governor called and swore upon his life
That a gang of plants entwined his house and then seduced his wife.
A gang of pirates landed and nobody seemed to care.
They stomped into the nearest bar to announce that they were there.
Half our crew was busy therein and invited them to play
But the pirates only looked at us, and turned and ran away.
Our crew is Starfleet's finest, and our record is our pride
And when we play we tend to leave a trail a mile wide.
We're sorry about the wreckage and the riots and the fuss;
At least we're sure that planet won't be quick forgetting us!
As I walked out one morning all in the month of May
Down by a flowery garden I carelessly did stray
I overheard a young maid in sorrow did complain
All for her absent lover who plows the raging main
I boldly stepped up to her and put her in surprise
I know she did not know me, I being in disguise
I says, "Me charming creature, my joy, my heart's delight
How far have you to travel this dark and dreary night?"
"I'm in search of a faithless young man, Johnny is his name.
And along the Banks of Claudy I'm told he does remain."
"This is the Banks of Claudy, fair maid, where you stand.
But don't depend on Johnny for he's a false young man.
"Oh don't depend on Johnny for he'll not meet you here.
But tarry with me in yon green woods. No danger need you fear.
"Oh, it's six long weeks or better since Johnny left the shore.
He's crossing the wild ocean where the foam and billows roar.
"He's crossing the wild ocean for honour and for fame.
But this I've found, his ship was wrecked all on the coast of Spain."
Oh it's when she heard this dreadful news she flew into despair
By the wringing of her milk white hands and the tearing of her hair.
Saying, "If Johnny he is drowned, no man on earth I'll take.
But through the lonesome groves and valleys I'll wander for his sake."
Oh it's when he saw her loyalty no longer could he stand.
He flew into her arms, saying, "Betsy, I'm the man."
Saying, "Betsy, I'm the young man, the cause of all your pain
But since we've met on Claudy Banks we'll never part again."
Source: Loreena McKennitt, Elemental, Quinlan Road
When I was a wee thing and easy led astray,
Before I would work I would rather sport and play,
Before I would work I would rather sport and play
Wi' my Johnnie on the banks o' red roses.
On the banks o' red roses my love and I sat down.
He took out his tuning bow to play his love a tune.
In the middle o' the tune, his love broke down and cried,
"Oh, my Johnnie, oh, my Johnnie dinna leave me."
He took out his pocket knife, and it was long and sharp,
And he pierced it through and through his bonnie lassie's heart
And he left lying low among the roses.
Source: DeDannan, The Best of DeDannan, Shanachie
Oh the year was 1778
(How I wish I was in Sherbrooke now!)
A letter of marque came from the King
To the scummiest vessel I've ever seen
(God damn them all!)
I was told we'd cruise the seas for American gold
We'd fire no guns; shed no tears.
Now I'm a broken man on a Halifax pier,
The last of Barrett's Privateers.
Oh, Elcid Barrett cried the town...
For twenty brave men, all fishermen who
Would make for him the Antelope's crew...
The Antelope sloop was a sickening sight...
She'd a list to her port and her sails in rags,
And the cook in the scuppers with the staggers and jags...
On the King's birthday we put to sea...
We were twenty one days to Montego Bay,
Pumping like madmen all the way...
On the ninety-sixth day we sailed again...
When a bloody great Yankee hove on sight
With our cracked four pounders we made to fight...
The Yankee lay low down with gold...
She was broad and fat and loose in stays
And to catch her took the Antelope two whole days...
Then at length we stood two cables away...
Our cracked four pounders made an awful din
But with one fat ball the Yank stove us in...
The Antelope shook and pitched on her side...
Barrett was smashed like a bowl of eggs
And the main truck carried off both me legs...
So here I lay in my twenty-third year...
It's been six years since we sailed away
And I just made Halifax yesterday...
Source: Stan Rogers, Fogarty's Cove, Fogarty's Cove
The song of Gypsy Davie rang delighted through the night.
The wise and foolish virgin kept her candle burning bright.
Rise up my young and foolish one and follow if you can,
There'll be no need for candles in the arms of such a man.
Make love to each other,
Be free with each other,
Be prisoners of love
'Til you lie in the sod.
Be friends with each other,
Forgive one another,
See God in each other,
Be beggars to God.
The night was dark and cold and wet as they wandered on alone.
The sky became their canopy, and the earth became their throne.
And as their raiment turned to rags they thought is nothing wrong
For earth and sky are robe enough when you sing the gypsy song.
Chorus
They sang and played the gypsy song wherever they were sent
To some it seemed a dancing tune, to some a sad lament.
But in every heart that heard the two, their tear became a smile
And the pauper or the prince became the gypsy for a while.
Chorus X 2
Belle qui tiens ma vie Captive dans tes yeulx,
Qui m'as l'ame ravie D'un soubz-ris gracieux,
Viens tost me secourir Ou me fauldra mourir.
Pourquoy fuis tu, mignarde, Si je suis pres de toy?
Quand tes yeulx je regarde, Je me perds dedans moy.
Car tes perfections Changent mes actions.
Tes beautez ta grace, Et tes divins propos
Ont eschauffe la glace Qui me gloites os
Et ont remply mon coeur D'une amou reuse ardeur
Mon ame vouloit estre Libre de passions
Mais amoursest faict maistre De mes affections
Et a mis soubs sa loy Et mon coeur et ma foy
Approche done, ma belle Approche toy, mon bien.
Ne me sois plus rebelle Puis que mon couer est tien
Pour mon mal appaiser Donne moy un baiser
Je meurs mon Anglelte, Je meurs ent baisant;
Ta bouche tant doucette Va mon bien ravissant
Ace coup mes espritz Sont tous d'amour espris
Plustost on verra l'onde Contre mont reculer
Et plus tost l'oil du monde Cessera de brusher
Que l'amour qui m'epoinet Decrisse d'un seul poinet.
Oh do not seek to know what lies
Behind these mild and patient eyes
For I have seen the demon's powers
And even let the monster run
In certain unforgotten hours.
The fire that sleeps within the blood
Can waken to a burning flood
That sweeps away whatever moves
Before the wordless killer's eyes
Oh do not cry to see it proved.
So leave the devil where it lies
Cast no blood into my eyes
And never place my life in threat
For when the monster comes alive
If you survive, you won't forget.
The roar when language falls away
The vision leaps to black and gray
The speed that makes the wind feel slow
The strength beyond the bones' design
These are the signs I too well know.
I wear my weapons openly
Taller and kind though I must be
I keep the Fenris wolf in Rein
But this much warning I must give
That while I live, the beast remains.
Source: Chichsaw Mountain
There was a girl in a cold norther harbor
She came with me when I asked her to go.
Although I knew she was a captain's lady
But he was so far away, and how was he to know?
So we traveled south through the warm gulf stream waters
And she stayed with me in the ports along the way.
And as the time went by, this lady she grew distant
But I grew closer to her every day.
I was in love with a black-eyed Susan.
Where is my heart? Where is my soul?
To be in love with a black-eyed Susan
Is to travel down to the harbour no more.
She cried aloud, it was early one morning.
He heard her voice though he was far away
But too many miles, too many lovers
Too many voices down in English Bay.
The next thing I knew, she was off and she was running
Down to the shore into the water far below.
That's when I knew I was just another lover
Now I'm walking on this cold beach alone.
Alone and in love with a black-eyed Susan.
Where is my heart? Where is my soul?
To be in love with a black-eyed Susan
Is to travel down to the harbour no more.
Later that day where the gold coast was shining
His ship went down, and nobody reached the shore.
And in his log book, her captain, he'd written,
"There's only one thing that I'm not sorry for."
Source: Garnet Rogers, Garnet Rogers, Snow Goose Records
I am a young sailor, my story is sad
Though once I was carefree, and a brave sailor lad.
I courted a lassie, by night and by day
Ah, but now she has left me, and sailed far away.
If I was a blackbird
Could whistle and sing
I'd follow the vessel my true love sails in
And in the top rigging, I would there build my nest
And I'd flutter my wings o'er her lily white breast.
Or if I was a scholar and could handle a pen
One secret love letter to my love I'd send
And I'd tell of my sorrow, my grief and my pain
Since she's gone and left me in yon flowering glen.
I sailed o'er the ocean, my fortune to seek
Though I missed her caress and her kiss on my cheek.
I returned and I told her my love was still warm
But she turned away lightly and great was her scorn.
I offered to take her to Donnybrook fair
And to buy her fine ribbons to tie up her hair;
I offered to marry and stay by her side
But she sails in the morning; she sails with the tide.
My parents they chide me and will not agree
Saying that me and my false love, married should never be.
Ah, but let them deprive me or let them do what they will
While there's one breath in my body,
She's the one I love still.
Source: Silly Wizard, Wild and Beautiful, Shanachie
A blacksmith courted me nine months and better
He fairly won my heart, wrote me a letter.
With his hammer in his hand, he looked quite clever
And if I was with my love I'd live forever.
But where is my love gone with his cheeks like roses?
And his good black Billycock on decked round with primroses?
I'm afraid the scorching sun will shine and burn his beauty
And if I was with my love, I'd do my duty.
Strange news is come to town, strange news is carried
Strange news flies up and down that my love is married.
I wish them both much joy though they can't bear me
And may God reward him well for the slighting of me.
"Don't you remember when you lay beside me
And you said you'd marry me and not deny me."
"If I said I'd marry you it was only for to try you
So bring your witness love and I'll not deny you."
"No witness have I none, save God Almighty
And may he reward you well for the slighting of me."
Her lips grew pale and wan, it made a poor heart tremble
To think she loved a one and he proved deceitful.
A blacksmith courted me nine months and better
He fairly won my heart, wrote me a letter.
With his hammer in his hand he looked quite clever
And if I was with my love, I'd live forever...
Source: Loreena McKennitt, Elemental, Quinlan Road Limited
When I was prenticed in Plymouth, I went to see my love
The candles they were burning, the moon shone bright above.
I knocked upon her window
To ease her of her pain;
She rose to let me in, and she barred the door again.
I like your good behavior, darling, thus I often say
And you know that I miss you when you are far away.
The winds they are so cold
We cannot go there out;
So roll me in your arms, love, and blow the candle out.
Now father and mother in yonder room do lie
A-huggin' one another, so why not you and I?
A-huggin' one another
Without a fear or doubt
So roll me in your arms, love, and blow the candle out.
Source: The singing of Lady Siobhan NiStandun
Once again with the tide she slips her lines
Turns her head and comes awake
Where she lays so still there at Privateer's Wharf
Now she quickly gathers way
She will range far south from the harbour mouth
And rejoice with every wave
Who will know the Bluenose in the sun?
Feel her bow rise free of Mother Sea
In a sunburst cloud of spray
That stings the cheek while the rigging will speak
Of sea-miles gone away
She is always best under full press
Hard over as she'll lay
And who will know the Bluenose in the sun?
That proud fast Queen of the Grand Banks Fleet
Portrayed on every dime
Knew hard work in her time, hard work in every line
the rich men's toys of the Gloucester boys
With their token bit of cod
They snapped their spars and strained to pass her by
But she left them all behind.
Now her namesake daughter remains to show what she has been
What every schoolboy remember and will not come again
To think she's the last of the Grand Banks Schooners
That fed so many men
And who will know the Bluenose in the sun?
So does she not take wing like a living thing?
Child of the moving tide
See her pass with grace on the water's face
With clean and quiet pride
Our own tall ship of great renown still lifts into the sky
Who will know the Bluenose in the sun?
Source: Stan Rogers, Turnaround, Fogarty's Cove
The Diamond is a ship me boys, for Greenland she is bound
And the quay it is all garnished with bonnie lassies 'round.
The Captain gives the order to sail the ocean wide
But the sun it never sets, me lads, nor darkness dims the tide.
So cheer up me lads, let your hearts never fail
While the bonnie ship the Diamond goes fishing for the whale.
Along the quay at Peterhead the lassies stand around
With their shawls about their heads, and salt tears running dow.
"I'll never weep, my bonnie lad, though I'm left behind
For there's not a rose in Greenland's ice to make you change your mind."
Here's a health to the Resolution, likewise the Eliza Swan
A health to the Battle of Montose, and the Diamond, ship of fame.
They wear the trousers of the white, the jackets of the blue,
When they return to Peterhead, they'll find that we've been true.
It'll be bright both day and night when the Greenland lads come home
With a ship that's full of oil, me lad, and money to their names.
They'll make the cradles for to rock, and the blankets for to tear,
And every lass in Peterhead sing, "Hushabye, my dear."
Source: Judy Collins, So Early in the Spring
Boozing, boozing, just you and I
Boozing, boozing, when we are dry
Some do it openly, some on the sly
But we all are bloody well boozing.
Well what are the joys of the single young man?
Why, boozing, bloody well boozing.
And what is he doing when ever he can?
He's boozing, bloody well boozing.
Well you may think I'm wrong and you may think I'm right
I don't want to argue, I don't want to fight
But what do you think I'll be doing tonight?
Why boozing, bloody well boozing.
And what are the joys of a poor married man?
Why boozing, bloody well boozing.
And what is he doing when ever he can?
Why boozing, bloody well boozing.
He goes out a shopping and makes many a call
He comes home at night and he gives his wife all
But what brings home hanging on to the wall?
Why boozing, bloody well boozing.
And what do the Temperence Unions run down?
Why boozing, bloody well boozing.
And what are they banning in every town?
Why boozing, bloody well boozing.
They stand on the street corners they rail and they shout
They shout about things they know nothing about
But what are they doing when the lights are turned out?
They're boozing, bloody well boozing.
And what is the thing I loves more than me tea?
Why boozing, bloody well boozing.
And what keeps us all nipping out for a wee?
Why boozing, bloody well boozing.
Your pocket gets empty, your bladder gets tight
You're gargling your beer and the best part of the night
Your nose goes brick red and your face goes dead white
From boozing, bloody well boozing.
Source: Oak and Ash and Thorn, Wild Oats, Off Centaur; Clam Chowder
From the moorlands and the meadows to this city of shadows
Where I wander old and lonely comes a call I understand
In clear soft notes enthralling it is calling ever calling
'Tis the spirit of the open from the dear old Borderland.
For this grim huge city daunts me, its wail of sorrow haunts me
A nameless figure tossed amidst the human surf that beats
Forever and forever in a frenzy of endeavour
All along the cruel barriers of its never ending streets.
But I'll leave it in the morning, slip away without a warning
Save a handclasp from the friend that knows the call that leads me on
In the city's clang and clatter, one old man the less won't matter
And no one here will say me nay or care that I am gone.
By Caddonfoot I'll linger it has charms to stay the singer
And from the bridge a painter's dream of beauty there I'll see
But I'll leave it all behind me when the purple evening shadows find me
Past the vines of Cloven fords to haunted Torwoodlee.
Fair Dryborogh and Melrose, touched by the wizard's spell arose
And Bemerside and Leadersfoot and Elwyns fairy dene
With the Tweed serenely gliding, clearly seen then shyly hiding
Where eildons raise their triple crest to sentinel the scene.
But alas the dream is over I awake now to discover
The city's rush, the bustling crowd and the din on every hand
But my ear a-softly falling I can hear the curlews calling
And I know that soon I'll see them in the dear old Borderland.
Source: Archie Fisher, Off the Map, Snow Goose Records
Good evening to you mister, the bounty hunter said
You don't know me but there's a price upon your head
I know you're wanted dead or alive, that's what the posters say
But I never shoot a man at night when he ain't had time to pray.
So, I'll give you unto sunrise tomorrow, my friend
Before I come to shoot you down and bring your body in
I warn you that I do my work quite well with a gun or knife
I've tracked down many a man. I've taken many a life.
Father do not mourn for me, mother do not weep
Whatever a man soweth, that also shall he reap.
I spent a long a sleepless night with fear upon my breast
Trying to get ready for my morning duel with death
I hid up in a hayloft out on the edge of town
And at sunrise the bounty hunter came to shoot me down.
I fired down at the bounty hunter standing in the street
He raised his gun and fired a round of shots back up at me
He hit my chest and shoulder and my gun flew from my hand
Now I'm trapped up in this hayloft, a wounded, unarmed man.
The bounty hunter holds his fire and hollers up at me
Come out and take it like a man, I'll make it quick and clean
I know my time is running out and there's no way I can stall
So I reach and grab the pitchfork that's hanging on the wall.
My body arches as I rise and face the morning sun
And I feel like a warrior's bow freshly carved and strung
I launch my body through the air and the pitchfork in my hand
Stabs the bounty hunter through the chest and pins him to the sand.
Now my muscles start to rust, my thoughts are growing cold
While Gabriel and Satan shoot craps for my soul.
Source: Mike Cross, Live and Kicking, Kicking Mule
For to see mad Tom of Bedlam
Ten thousand years I'd travel
Mad Maudlin girls go on dirty toes
For to save their shoes from gravel
Still I sing bonny boys, bonny mad boys
Bedlam boys are bonny
For they all go bare and they live by the air
And they want no drink nor money
I now repent the devil
For Tom was so disdained
My wits are lost since him I trust
Which makes me go unchained
I went down to Satan's Kitchen
For to get me food one morning
There I saw souls piping hot
All on the spit a turning
There I took up a cauldron
Where boiled ten thousand harlots
The full of blame I drank the same
To the health of all such varlots
Oh my staff has murdered giants
And my bag a long knife carries
For to cut mince pies from children's thighs
With which to feed the fairies
The spirit's white as lightning
All on my travels guide me
For the moon would shake and the stars would quake
Whenever they espy me
No gypsy slut nor doxy
Shall win my Mad Tom from me
I'll weep all night, with stars I'll fight
The fray shall well become me
And when that I have mortared
The man in the moon to a powder
His staff I shake and his bones I'll break
And there'll howl no demon louder
So drink to Tom of Bedlam!
Go fill the seas in barrels
I'll drink it all well brewed with qaul
And more than drunk I'll quarrell
For to see Mad Tom of Bedlam
Ten thousand years I'd travel
Mad Maudlin girls go on dirty toes
For to save their shoes from gravel
Source: Steeleye Span, Please to See the King
Bring me a star that's fallen from the sky
To lay in my lady's hand.
Stay time in it's flight,
Keep tomorrow from this night
But time it does fly,
And stars do not fall.
If I had a song I would sing it for her
To tell all the love that I bear.
I wish I had ribbons of crimson and gold
To bind in her bonny bright hair.
But I am a poor man, no ribbons have I
No gold, nor songs I can sing.
Tomorrow she weds at her father's command
And I have not even a gift I can bring.
So give me a star that's fallen from the sky
To lay in my lady's hand.
Stay time in it's flight,
Keep tomorrow from this night
But time it does fly,
And stars do not fall...
Source: Mercedes Lackey ???
So help me bob I'm bully in the alley
Way hey, bully in the alley
So help me bob I'm bully in the alley
Bully down in Shinbone alley...
I'll leave my gal and I'll go a-whaling
Way hey, bully in the alley
I'll leave my Sal and I'll go a-sailing
Bully down in Shinbone alley
Well Sally is the girl that I love dearly
Sally is the girl that I spliced nearly
Source: Clam Chowder, Stewed
I wish I was in Carrighfergus
Only for nights in Ballygrant
I would swim over the deepest ocean
Only for nights in Ballygrant
But the sea is wide, and I can't swim over
Neither have I wings to fly
If I could find me a handsome boatman
To ferry me over to my love and die
Now in Kilkenny, it is reported
They've marble stones there black as ink
With gold and silver I would transport her
But I'll sing no more now, 'til I get a drink
I'm drunk today, but I'm seldom sober
A handsome rover from town to town
Ah, but I am sick now, my days are over
Come all you lads, and lay me down
I wish I was in Carrighfergus
Only for nights in Ballygrant
Source: Loreena McKennitt, Elemental, Quinlan Road
These six golds rings were dearly bought
My comrade's blood for the plate I own
Our front rank spear met the French knight's charge
Of a hundred men I return alone (repeat last line)
We were Spanish troops in Sicilian ships
That the King of Greeks had sent to hire
Our thousand spear to scour the Turks
From his Eastern realm with sword and fire
We drove the Turks from the iron gates
But the faith of the prince kept not the day
We were bandits now, said the King of the Greeks
So he hung our captain and stole our pay (Chorus)
The crusader kings of the east we told
Of our own hard fight and the Greek king's shame
But the Germans laugh and the Frankish sneer
Said a rabble of spear were but fair game
From the wine-dark sea we marched on west
Til we came to the Duke of Athens' land
His herald cry we wear chains or die
By Kephisses River we're forced to stand (Chorus)
We made our camp on a grassy hill
In the midst of a league of marshy ground
Where a light-armed man might cross with care
Where an armoured horse must soon sink down
Our hundred best at the marsh's edge
Six hundred more in the reeds behind
While a thousand horse of the Duke's own troops
Rode along the stream to surround our line (Chorus)
An arrow's flight from the waiting spear
The knights formed rank with a joyous sound
Now the first wave comes at a walk, now trot
Five hundred ride for the killing ground
At a hundred yards we see their blades
But the horses' hooves are what you fear
Five hundred tons of steel and flesh
And you guard their path with an eight foot spear (Chorus)
At fifty yards their lances dip
We grip our pikes in gauntlet hand
As a steel shod thunder drowns our cries
And the ground shakes so you can hardly stand
They smashed our line and trampled all
Who stood to fight, who turned to flee
And plunged in over the marsh's edge
In the red-soaked mud to the horses' knees (Chorus)
The knights looked up and saw our troops
Still standing on the further shore
Form up! cried the Duke in the knee-deep mud
We'll smash these dogs with one charge more
They sank in the mud to the riders' thighs
Push on! the Duke of Athens said
We hurled our darts and fired our bows
Five hundred trapped and the rest are fled (Chorus)
Free pass and ransom! the Duke he cried
But we know the worth of a French knight's word
So we cut his throat and stripped his arms
And left the flesh for the dogs and birds
I crawled out onto the shaky ground
As the crows dipped low on stiffened wing
Where a young squire groaned with his face plate gone
Cut his right hand off for his golden ring (Chorus)
Rich gifts, they brought, these Frankish knights
Who called us bastard Spanish curs
We had arms and mail and a Duke's own helm
Two bushels brim with silver spurs
My comrades lie in the white Greek soil
But they do not lie in the earth alone
Five hundred knights and a Frankish duke
Share a pool of blood as a marking stone (Chorus)
Lyrics by Lord Moses Ben Eldad
Kill a tree for Christ
It's such a festive sacrifice
Wrench it from the ground
In the name of glad tradition.
Throw it in the trunk
And tie it down with cords of bungee
You'll need the needles every year
'Cause you're a Christmas junkie.
I said Chop that puppy
Stick it on a stand
Smother it with tinsel
God'll understand
I said saw that puppy for the holy land
Come New Year's Day
Just throw it in a can (repeat line three times)
Just throw it away!
The aztecs killed their llamas
The mayans killed their precious virgins
The moslems don't like cameras
It's religious superstition.
So kill a tree for Christ.
It's such a festive sacrifice
Wrench it from the ground
In the name of glad tradition
We'll celebrate with sugar plums
For all the stumps in Christendom.
When I was a child I dreamed, but they were not dreams at all
Of far off lands, of far off times, of watching kingdoms rise and fall.
Other bodies and names I had, but always the same work to do
Always artisan warrior witch, I never thought the dreams were true.
Slowly through the years I learned, hands that ached to hold a pen
A rebel soul no orders held, and visions into minds of men.
At last I read in an ancient book and saw what I had always known
Then I knew that the dreams were true for the tale it told was once my own.
Why do I come circling back? Slowly did the memories clear
Of ancient wars, of friends and foes, but never of my purpose here.
Still I sharpened my three fold skills for use in some unknown game
Only knowing that age upon age, my enemy was still the same.
Patterns that repeat I see; faster through the world they skew
The stars turn right, the fates take flight, and all the myths and dreams come true.
Whatever battles the gods prepare for artistry, for weapons, or for mine
There I haste for the answer waits, the purpose I was born to find.
Then I saw the armies march, saw him raise his powers high
He preached obey, he practiced rule, and fattened on the ancient lie.
His wheedling words, his mystic might, his ultimately iron hand
His promised hell, I know it well, finally I understand.
Master of the secret dark are you so surprised to see
The ancient foe you should well know come to spoil your victory.
Is your enemy worse than mine, or wouldn't you believe that it was true
That I have haunted the ages down fated to come after you.
Source: Chickasaw Mountain
"Oh pray, gentle maid will you be my lover?
Condemn me no longer to mourn and to weep.
My heart it is breaking and I need no longer
Oh let down your drawbridge and I'll enter your keep."
I'll enter your keep, nonny nonny
Enter your keep, nonny nonny
Let down your drawbridge and I'll enter your keep.
"I thank you kind sir but I am no maiden.
I'm the wife of Sir Osborn, that cunning old Celt.
He's off tae the wars for ten years or longer
And he's taken the keys to my chastity belt."
Chastity belt, nonny nonny
Chastity belt, nonny nonny
He's taken the keys to my chastity belt.
"Fear not, gentle maid for I know a locksmith.
He lives in the village; let us visit his shop.
He's wise in his craft; locks pose him no problem.
Let us discover if he can unpick your lock."
Unpick your lock, nonny nonny
Unpick your lock, nonny nonny
Let us discover if he can unpick your lock.
"Kind Sir, Gentle Maid, I must speak of sorrow.
All my wisdom, all my craft will be to no avail.
Sir Osborn, that cad, he had a head on his shoulders;
That nasty old Celt, he's fitted a Yale."
Fitted a Yale, nonny nonny
Fitted a Yale, nonny nonny
That nasty old Celt, he's fitted a Yale.
"Well I'm back from the wars with news of disaster,"
Said Sir Osborn, whose ship had come in with the tide.
"While my craft is was passing through the Straits of Gilbralter
I must have carelessly dropped the key over the side."
Over the side, nonny nonny
Over the side, nonny nonny
Carelessly dropped the key over the side.
"Then alas and alack, I'm trapped here forever."
When up spoke the pageboy, "Fear not," said he.
"If my lady will allow me once more to retire to her chamber,
I will undo the lock with my duplicate key."
Duplicate key, nonny nonny
Duplicate key, nonny nonny
Undo the lock with my duplicate key.
Source: From the singing of Donal MacCian (Steve Schoenbohm)
High up on the mountain of Chickasaw they say
Is one patch of darkness that never yields to day.
Deep are the shadows, old as the mountains
Something is waiting in there - call on Her if you dare.
Seek no level of god or devil, She's something older by far
Call her Lady of the Morning Star.
She offers the bargains, the price is steep and dark
One takes your life and the other leaves a mark.
If there's a third one, I've never heard one
Choose for yourself what's to be - nothing She gives is free.
Name your goal She won't ask your soul she might even give you Her own
And maybe you'd be better off alone.
My old fellow rebel, I know what deal he made
Power rang through every song he wrote and played.
Made him the best of his generation
Sang to the end of the war - and not a moment more.
Then it left him, the power bereft him
Left only one face to see
Hanging on his sister's apple tree.
Forgive my old buddy who soon forgot my name.
I chose not to follow his seven years of fame.
He took the high road, I take the low road
Sing second best, but sing long - and have always one more song.
Take your stars and give me my scars
I'd rather live long and live free
So take his cup of hell away from me.
Whoever has wisdom can guess what lies unsaid
The cost of the gift to the living and the dead.
So if you feel you'll gain from the deal
You'll play with the old Morning Star - no need to travel far.
Don't just count on Chickasaw Mountain if there's a deal meant for you
Any wild place on earth will do.
Source: Chickasaw Mountain
Prepare you, sweet flowers, for winter advances
And drink well the sunlight that touches your form.
Draw strength from the earth and repay her with beauty
For the dark days are coming, and they'll do you harm.
When the chill eastern winds replace summer breezes
And the long summer days are remembered no more;
Then you'll know how it feels when a woman's love changes
When at last she has told you she loves you no more.
I saw her today when she walked with her new love
In all the fine places that we'd walked before.
They kissed by the rocks where she told me she loved me
And soon she'll be using those same words once more.
There's none that could blame me for wanting her beauty
But it lies like a snowflake in the hands of a child;
When the warmth of my love tried to reach out and hold her
It's then she's gone, the proof she's still wild.
Source: Silly Wizard, A Glint of Silver, Green Linnet
Look down, what can you see?
Snow white the holly tree.
Sleeping the earth it seems
Deep in a winter dream.
Circle the moon, circle the sun
Fill the earth with love
And let the sweet river run for all of life
Begin again where it begun.
Pray for the desert rose
Who burns in sweet solitude.
Pray for the frozen lands
By loving as we should.
Pray for the forest rain
She can make you breathe and live again.
And secrets the spring will bring
That flower with the autumn grain.
Source: Pentangle, In the Round
Come by the hills to the land where fancy is free
And stand where the peaks meet the sky and the rocks reach the sea
Where the rivers run clear and the bracken is gold in the sun
And cares of tomorrow must wait 'til this day is done.
Come by the hills to the land where life is a song
And sing while the birds fill the air with their joy all day long
Where the trees sway in time, and even the wind sings in tune
And cares of tomorrow must wait 'til this day is done.
Come by the hills to the land where legend remains
Where stories of old stir the hears and may yet come again
Where the past has been lost and the future is still to be won
And cares of tomorrow must wait 'til the day is done.
Come by the hills to the land where fancy is free
And stand where the peaks meet the sky and the rocks reach the sea
Where the rivers run clear and the bracken is gold in the sun
And cares of tomorrow must wait 'til this day is done.
Source: Loreena McKennitt, Elemental, Quinlan Road
There lived a lady by the north sea shore
(Lay the bend to the bonny broom)
Two daughters were the babes she bore
(Fa la la la la la la la la la)
As one grew bright as is the sun
So cold dark grew the other one
A knight came riding to the lady's door
He traveled far to be their wooer
He courted one with gloves and rings
But he loved the other above all things
"O, sister will you go with me
To watch the ships sail on the sea?"
She took her sister by the hand
And led her down to the north sea strand
And as they stood on the windy shore
The dark grew her sister o'er
Sometimes she sank sometimes she swam
Crying, "Sister, reach to me your hand
"Oh sister, sister, let me live
And all that's mine I'll surely give"
"Your own true love, that I'll have and more
But thou shalt never come ashore"
And there she floated, like a swan
The salt sea tore her body on
Ten minstrels walked along the strand
And saw the maiden float to land
They've made a harp of her breast bone
Whose sound would melt a heart of stone
They took three locks of her yellow hair
And with them strung the harp so rare.
They went into her father's hall
To play the harp before them all
But as they laid it on the stone
The harp began to play alone
"The first string played a doleful sound
The bride her younger sister drown'd"
The second string, as that they tried,
In terror sits the black-haired bride
The third string sang, beneath their bow
"And surely now her tears will flow"
Source: Pentangle, A Maid that's Deep in Love
She is always on my mind as she lies in space
She is mine and my thoughts embrace
In time I am hers, out of time she waits through me
But how much longer can this be?
Cruise dreamings, dances seeming
Can never be as real as sponges to my ship and me
Starlight haunts us through subconsciousness
Wrapped around the stars and through eternity
Though she is infinity she is a point in time
She is one with others of her line
She speaks and she hears
She guides and understands
How can she be a work of man?
In another time and space she would share my bed
Here and now we share dreams instead
Her body is another's
But her soul belongs to me
One day we two will be set free.
Cursum Perficio
Cursum Perficio
Cursum Perficio
Cursum Perficio
Cursum Perficio
Verbum sapienti (eo plus cupient)
Verbum sapienti eo plus cupient
Quo plus habent
Verbum sapienti eo plus cupient
Quo plus habent
Post nubila, Phoebus
Post nubila, Phoebus
Post nubila, Phoebus
Quo plus habent, eo plus cupient
Quo plus habent, eo plus cupient
Quo plus habent, eo plus cupient
Post nubila, Phoebus
Post nubila, Phoebus
Post nubila, Phoebus
Post nubila, Phoebus
Post nubila, Phoebus
Post nubila, Phoebus
Iternum
Iternum
Iternum
Inspired by the inscription in the portico of Marilyn Monroe's last home:
My Journey Ends Here
Source: Enya, Watermark
A knight he rode his lonely way
Thinking about his wedding day
As he rode through a forest near
The elf-king's daughter did appear
Out she stepped from the elven men
Smiling, she held out her hand
"Welcome, Sir Knight, why such speed?"
Dance, dance, follow me
Round and round the greenwood tree
Dance, dance while you may
Tomorrow is your dying day
Dance with me, dance with me
"Please, Sir Knight, come dance with me
Spurs of gold I'll give to thee!"
"Dance, neither, I will or may
Tomorrow is my wedding day."
"Please Sir Knight, come dance with me,
A shirt of silk I'll give to thee
A shirt of silk so white and fine
My mother's bleached in the moonbeam's shine!"
"Please, Sir Knight, come dance with me,
A crown of gold I'll give to thee!"
"Your crown of gold I'll freely take
But I'll not join your elven wake."
"Do you refuse to dance with me?
The pain of death shall come o'er ye!"
Between his shoulders, a blow she dealt
Such a blow he'd never felt!"
Steeleye Span, All Around My Hat, Chrysalis
It's fifty long springtimes since she was a bride
But still you may see her at each Whitsuntide
In a dress of white linen and ribbons of green
As green as her memories of loving.
The feet that were nimble tread carefully now
As gentle a measure as age will allow
Through groves of white blossoms, by fields of young corn
Where once she was pledged to her true love.
The fields they stand empty, the hedges grow free
No young men to tend them, or pastures to see
They are gone where the forests of oak trees before
Have gone to be wasted in battle.
Down from the green farmlands and from their loved ones
Marched husbands and brothers and fathers and sons
There's a fine roll of honor where the maypole once stood
And the ladies go dancing at Whitsun.
There's a straight row of houses in these latter days
All cov'ring the downs where the sheep used to graze
There's a field or red poppies, a wreath from the Queen
But the ladies go dancing at Whitsun
And the ladies go dancing at Whitsun
Source: Jean Redpath, Jean Redpath, Philo
Deep and dark are my true love's eyes,
Blacker still is the winter turning,
As the sadness of parting proves.
And brighter now is the lantern burning
That lightens my path to love.
No fiddle tune will take the air,
But I will see her swift feet advancing
And the swirl of her long brown hair,
Her smiling face and her dark eyes glancing
As we stepped out "Blinkbonny Faire."
And if my waiting proves in vain,
Then I will pack and track ever take me.
The long road will ease my pain.
No gem of womankind will make me
E'er whisper love's words again.
For in drink I'll see good company.
My ears will ring with the tavern's laughter
And I'll hear not her last sweet sighs.
Then who's to know the morning after
That I long for her dear dark eyes?
Source: Archie Fisher, A Man with a Rhyme, Folk Legacy
It was by the clear Molendinar burn
where it meets and runs with the river Clyde,
And they tell the tale of the holy one
who was fishing down by the riverside,
A holy man, from Fife he came,
his name they say was Kentigern,
And by that spot where the fish was caught
the dear green place was born.
Now the salmon ran through the river stream
and they salted them by the banks o' Clyde,
And the faces glowed as the silver flowed
and the place arose by the riverside
There was cloth to dye and hose to buy,
the trades came from miles around,
And they raised a glass to the dear green place
the place that was a town.
There is a town that once was green
and a river flowed to the sea.
The river flows forever on,
but the dear green place is gone.
When the furnaces came to fire the iron
and the folk were thrown from the farmland,
Then the Irishman and the Highland man
and the hungry came with willing hands.
They wanted work, a place to live,
their empty bellies needed fill,
And the farm yard was another world
from the dirty, overcrowded mill.
Now you may have heard of the foreign trade
and the fortunes made by tobacco lords,
But the working man slaved his life away
and an early grave was his sole reward.
A dreary room, a crowded slum
disease and hunger everywhere,
And the price to pay was another day
to fight the anger and despair.
A thousand years have been here and gone
since Kentigern saw the banks o' Clyde.
How many dreams and how many tears
in a thousand years of a city's life?
A city hard, a city proud,
and "No Mean City," it has been'
Perhaps tomorrow it yet may be
the dear green place again.
Source: The Battlefield Band, On the Rise, Topic
"Where hae ye been my dearest dear, these seven long years or more?
I've come to seek my former vows, that you promised to me before."
"O haud yer tongue o' yer former vows, for they will breed sad strife.
And haud your tongue o'yer former vows, for I am become a wife."
"For you I scorned the crown of gold, the King's daughter also'
Now I am come for you my love, and with me you must go.
See ye not yon seven pretty ships, the eighth brought me to land?
With merchandise and mariners and wealth on every hand."
So she has gone tae her young son, and kissed him on cheek and chin.
Next tae her sleeping husband gone, and done the same tae him.
She's set her foot on board the ship; 'twas rigged with silk and gold
But no mariners on board the ship, to sail her could she behold.
And they had na' sailed away, away, it's miles but barely one,
When she began tae weep and mourn, and think on her young son.
They had na' sailed away, away, it's miles but barely two,
When she espied his cloven hoof, from his grey robes stickin' thro'.
"I said ye'd see the lillies grow, on the banks of Italy,
But I'll let ye see the fishes swim, on the bottom of the sea."
They had na' sailed away, away, it's miles but barely three,
When grim grew his countenance, and raging grew the sea.
And the masts that were of beaten gold, bent not on the heaving seas;
And the sails that were of silk so fine, filled not on the east land breeze.
And aye she turned her round about, aye taller he seemed to be;
Until the tops of that gallant ship, hae taller were than he.
And the clouds grew dark, the wind grew loud, and the levin filled her e'ye;
And waisome wailed the snow white sprites, on the heaving sea.
He struck the tap-most wi' his hand, the foremast wi' his knee
And he brake that gallant ship in twain, and he sank her in the sea.
Source: Kornog, Premiere, Green Linnet
Where have you been my long lost love
These seven long years and more?
Seeking gold for thee, my love
And riches of great store.
I might have married a king's daughter
Far far beyond the sea
But I refused the golden crown
All for the love of thee.
What have you to keep me with, if I with you should go?
If I forsake my husband dear, and my young son also?
I'll show you where the white lillies grow
On the banks of Italy
I'll show you where the white fishes swim
At the bottom of the sea.
Seven ships all on the sea
The eighth brought me to land
With four and twenty mariners
And music on every hand.
She set her foot upon the ship
No mariner could behold;
The sails were of shining silk
The masts of beaten gold.
Oh what are yon high high hills the sun shines sweetly in?
Those are the hills of heaven, my love, where you will never win.
What is that mountain yonder there
Where evil winds to blow?
Yonder's the mountain of hell, he cried
Where you and I must go.
He took her to the topmast high
To see what he could see
He sunk the ship in a flash of fire
To the bottom of the sea.
Source: Steeleye Span, Commoner's Crown, Chrysalis
Come all you bold plowmen, and list to my tale
As you sit 'round the table, drinking your ale.
And I'll take you back to a far distant day
When I drove the last Clydesdales to work in Denbrae.
They were two bonnie blacks, with white faces and feet.
In the country around they could never be beat.
And you'd look far and wide 'tween the Forth and the Tay
For to match my two Clydesdales, the pride of Denbrae.
They were matchless in power in the cart and the plow,
And my hands on the reins and my voice they'd well know.
There was never a thought in their hearts but obey;
They were two bonnie Clydesdales, the pride of Denbrae.
But the years they wear on, and the winters grow cold.
Horses, like men, can do naught but grow old.
But my memories are with them, though I'm far away
They were my two bonnie Clydesdales, the pride of Denbrae.
Source: Garnet Rogers, The Outside Track, Snow Goose
In the year '98 when our troubles were great,
It was treason to be a militian.
And the Black-Whiskers said that we'd never forget
And our history shows there were Hessians.
In these troubled times oh it was a great crime
And murder it never was riper;
Near the town of Glensheed, not an acre from Meath
Lived one Dinny Byrnes, a piper.
Neither wedding nor wake would be worth a shake
If Dinny was first not invited;
For at squeezin' the bags or emptyin' the kegs
He astonished as well as delighted.
But in these times Dinny could not earn a penny
Martial law had him strung like a viper,
And it kept him within 'til the bones of his skin
Grinned through the rags of the piper.
Well one day it did dawn as Dinny crept home
Back from a fair at Lafangen,
When what should he see from the branch of a tree
But the corpse of a Hessian there hangin'.
Says Dinny, "These rogues have got boots - I've no brogues."
He took hold of the boots with a gryper
And the boots were so tight and he pulled with such might
Legs and all came away with the piper.
Ah, then Dinny did run for fear of bein' hung
'Til he came to Tim Halley's cabin.
Says Tim from within, "I can't let you in,
You'll be shot if you're caught out there rappin'"
So he went to the shed where the cow was in bed
He began with a wisp for to wipe her.
And they lay down together in seven foot of heather
And the cow took to huggin' the piper.
Well, the day it did dawn and Dinny did yawn
Then he stripped off the boots from the Hessian.
And the legs, by the law, he left in the straw
Then he slipped home with his new possessions.
Now breakfast bein' done, Tim sent his young son
To get Dinny up like a lamplighter;
When the legs there he saw, he flew up like a jackdaw
And said, "Daddy, the cow's ate the piper."
"Ah, bad luck to that baste, she'd no musical taste
To eat such a jolly old chanter
A phad raig a mhic, take a lump of a stick
Drive her off down the road and we'll canter."
Well the neighbors were called, Mrs. Kennedy bawled
She began for to humbug and gyper
And in sorrow they met and their whistles they wet
And like divvils lamented the piper.
Then the cow she was drove, a mile or two off
'Til they came to a fair at Killaly
And there she was sold for four guineas in gold
To the clerk of the parish, Sean Daly.
Then they went to the tent where the pennies were spent
(Tim bein' a jolly auld swiper)
And who should be playin' "The Rakes of Kildare,"
Just your bold Dinny Byrnes, the piper.
Ah then Tim gave a jolt like a half drunken colt
And he stares at the piper like a gamuck
"I thought, by the Powers, for the last eight hours
You were playin' in the auld cow's stomach."
Well when Dinny observed that the Hessian's being served
Began just to humbug and gyper
Oh in grandeur they met and their whistles they wet
And like divvils they danced 'round the piper.
Source: Andy M. Stewart & Manus Lunny, Dublin Lady, Green Linnet
Oh, it started in Vienna not so very long ago
When not enough folks were getting sick
That a starving young physician tried
To better his position by discovering
What made his patients tick.
Oh Doctor Freud, oh Doctor Freud,
How I wish you had been otherwise employed
For this set of circumstances
Sure enhances the finances
Of the followers of Doctor Sigmund Freud.
He forgot about sclerosis
But invented the psychosis
And a hundred ways that sex could be enjoyed;
He adopted as his credo,
"Down repression! Up libido!"
And that was the start of Doctor Sigmund Freud.
Now he analyzed the dreams
Of the teens and the libertines
And he substituted monologues for pills;
He drew crowds just alike Wells-Sadler
When along came Jung and Adler
Who said, "By God, I think there's gold in them thar hills."
They encountered no resistance
When they served as Freud's assistants
As with Ego and with Id they deftly toyed;
And instead of toting bed-pans
They bore analytic dead-pans
Those ambitious Doctors Adler, Jung and Freud.
Now the big three have departed
But not the cult they started.
It's been carried along by many a goodly hand;
And to trauma, fugue, and war-shock
Someone went and added Rorschach
Now the whole thing's got completely out of hand.
Now old men with double chin-seys
And a million would-be Kinseys
Will discuss it at the end of a repression;
I wouldn't mind complaining
But for all the dough I'm paying
Just to lie on someone's couch
And say confession.
Source: from the singing of Stephen J. Easter
Do you love an apple, do you love a pear
Do you love a laddie with curly brown hair
I do, I love him, I can't deny him
I'll be with him where e'er he goes.
Before I got married I wore a black shawl
But since I got married I wear coveralls
But still, I love him, I can't deny him
I'll be with him where e'er he goes.
He stood at the corner, a fag in his mouth
Two hands in his pockets, he whistled me out
But still, I love him, I can't deny him
I'll be with him where e'er he goes.
He works at the pier for nine bob a week
Come Saturday he comes rollin' on home
But still, I love him, I can't deny him
I'll be with him where e'er he goes.
Before I got married I'd sport and I'd play
But now the cradle, it gets in me way
But still, I love him, I can't deny him
I'll be with him where e'er he goes.
Repeat first verse.
Source: The Bothy Band
Dumb as dirt and twice as mean,
Such a son makes mother crazy.
Foul as sewers I have seen
Ugly, loutish, large and lazy
That's the child I've had to raise, what's a mom to do?
Drag him into an ocean cave, and stay to watch him too.
Son of mine, you've been a disappointment since your birth
Now I've got to bury you in this cold Northern earth;
I know you would be sorry if you weren't so very dead
But you never listened to a word I said.
Everybody needs to rest, even I get sleepy
Sonny left our little nest, on errands cruel and creepy
Came back with a haunch of man, gnawed down to the bone
Left each night from that day on while I slept like a stone.
Vikings gathered in their hall, heroes all in war delighting
When my Grendal came to call, he was met with mighty fighting
One of them took his arm, ripped it off for good
Chased him to our ocean home and killed him where he stood.
When I found my wine was spiked it was far too late to aid him
Though there wasn't much I liked, I was often glad I'd made him
So I must avenge him now, what's a mom to do?
If he was yours anyhow, I guess that you would to.
SONGDEDI.doc
The earth's fire breathing daughter came up from Oakland town
With her high priest and her coven, who had good jobs all around
Now where to find a stretch of land, and a good big house there in
Enough to hold them everyone - where else but Marin?
The day that they were moving in, the welcome wagon came
'Twas a guru in a nightshirt, and a wealthy local dame.
They murmered, "Groovy, what's your sign?" "Not now," the priestess said;
"Would you help me haul this freezer in?" The couple turned and fled.
Next week the priest went shopping and he came back with a steer
Alive and well and mooing, the couple said, "My dear,
Is this organic lawn control?" "Hell no," the priest did say
"It's our summer solstice sacrifice." The neighbors ran away.
The summer solstice ox roast was a blast you couldn't beat
The coven ate and drank and danced, they passed out on their feet
The neighbors peering through the fence yelled, "Where do you think you are?
The nudity and grass are fine, but the dancing goes too far!"
The neighbors got together, they said these freaks must go.
They must be smoking Mary Jane, we'll tell the sheriff so
We'll hide our coke and call the law but first lets warn them fair
We'll burn a hot tub on the lawn, then chase them out of there.
The sheriff of laid-back county and all his laid-back men
Went roaring up the coven's hill but they never came back again
For the hill did shake and the earth did quake and a mudslide thundered down
A police car model stereo deck was all that anyone found.
There is a house in North Marin the locals all ignore
For since the earthquake hit it has no neighbors anymore
But late at night when the moon is bright there's a fire on the hill
And the sound of pipes and laughter where the coven dances still.
Source: Chickasaw Mountain
An elfin knight stands on yon hill
And he blows his trumpet so loud and shrill
He blows it east, he blows it west
He blows it where he likes the best
Would I'd his trumpet in my chest
And was in the arms of him I love best
She has no sooner these words said
Than the Elfin knight stood by her bed
'Tis strange my lady for to see
I can scarce blow my horn but you call for me
Tell me what is louder than the horn
Tell me what is sharper than the thorn
O thunder is louder than the horn
And pain is sharper than the thorn
Anger is greener that the grass
And you are worse than e'er woman was
Source: Thomas the Rhymer, Ellen Kushner
Elma Turl was a beautiful girl
I'd love to have her for my wife
She's just the kind of woman
Who could make me happy
For the rest of my life.
But my Daddy said, "Son,
There's something you don't know
And it's something I think you'd ought to.
You see Elma Turl is a beautiful girl,
But Son, she's my daughter."
Alice Green is a beautiful thing
I'd love to have her for my wife
She's just the kind of woman
Who could make me happy
For the rest of my life.
But my daddy said. "Son,
There's something you don't know
And it's something I think you'd ought to.
You see Alice Green is a beautiful thing
But Son, she's my daughter."
Now I've been all around this country
Like a buck hunting for a doe
And it seems every girl I'd like to marry
Is a wild oat Daddy sowed.
So, I went to my Momma with my head hung down
And she asked me what the matter could be
I told her my problem and she took my hand
And said, "Son, now listen to me.
You see your Daddy is such a good lookin
Young man and like an eager young stallion horse
His blood ran hot so you can't blame him for letting
Mother Nature take her course.
But you've got no reason to be upset,
Don't you worry, don't fret, don't bother
You see your Daddy ain't your Daddy
Like he thinks he is
So you can marry who ever you want to...
Source: Mike Cross, Child Prodigy, Live and Kicking, Boot Hill
Deep within this softly moonlit night
We awoke, to find our loves' sweet expression
Unfolding of its own accord.
A touch in gentle sleepiness, a fingertip, a pressing lip,
The kindness of our bodies, speaking softly in the dark.
Our love began so tentative; a smiling eye, a voice soft spoken
Touching in a way our lives had never quite been met.
The quiet grace acceptance of the truth within each other,
The meeting of two people, man and woman for all time.
So in this night our love unfolds, your body is akin to mine.
Another half once left behind in generations long ago.
To finally meet together, in a silent true immersion.
The natural culmination of a love we can't define.
And this loving is a drawing close, a tuning in, an opening
Until one perfect moment; but how can it be expressed?
A receiving, and enfolding as I cradle you in my arms.
Within my heart, within my soul,
You are my true love.
Source: Garnet Rogers, Speaking Softly in the Dark, Snow Goose
What's packed in my hold is dearer than gold
Revenge is my cargo this day.
You think you have won, but when my job's done
The fury will force you to pay.
My people weren't strong, they'd done you no wrong
They just happened to be in your way.
You take what you seek with contempt for the meek
And your battlefleet came yesterday.
Like the cowards you are, you strike from afar
And death is the harvest you reap.
For all we were brave, no warning you gave
My people you slaughtered like sheep.
Alone in the dark, and near to my death
With hate in my heart, and with my final breath
To whatever gods would listen did pray
That they'd witness your crime and they'd force you to pay.
On Terra, long dead, old gods, it is said
Created the furies to fly
Grim justice to seek and revenge for the weak
On those whom the law had passed by.
Those gods heard my plea and granted to me
The means of achieving my goal
I think they are just, for to do what I must
A fury they placed in my soul.
Transformed by her hate, now I am your fate
The god's chosen weapon of right
The fury inside will not be denied,
And I seek my vengeance this night.
I've stolen this ship packed with weapons of war
So you will not profit as you have before
Eluding your fleet past your sentries I slip
And the fury has guided me straight to your ship.
She steadies my hand, her tool to command
Accounting you will not deny
Your ship is in sight of my fury led flight
And the fires of my vengeance burn high.
What's packed in my hold is dearer than gold
As dear as my people who fell When I ram in your side at the end of my ride
This fury will send you to hell, to hell, this fury will take you to hell!
When the evening falls and the daylight is fading
From within me calls, could it be I am sleeping?
For a moment I stay, then it holds me completely
Close to home - I cannot say
Close to home - feeling so far away.
As I walk the room there before me a shadow
From another world were no other can follow
Carry me to my own, to where I can cross over...
Close to home - I cannot say
Close to home - feeling so far away.
Forever searching; never right,
I am lost in oceans of night - forever
Hoping I can find memories
Those memories I left behind.
Even though I leave will I go on believing
That this time is real - am I lost in this feeling
Like a child passing through, never knowing the reason
I am home, I know the way
I am home, feeling so far away.
Source: Enya, Watermark
Cold as the northern winds
in December mornings,
Cold is the cry that rings
from this far distant shore.
Winter has come too late,
too close beside me.
How can I chase away
all these fears deep inside?
I'll wait the signs to come
I'll find a way
I'll wait the time to come
I'll find a way home.
My light shall be the moon
and my path the ocean
My guide the morning star
as I sail home to you.
I'll wait the signs to come
I'll find a way
I will wait the time to come
I'll find a way home.
Who then can warm my soul?
Who can quell my passion?
Out of these dreams - a boat
I will sail home to you.
Source: Enya, Watermark
Aren't I kind to allow to live in my house
Aren't I gracious to grant you the use of my chair
Aren't I wonderful when I give you a dead mouse
Aren't I utterly, totally beyond compare
And don't you admire the virtues you see
In marvelous, lovely, magnificent me-ow, me-e-e-ow-ow-ow, me-ow, me-e-e-ow
I will carefully shed just selected dark hair
When I lie on all the clean laundry you did
And the dark hair will go when I bother to lair
On black velvet, where they can't be brushed off or hid
They look so much better that way you'll agree
They'll remind you of lovely, magnificent me-ow, me-e-e-ow-ow-ow, me-ow, me-e-e-ow
If you try to insist that I live on dry food
I will either look thin and pathetic and sad
Or I just might do something disgusting and rude
Such as eat it and throw up all over your bed
Only chicken and liver and fish naturally
Are fit for the palette of marvelous me-ow, me-e-e-ow-ow-ow, me-ow, me-e-e-ow
I really don't understand why should look
At anything else or have things in your hands
So I'll patiently sit on your papers and books
To suggest that you treat me as my rank demands
You really should pet me when your hands are free
It's a privilege to fondle magnificent me-ow, me-e-e-ow-ow-ow, me-ow, me-e-e-ow
For just when you're maddest at something I've done
I'll go do something else that's so touching and sweet
So charming, adorable, silly or fun
It'll just knock the stockings right off of your feet
Now you know you can't win so why fight it you see
I know you're a sucker for marvelous me
Source: Mercedes Lackey, Magic, Moondust & Melancholy, Firebird A&B
My love built me a bonny bower
So sweetly set with the lily flower
A finer bower you ne'er did see
Than my true love he built for me.
It was my mother's deadly spite
For she sent thieves in the dark of night
Put my servants all to flight
They broke mt bower, they slew my knight.
They swore to do to me no harm
But they slew my baby in my arms
Left me naught to wrap him in
But the bloody sheet that he lay in.
They left me naught to dig his grave
But the bloody sword that slew my babe
She buried him, herself alone
She buried him, making her moan.
And think you not her heart was sore
As she laid the mold on his yellow hair?
And think you not her heart was woe
When she turned about, away to go?
I cut my hair, I changed my name
From Fair Eleanor to Sweet William
Went to court to serve my King
As the famous flower of servingmen.
So well I served my lord the King
That he made me his chamberlain
He loved me as his own son
The famous flower of servingmen.
But all at night to myself alone
It's there I sit and grieve my song:
Alas the day that I became
The famous flower of servingmen.
Our king is to the hunting gone
Taking no lords nor gentlemen
To follow after yon white dove
He's hunted over hill and grove.
He's hunted up, he's hunted down
As through the wood it made its moan,
"Alas the day my love became
The famous flower of servingmen."
The king stood fast, all in amaze
So loud unto the dove he says,
"Come pretty bird, what means this rain
This mourning for my servingman?"
"Oh it was her mother's deadly spite
For she sent thieves in the dark of night
Put her servants all to flight
They broke her bower, they slew her knight.
"She cut her hair, she changed her name
From Fair Eleanor to Sweet William.
Went to the court to serve her king
As the famous flower of servingmen."
The king, having discovered this, marries Eleanor on the day her mother is
burned for her deed. The knight's soul, so long imprisoned in the dove, is at
last free to go to heaven. The fairie queen's spell is broken.
Source: Thomas the Rhymer by Ellen Kushner
Twas on a winter's evening when first came down the snow,
O'er hills and lofty mountains, the stormy winds did blow;
A damsel she came tripping down all in a drift of snow,
With a baby in her snow-white arms she knew not where to go.
Hard-hearted was my father that shut the door on me
And more so was my mother for plainly she did see
That dark and stormy was the night, it pierced my heart with cold
And cruel was that false young man that sold his love for gold.
Unto a quiet grove she went and there she did kneel down
Turning her eyes to heaven in sorrow she made moan
She kissed the baby's cold, cold lips and laid it by her side
And in that silent fanaid grove in lonely grief she died.
Fareweel tae Tarwathie, adieu Mormond Hill,
And the dear land o' Crimond, I bid ye fareweel.
I'm bound out for Greenland and ready to sail
In hopes to find riches in hunting the whale.
Adieu to my comrades, for a while we must part
And likewise the dear lass who first won my heart;
The cold ice of Greenland my love will not chill
And the longer my absence, more loving she'll feel.
Our ship is well-rigged and she's ready to sail,
Our crew they are anxious tae follow the whale;
Where the icebergs do float and the winds blaw
Where the land and the ocean are covered with snaw.
The cold coast of Greenland is barren and bare,
No seed time nor harvest is ever known there;
And the birds here swing sweetly on mountain and dale
But there isna a birdie to sing to the whale.
There is no habitation for a man to live there
And the king of that country is the fierce Greenland bear;
And there'll be no temptation to tarry long there,
Wi' our ship bumper full, we will homeward repair.
Source: Hubert Hughes, Irish Country Songs - County Donegal
The sun was setting in the west
The birds were singing on every tree
All of nature seemed inclined for to rest
But still there was no rest for me
Farewell to Nova Scotia, the seabound coast
Let your mountains dark and dreary be
But when I am far away on the briny ocean tossed
Will you ever heave a sigh and a wish for me
I grieve to leave my native land
I grieve to leave my comrades all
My aging parents who I always held so dear
And the bonny, bonny lass I do adore
The drums are beating, the horns do alarm
The captain calls and we must obey
So farewell, farewell to Nova Scotia's charms
For it's earlie in the morning I am far, far away
I have three brothers and they're at rest
Their arms are folded upon their breast
But a poor simple sailor just like me
Must be tossed and driven on the dark blue sea
Source: Touchstone, The New Land, Green Linnet
A harsh wind hammered and bent down the trees
'Til they moaned and they wailed in the dark.
A wind cold and bitter and wiser as that,
As cruel as the jaws of the shark
So high ran the river, so heavy and wild
The waves were as high as the sea's
A fool could have seen it was no night to be
Out earning a ferryman's fee.
Ferryman, ferryman, won't you be kind?
My mother and father are waiting for me.
Ferryman, ferryman, take me across
Though I haven't the price of your fee.
She stood there alone on the cold, heaving dock
She was pale and she trembled with fear.
Her hands were clenched white as the moon on her breast
As she waited his answer to hear.
Although it's no night to be crossing, he said
For their sake I'll take you aboard
They must be near dying with worry for you
And one fare I'll easily afford.
The ferry fought hard, it bucked, yawed and rolled
With the waves surging over the bow.
Grimly the old pilot clung to the tiller
And steered the craft over somehow.
The wind-lashed young maiden stood near to the rail
Her eyes fixed upon the far side
She seemed not to notice the wind or the waves
That threatened to finish their ride.
By fate or by whim of old blind lady luck
He brought them in safely to shore.
The young girl turned round, and she took off her shawl
Saying I haven't anything more
But I'll bring you your money tomorrow, I swear
Tomorrow at first morning light.
Until then keep this as a trust of my pledge
And she disappeared into the night.
I hear that the ghost has been walking again
The passenger said with a yawn.
Oh yes sir, it has, said the pilot who took
The old ferry's tiller at dawn.
The annual storm that sank this ferry's twin
Came down just the same time last year
And now any night that a high wind comes up
That spirit is like to appear.
A ghost on the ferry, his second fare asked
A young girl who paled with fright.
Oh yes miss, and that's why we can't hire a pilot
Who will dare take the ferry at night.
Eleven poor souls there were lost on that night
And it seems that there's one that can't rest
Some duty of conscience still binds it to earth
Some promise, or sin unconfessed.
They're buried up there on the river's far shore
You can see all the graves plain from here.
The pilot's the last one... he cut off his words
As the young maiden cried out in fear.
They stared where she pointed her pale, trembling hand
And there on the shore they could see
Her shawl lay folded on the old pilot's grave
Her pledge for the ferryman's fee.
Source: Chickasaw Mountain
It's been three long years since we made her pay
Sing haul away, my laddie-o
And we can't get by on the subsidy,
Sing haul away, my laddie-o.
So now you heave away for the final trawl
It's an easy pull for the catch is small.
And then you take your gear, lad, and batten down
And I'll take her wheel, lad, and turn her 'round.
And we'll join the Venture and the Morningstar
Riding high and empty towards the bar.
For I'd rather beach her on the Skerry rock
Then to see her torched in the breaker's dock.
Then when I die, you can stow me down
In her rusty hold where the breakers sound.
And then I'll make the haven of the Fiddler's Green
Where the grub is good and the bunks are clean.
For I've fished a lifetime, boy and man
And this final trawl scarcely makes a cran.
And it's been three long years since we made her pay
And we can't get by on the subsidy.
Sing haul away, my laddie-o
Source: Garnet Roger, Garnet Rogers, Snow Goose & Archie Fisher, Off the Map, Snow Goose
It was in the spring, this year of grace,
With new life pushing through
That I looked from the Citadel down to the Narrows
And asked what it's coming to?
I saw upper Canadian concrete and glass
Right down to the water line
And I heard an old song down on fisherman's wharf
Can I sing it just one time?
Can I sing it just one time?
With half-closed eyes against the sun,
To the warm wind giving thanks
I dreamed of the days of the deep-laden schooners
Thrashing home from the Grand Banks.
The last lies, done, in the harbour sun
With her picture on a dime
And I heard an old song down on fisherman's wharf
Can I sing it just one time?
Then haul away and sheet her home!
That song is heard no more
No boats to sing it for. No sails to sing it for.
There rises now a single tide of tourists passing through
We traded old ways for the new, old ways for the new
For the new.
"So," you ask,"What's this romantic boy
Who laments what's done and gone?
There was no romance on a cold winter ocean
And the gales sang an awful song."
But my fathers knew of wind and tide
And my blood is maritime
And I heard an old song down on fisherman's wharf
Can I sing it just one time?
Can I sing it just one time?
Source: Stan Rogers, Fogarty's Cove, Fogarty's Cove
The summer sun is fading
As the year grows old
And darker days are drawing near.
The winter winds will be much colder
Now you're not here.
I watch the birds fly south
Across the autumn sky
And one by one they disappear
I wish that I was flying with them
Now you're not here.
Like the sun through the trees
You came to love me.
Like a leaf on a breeze
You blew away.
Through autumn's golden gown
We used to kick our way
You always loved this time of year
Those fallen leaves lie undisturbed now,
'Cause you're not here.
A gentle rain falls softly
On my weary eyes
As if to hide a lonely tear
My life will be forever autumn
'Cause you're not here.
Source: Jeff Wayne, War of the Worlds
Where the earth shows its bones of wind-broken stone
And the sea and sky are one
I'm caught out of time, my blood sings with wine
And I'm running naked in the sun
There's God in the trees and I'm weak in the knees
And the sky is a painful blue
I'd like to look around, but Honey, all I see is you.
The summer city lights will soften the night
'Til you think that the air is clear
And I'm sitting with friends where forty-five cents
Will buy another glass of beer
He's got something to say, but I'm so far away
That I don't know who I'm talking to
'Cause you just walked through the door,
And Honey, all I see is you.
And I just want to hold you closer than I've ever held anyone before
You say you've been twice a wife and you're through with life
Ah, but Honey, what the hell's it for?
After twenty-three years you think I could find
A way to let you know somehow
That I want to see your smiling face forty-five years from now.
Alone in the lights on stage every night
I've been reaching out to find a friend
Who knows all the words, sings so she's heard
And knows how all the stories end.
Maybe after the show she'll ask me to go
Home with her for a drink or two
Now her smile lights her eyes,
But Honey, all I see is you.
And I just want to hold you closer than I've ever held anyone before
You say you've been twice a wife and you're through with life
Ah, but Honey, what the hell's it for?
After twenty-three years you'd think I could find
A way to let you know somehow
That I want to see your smiling face forty-five years from now.
Source: Stan Rogers, Fogarty's Cove, Fogarty's Cove
Oh from out of the shires and baronies and cantons do we come
Brave, loyal East realm warriors to make the Midrealm glum!
With many a doughty ally will we give the Dragon grief
And leave him quaking in our wake just like an aspen leaf
For the honor of the East! For the honor of the East!
The great Tyger roars his war-call for the honor of the East!
Oh the Dragon snarls, and waves his tail, and puts on a brave front
And says the East realm Tyger is the prey that he will hunt.
Upon the morrow's battlefield we'll see that Dragon pause,
And whimper at the sharpness of the mighty Tyger's claws!
For the honor of the East! For the honor of the East!
The great Tyger roars his war-call for the honor of the East!
Oh the banners wave above the field, the battle fever's high
The morning sun of Pennsic is rising in the sky!
The marshall's let us at the foe, with death gripped in our paws -
Beware, you Midrealm Dragon, we're the Tyger's teeth and claws!
For the honor of the East! For the honor of the East!
The great Tyger roars his war-call for the honor of the East!
Dame Fortune does not always show her smile to the brave
And war's a chancy maid to court who'll tease you to your grave!
But if we stand, or if we fall, the outcome's still the same -
We are the Eastrealm's loyal sons, and proud to bear the name!
For the honor of the East! For the honor of the East!
The great Tyger roars his war-call for the honor of the East!
Source: Concordia Songbook
The four letter words, the four letter words
They never say quite what you mean.
I'd rather be known for my hypocrite ways
Than vulgar, impure and obscene.
When nature is calling, plain speaking is out
When ladies, Lord love them, are milling about
So you may wee-wee, make water, or green up the grass
You may powder your nose, even Johnny may pass
Shake the dew off the lily, see a man 'bout a dog
Or when everyone's soused try condensing the fog
But please do remember if you would know bliss
That only in Shakespeare do characters ____.
Now a lady has bosoms, a bust, or a breast
Those lily-white swellings, that bulge 'neath her vest
They are towers of ivory, sheaves of new wheat
In moments of passion, ripe apples to eat
You may speak of her nipples as fingers of fire
With nary a question of raising her ire
But by Rabelais' beard she will throw several fits
If you speak of them roundly as good honest ____.
When a lady oppose your advance she'll be kind
As long as you intimate what's on your mind
You may tell her you're hungry, you need to be swung
You may ask her to see how your etchings are hung
You may speak of the ashes that need to be hauled
Put a lid on the saucepan, even lay's not too bold
But the moment you're forthright get ready to duck
For the girl isn't born yet who'll stand for "Let's ____!"
Source: The singing of Lady Caitrin Gordon
Now as I come home so drunk I couldn't see, oh
There I saw a horse. Where mine own horse should be.
I says unto my wife, "Tell this to me, oh
How come the horse there? No horse should there be."
"You old fool, you silly old fool! Can't you plainly see, oh?
Nothing but a milk-cow me mother sent to me, oh."
I expect I've travelled ten thousand miles or more, oh
Saddle on a milk cow I've never seen before, oh.
Now as I come home so drunk I couldn't see, oh
There I saw some boots. Where mine own boots should be.
I says unto my wife, "Tell this to me, oh
How come the boots there? No boots should there be."
"You old fool, you silly old fool! Can't you plainly see, oh?
Nothing but a flowerpot me mother sent to me, oh."
I expect I've travelled ten thousand miles or more, oh
Laces on a flowerpot I've never seen before, oh.
Now as I come home so drunk I couldn't see, oh
There I saw a hat. Where mine own hat should be.
I says unto my wife, "Tell this to me, oh
How come a hat there? No hat should there be."
"You old fool, you silly old fool! Can't you plainly see, oh?
Nothing but a chamberpot me mother sent to me, oh."
I expect I've travelled ten thousand miles or more, oh
Sweat band on a chamberpot I've never seen before, oh.
Now as I come home so drunk I couldn't see, oh
There I saw a man's head. Where mine own head should be.
I says unto my wife, "Tell this to me, oh
How come a man there? No man should there be."
"You old fool! You silly old fool! Can't you plainly see, oh?
Nothing but a baby that me mother sent to me, oh."
I expect I've travelled ten thousand miles or more, oh
Whiskers on a baby I've never seen before, oh.
It's on a day like today
When time's in the wind
To be blown away;
And it's easy to forget
At a time like this
That a momentary phrase
Can last, can last me for days...
And your words are not new,
But somehow they'll do
For what you have to say
Will take, will take my heart away.
And what seemed right for this song
I've found to be here in you all along;
And the movement comes free
As you're nearer to me,
And your voice brings out a sound
That turns everything around...
And your words are not grace,
But their pattern's like lace
And I look on your face
And things are gathering, gathering pace...
Source: Relativity, Gathering Pace, Green Linnet
Deep peace of the running wave to you
Deep peace of the flowing air to you
Deep peace of the quiet earth to you
Deep peace of the shining stars to you
Deep peace of the gentle night to you
Moon and stars shine their healing light on you
Deep peace to you.
Gaudete, gaudete. Christus est natus
Ex Maria, virgine, gaudete
Tempus ad est gratie
Hoc quod optabamus
Carmine laetitae
Devote redamus
Deus homo factus est
Naturam erante
Mundus renovatus est
A Christo regante
Ezecheelis porta clausa
Per transitor
Unde lux est orta
Sallus invenitor
Ergo nostra conti
Psallat jam in lustro
Benedicat domino
Sallus regi nostro
Source: Steeleye Span, Below the Salt, Chrysalis
Cold wind on the harbor and rain on the road
Wet promise of winter brings recourse to coal
There's fire in the blood and a fog on Bras d'Or
The giant will rise with the moon.
'Twas the same ancient fever in the Isles of the Blessed
That our fathers brought with them when they went west
It's the blood of the Druids that never will rest
The giant will rise with the moon.
So crash the glass down! Move with the tide!
Young friends and old whiskey are burning inside.
Crash the glass down! Fingal will rise
With the moon.
In inclement weather the people are fey
Three thousand year stories as the night slips away
Remembering Fingal feels not far away
The giant will rise with the moon.
The wind's from the north, there be new moon tonight
And we have no circles to dance in it's sight
So light a torch, bring the bottle, and build the fire bright
The giant will rise with the moon.
So crash the glass down! Move with the tide!
Young friends and old whiskey are burning inside.
Crash the glass down! Fingal will rise
With the moon.
Source: Stan Rogers, Fogarty's Cove, Fogarty's Cove
"Marry a doctor, and raise some kids," that's what your parents said.
They threw you out when you turned away to the life of a scholar instead.
Now you stand here watching the Keep of Dare with a thoughtful and worried brow
Gil Patterson, what would your parents say if they could see you now?
The history scholar who came to dream of a dark and haunted land
Learned dreams were true from a wizard who came to beg for a haven he'd planned
To hide in your world his infant prince; you agreed without taking much thought
But the dark came hunting across the void heading you to the prey they sought.
He pulled you to safety into his world; the dark blocked all return.
Since you were no wizard then to survive the art of the sword you had learned.
Gone was the scholar who lived her life in the world inside of her head
And in her place the warrior maid Gil-Shallos stood instead.
The Royal Guard took you to its ranks; you grew tough and battle scarred.
All trace of weakness was burned away like a weapon that's tempered hard.
All the intensity you once paid to the search for knowledge and truth
Has been re-aimed at survival now taking with it the last of your youth.
Hunger and fear have stiffened your spine, pain is a fact of life
Sleep brings only uneasy dreams, waking brings struggle and strife.
It was no magic that forced the change, but agony, laughter and tears
And you're half in love with that half mad mage of easily twice your years.
But you've got a home with the Royal Guard and you wear their silver and black
Do you wonder now if you had the chance if you'd still choose to go back?
And you pace the walls of the Keep of Dare with a troubled and pensive brow.
Gil-Shallos what would your old friends say if they could see you now.
Source: Mercedes Lackey, Magic, Moondust & Melancholy, Firebird A&M
Me and my uncle went riding down
From Colorado, west Texas bound,
And we stopped off in Santa Fe,
It bein' part about half way
And besides it was the hottest part of the day.
We led our ponies into a stall
Went to a bar, bought drinks for all.
Two days in the saddle, my body hurt;
It bein' summer, took off my shirt
And tried to wash off some of that dusty dirt.
West Texas cowboys all over town,
With gold and silver, were loaded down
Just in from roundup, it seemed a shame
So my uncle starts a friendly game
High low jacks, and the winner takes the game.
From the beginning, uncle starts to win.
Them Texas cowboys, they was mad as sin.
They say he's cheatin', but that can't be
For my uncle, he's honest as me
And I'm as honest as a Denver man can be.
One of those cowboys, he starts to draw
I grabbed a bottle, slapped him on the jaw.
I shot another, he won't grow old.
In the confusion, Uncle grabbed the gold
And we hightailed it off to Mexico.
Now God bless cowboys, and God bless gold.
God bless my uncle, and rest his soul.
He taught me well boys, taught me all I know;
Taught me so well that I grabbed the gold
And left him laying there by the side of the road.
Source: Judy Collins
God bless the human elbow
God bless it where it bends
If it bent too short
We'd be dry, I fear
If it bent too long
We'd be drinking in our ears
So, God bless it where it bends.
"Rest your head my love;
Rest your tired limbs;
Leave your mind at peace, at peace, at peace,
What are you thinking now?"
"Thinking of a girl
As golden as the sun
She loved me not like you, like you, like you.:
"Pray do you love me more?"
"It's hard to say for sure.
A child, sixteen, was I
Both virgins did we buy, we buy, we buy."
"You loved her more than me."
Bridge
"She left me one dark night
She took my heart for free
I've seen her not since then, since then, since then,
God if I saw her now."
Source: Anthony Phillips, The Geese and the Ghost, Passport
I went out into the hazelwood
Because a fire was in my head.
Cut and peeled a hazel wand
And hooked a berry to a thread.
And when white moths were on the wing
And moth-like stars were flickering out
I dropped the berry in a stream
And caught a little, silver trout.
When I had laid it on the ground
And gone to blow the fire aflame,
Something rustled on the floor
And someone called my by my name.
It had become a glimmering girl
With apple blossoms in her hair
Who called my by my name and ran
And vanished in the brightening air.
Though I am old with wandering
Through hollow lands and hilly lands
I will find out where she's gone
And see her lips and take her hands.
And walk through long green dappled grass
And pluck 'til time and times are done
The silver apples of the moon
The golden apples of the sun.
Source: Judy Collins, So Early in the Spring
A shadow in the bright bazaar, a glimpse of eyes where none should shine
A glimpse of eyes translucent gold and slitted against the sun.
This the clue and this the sign that sets him on his quarry's line
But she has seen him in a dream and now she's on the run.
Faster than a thought she flees and seeks the jungle's sheltering trees
But he is steady on her track and half a breath behind.
She tastes his scent upon the breeze and looking past her shoulder sees
He treads upon her shadow she fears the hunter's mind.
So now she summons all her wit and every trick she knows to hide
To make him lose the twisting track to throw him off her trail.
In woman form, in leopard hide, folding, leaping side to side
She doubles back along her track and sees her efforts fail.
He stands before her dark and grim her terror now she can't suppress
He blocks the only pathway out and will not let her by.
Her gold flanks heaving in distress, half woman and half leopardess
To either side nowhere to hide it's time to fight or die.
But what is this? To her amaze the man has thrown his gun away
And quietly draws nearer now, a smile upon his face
Before she thinks to run or stay his body blurs like softened clay
Before her eyes to her surprise, a leopard in his place.
The hunter they have sought in vain now the talk of the bizarre
Is of the canny leopard pair, a sight none will forget
Who once has seen them near or far in sunlight or where shadows are
As side by side they hunt and hide; no-one has caught them yet.
Source: Mercedes Lackey, Magic, Moondust & Melancholy, Firebird A&
Slowly, slowly walk that path
And you might ne'er stumble or fall.
Slowly, slowly walk that path
And you might never fall in love at all.
Golden, golden is her hair
Like the morning sun over fields of corn
Golden, golden flows her love
So sweet and clear and warm
Lonely, lonely is the heart
That ne'er a lover can call its own.
Lonely, lonely lies the heart
That has to live all alone.
Wildy, wildly beats the heart
With a rush of love like a mountain stream.
Wildly, wildly play your part
As free as a wild heart's dream.
Source: Silly Wizard, Kiss the Tears Away
The space shuttle pilot lies dreaming
Of adventures come the dawn;
His lover weeps, she cannot sleep.
Tomorrow he'll be gone.
Goodbye my love, minus ten and counting
The launch fires flame and roar.
Goodbye my love, going into orbit
On the wings of the future you'll soar.
A man confronts his destiny
Accepts what must be done.
A challenge faced in open space
For his unborn daughters and sons.
Bound away beyond the atmosphere
To sail infinity's sky.
A man's heart sings a wonder of wings
While planet-bound lovers cry.
A woman understands the secret
Desires and needs of men.
She knows someday he'll choose to stay
And never return from orbit again.
And I'll be waiting here, missing you
Until-planet bound lovers go orbiting too.
Source: Mercedes Lackey???
Lift up your hearts Emmanuel's friends
And taste the pleasure that Jesus sends.
Let nothing cause you to delay
But hasten in the good old way.
For I have a sweet hope of glory in my soul
I have a sweet hope of glory in my soul
For I know I have, and I feel I have
A sweet hope of glory in my soul.
Our conflicts ere the great day be
Shall not prevent our victory.
If we but strive and watch and pray
Like soldiers in the good old way.
Though Satan may his spells employ
Our happiness for to destroy
But never fear we'll gain the day
By marching in the good old way.
Ye valiant souls for Heaven contend
Remember glory is at the end.
Our God will wipe our tears away
When we have run in the good old way.
And far beyond this mortal shore
We'll meet with those who have gone before
And shout to think we'll gain the day
By marching in the good old way.
Source: Clam Chowder, Stewed, The Watersons, For Pence and Spicy Ale, Topic
Oh daughter, you look so pake and wan
As the frost is white on the window pane
When lately you bloomed in the summer sun
When will we see you smile again?
I am so cold and I am so dark
The frost lies hard on furrow and tree
How can I sing like the gentle lark
'Til the green mist brings the springtime to me.
Daughter the spring is coming soon
We'll see the fields stand green again
We'll leap and dance out under the moon
And we'll watch for the green mist over the fen.
I danced on the green when the cowslips bloomed
And the wind blew soft on leaf and tree
I long to see the golden burn
And I feel it will come too late for me.
But if I could see the flowers again
Hear the birds sing as they fly
See the cowslips dance in the sun
Well, then I would wither and gladly I'd die.
Daughter, daughter, mind what you say
The wind blows, whispering, over the fen
Your sickness will pass like the break of day
When the green mist brings the springtime again.
And though she was thin and though she was pale
As tender shoots in April time
When the earth and grew green, she smiled and was hale
And she laughed and she sang in the warm sunshine.
And by there came a fine young man
As the rose that holds the morning dew
They walked together hand in hand
And they walked out the gate where the cowslips bloomed.
There they talked and there they planned
As the sun sank red in the evening sky
And he held a cowslip in his hand
And the flower bloomed and began to die.
Her face was pale and deadly white
As the stars climbed over the willow tree
Oh, Mother, I will die tonight
Come and make my bed for me.
And on her breast the flower lay
As the evening mist fell softly around
As the light failed then so did they
As gently as the moon goes down.
Oh, Daughter, you look so pale and wan
The wind goes whispering over the fen
When lately you bloomed in the summer sun
When will we see you smile again?
Source: The Albion Band, Light Shining, Albino
Greensleves was all my joy;
Greensleves was my delight.
Greensleves was my heart of gold;
And who but my lady, Greensleves.
Alas! My love you do me wrong
To cast me off discourteously;
And I have loved you for so long
Delighting in your company.
I have been ready at your hand
To grant whatever you would crave.
I have both waged life and land
Your love and good will for to have.
I have brought the kerchers to thy head
That were wrought fine and gallantly
I kept thee both at board and bead
Which cost my purse most favouredly.
Thy smock of gold so crimson red
With pearls bedecked sumptuously;
The like no other lasses had
And yet, thou woulds't not love me.
I brought thee petticoats of the best
The cloth so fine as fine might be.
I gave thee jewels for thy chest
And all this cost I spent on thee.
Thy gown was of the grassy green
The sleeves of satin hangin by;
Which made thee be our harvest queen
And yet, thou woulds't no love me.
Thy smock of silk, both faire and white
With gold embroidered gorgeously.
Thy petticoat of sendal right
And these I bought thee gladly.
Thou coulds't desire no earthly thing
But still thou hads't it readily
Thy music still to play and sing
And yet, thou woulds't not love me.
My gayest gelding I thee gave
To ride wherever thou liked thee.
No lady ever was so brave
And yet, thou woulds't not love me.
My men were clothed all in green
And they did ever wait on thee.
And this was gallant to be seen
And yet, thou woulds't not love me.
For every morning when thou rose
I sent the dainties orderly
To cheer thy stomach from all woes
And yet, thou woulds't not love me.
Well, I will pray to God on high
That thou my constancy mays't see;
And that yet once before I die
Thou will vouch safe to love me.
Greensleves, now farewell! Adieu!
God I pray to prosper thee.
For I am still your lover true
Come once again and love me.
Our fathers our from India come,
And stopped where they found water.
And the Giorgio boys with their greedy eyes they coveted our daughters.
They coveted our daughters.
And the moon shone into the sea
and crossed our paths will silver
There was music at night and the dark outside
And the music made you shiver, to be a Gypsy.
Across the desert our fathers come,
A dancing boy, a mare, a drum
And the Giorgio boys with their greedy eyes, they coveted our freedom.
They coveted our freedom.
And we fit in your landscape as
the six to their five senses
And the pastured close, and the traveller knows
That the world's cut up by fences, to catch a Gypsy.
Now the colors fade on the caravans
And all roads bend and change.
And the Vigilantes move on us, but still we do remain
And why do we remain?
For you roads only keep us on
the paths that we have chosen.
When it's cold at night and the fire won't light
And the children's hands are frozen, and it's hard to be a Gypsy.
Oh the fire that burns, the cage, the key
The dancer of delight.
The flame that burns behind your eyes still flickers in your sight
Still flickers in your sight.
And you may die of cold because
the path that you have chosen
Has warmed your hands but not your heart,
And left your cold souls frozen, let the Gypsy dance.
Now if the Gypsy cannot dance,
In your heart you may discover
That the fire needs air to burn
Or soon it'll be all over.
Source: Garnet Rogers, The Outside Track, Snow Goose
Haakon got run over by a shield wall
Walking cross the field one Pennsic eve.
Now you can say there's no such place as Mid Realm,
But as for mighty Haakon he believes.
He'd been drinking to much Bear Paw,
And we begged him not to go,
But he'd left Binder in the field,
And he staggered out although we hollered "Hold".
Chorus
When we found him the next morning,
At the scene of the attack,
He had duct tape on his forehead,
And incriminating red tape on his back.
Chorus
Now we're all so proud of Eleanor,
She's been taking this so well,
See her sitting in the corner,
Sewing garb and using Boris as a pell.
Chorus
Now the feast is on the table,
Of the food take a taste,
Light the gold and silver candles,
That would just have matched the belt round Haakon's waist.
Chorus
It's not Pennsic without Haakon,
All the East is dressed in black,
And we just can't help but wonder,
Should we forfeit to the Mid or drive them back. (DRIVE THEM BACK)
Chorus
Source: The singing of Grace Cecil
The thunder and lightning gave voice to the night
The little lame child cried aloud in her fright
"Hush little baby, a story I'll tell
Of love that has vanquished the powers of Hell."
Hallelujah! The great storm is over!
Lift up your wings and fly!
Sweetness in the air, and justice on the wind
Laughter in the house where the mourners have been.
The deaf shall have music, the blind have new eyes
The standards of Death taken down by surprise.
"Hush little baby, let go of your fear
The Lord loves his own, your mother is near."
The child fell asleep as the lantern did burn
Her mother sang on, 'til her bridegroom's return.
Source: Garnet Rogers, Speaking Softly in the Dark, Snow Goose
Let me teach you to wonder and worry
Permit me to tell you how to wage ware
A creature's reach should exceed its grasp
Or what's a heaven for?
I'll show you the way to take thought for tomorrow
To struggle for dreams, and to hunger for more
A creature's right should outrun its might
Or what are the heavens for?
Taste of the fruit of the tree that is knowledge
Of good and of evil and all the world's lore
A creature's thought must exceed what its taught
Or who are the heavens for?
So come here and learn to live as the gods are
For I've got a wonderful secret to tell
A creature's reach should exceed its grasp
What else is heaven or hell?
Let us pause in life's pleasures and count its many tears
While we all sup sorrow with the poor;
There's a song that will linger forever in our ears;
Oh! Hard times come again no more.
'Tis the song, the sigh of the weary;
Hard times, hard times, come again no more;
Many days you have lingered around my cabin door,
Oh! Hard times come again no more.
While we seek mirth and beauty and music light and gay,
There are frail forms fainting at the door;
Though their voices are silent,
Their pleading looks will say,
Oh! Hard times come again no more.
'Tis the song, the sigh of the weary;
Hard times, hard times, come again no more;
Many days you have lingered around my cabin door,
Oh! Hard times come again no more.
Source: DeDannan?
Harris, my old friend, good to see your face again.
More welcome, though, yon trap and that old mare,
For the wife is in a swoon and I am all alone.
Harris, fetch thy mare and bring us home.
The wife and I went out for a quiet glass of stout
And a word or two with neighbors in the room.
But young Cleary, he came in, as drunk and wild as sin
And swore the wife would leave the place with him.
But the wife as quick as thought, said, "No, I'll bloody not!"
And struck the brute a blow about the head.
He raised an ugly paw and he lashed her on the jaw
And she fell to the floor like she were dead.
Now, Harris,you well know, I've never struck an angry blow;
Nor would I keep a friend who raised his hand.
I was a "Conshie" in the war, crying, "What the hell's this for?"
But I had to see his blood to be a man.
I took him by his coat, spun him round, and took his throat
And beat his head upon the parlour door.
He dragged out an awful knife and roared, "I'll have your life!"
Then he struck me and I fell onto the floor.
Blood I was from neck to thigh, bloody murder in his eye,
And he shouted out, "I'll finish you for sure!"
But as the knife came down, I lashed out from the ground
And the knife was in his breast when he rolled o'er.
With the wife as cold as clay, I carried her away
No hand was raised to help us through the door.
And I've brought her half a mile but I've had to rest awhile
And none of them I'll call the friend the more.
For when the knife came down, I was helpless on the ground.
No neighbor stayed his hand; I was alone.
By God! I was man, but now I cannot stand
Please, Harris, fetch thy mare and take us home.
Oh, Harris fetch thy mare and take us out of here
In my nine and fifty years I'd never known
That to call myself a man for my loved one I must stand
Now, Harris, fetch thy mare and take us home.
Source: Stan Rogers, Between the Breaks, Live, Fogarty's Cove
Don now the wreath of gold and bear the torches in the cold
Through the brown and barren fields, where the fairies have trod.
Press the lights into the soil, and round the circle writhe and coil
For the abundant yield. Thanks be unto the God!
Bear the baskets filled with grain, oats and barley and rye.
Hide them from the pouring rain, soon to darken the sky.
Round and around and around we go, sometimes fast and sometimes slow;
Round and around and around the ring, of the summer-born king.
Old Gods are standing here to watch the turning of the year;
Far from the forest grove, fairies pipe their tune.
Strong staves of rowan trees shall keep the measure merrily;
Ash branch and sprig of rue flash beneath the moon.
Rise up and join the ring of the harvest-time place.
Praise now the waning king, in the last of his days.
Hand to hand we pass the blade and sheathe it by the ivy maid;
Keen the edge that cuts the hand of the dancer unwary.
Greet the God with open arms, and bind the ring with sylvan charms,
Praise the spirits of the land, sylph and nyaid and fairy.
Bear now the maiden's blade to the alter of stone
Here where the God has stayed, 'til the harvest has grown.
Round, round, upon the ground, where ( ) green in autumn bound
Whirl, whirl, the ivy girl, where the harvest was springing.
Bright, bright the fire light when day is turning into night
Swirl, swirl the smoked-out girl, while the dancers are singing.
Dance 'neath the autumn crown, 'mongst the fardles and sheaves.
Dance now upon the ground, branches, petals, and leaves.
Source: Gwydion Sings
Andy M. Stewart
He still smiles when he recalls
How the gold ring fit her finger
How they made that moment linger
That its memory be strong.
They had made a brand new start
And found a whole new way of living
Two voices joined together singing no sad songs.
If the hard times come around
May you see them there together
And may there be love and laughter
In the Heart of your Home.
Leaving there was always hard
And leaving her was never easy
With those memories to tease you.
Summer nights seemed winters long;
In his heart there was a sound
And the only sound worth hearing
Two voices joined together singing no sad songs.
He still smiles when he recalls
How they counted little fingers.
And their gratitude still lingers
That the boy was born strong.
They had made a whole new life
And found a whole new way of living
Three voices joined together singing no sad songs.
Source: Andy M. Stewart & Manus Lunny, Dublin Lady, Green Linnet
Traditional
I wish I was where Helen lies
For night and day on me she cries;
I wish I was where Helen lies,
On fair Kirkconnel lea.
Cursed be the heart that thought the thought,
Cursed be the hand that fired the shot;
When in my arms poor Helen dropped
And died for sake o' me.
I lichted down my sword to draw,
I hacked him in pieces sma';
I hacked him in pieces sma';
For her sake that died for me.
I wish I was where Helen lies;
For night and day on me she cries.
Out of my bed she bids me rise,
Says hast and come to me.
Oh, Helen fair, beyond compare,
I'll make a garland o' yer hair;
Shall bind my heart for ever mair,
On fair Kirkconnel lea.
I wish I was where Helen lies;
For night and day on me she cries.
And I am weary of the skies
On fair Kirkconnel lea.
Source: Kornog,On Seven Winds, Green Linnet
The wind was a lament of darkness among the gusty trees
And the moon was a ghostly galleon tossed on cloudy seas
And the road was a ribbon of moonlight looping the purple moor
When the highwayman came riding, riding riding riding
The highwayman came riding up to the old inn door.
Over the cobbles he clattered to a hall in the darkened yard
And he tapped with his whip at the shutters but alas, all was locked and all was barred
And he whistled a tune to the window, and who should be waiting there
But the landlord's dark-eyed daughter, aye, the landlord's dark-eyed daughter
Plaiting a dark-red love knot into her long black hair.
"One kiss from my bonnie sweetheart, for I'm after a prize tonight
But I'll be back with the yellow gold before the morning light.
And if they press me sharply or hurry me through the day
Then look for me by moonlight, watch for me by moonlight
I'll come for thee by moonlight, though Hell should bar the way."
Well, he did not come at the dawning, and he did not come at noon
And out of the tawny sunset before the rising of the moon
When the road was a gypsy's ribbon looping the purple moor
The red coat troop came marching, marching marching marching
King George's men came marching up to the old inn's door.
They have bound a musket beside her and placed the barrel beneath her breast
"Now keep good watch," and they kissed her, and she could hear her dear man say
"Look for me by moonlight, watch for me by moonlight
I'll come for thee by moonlight, though Hell should bar the way."
Nearer he came and nearer, for her face was like a light
Her eyes grew wide for a moment, she drew one last deep breath
And her finger moved in the moonlight, the musket shattered the moonlight
Shattered her breast in the moonliht, and it warned him with her death.
Well, he's turned and spurred him Westward, he did not know who stood
Bowed with her head o'er the musket, drowned in her own red blood.
Not 'til the dawn did he hear it, and his face grew gray to hear
That the landlord's dark-eyed daughter, aye, the landlord's dark-eyed daughter
Had waited for her lover in the moonlight and died in deep despair.
Back he spurred like a madman, shrieking a curse to the sky
With the white road smoking behind him, and his rapier brandished high
Blood red were his spurs in the cold and gloom, wine red his velvet coat
And they shot him down on the highway, down like a dog on the highway
And he lay in his blood on the highway, with a bunch of lace at his throat.
Still on a winter's night, they say, when the wind is in the trees
And the moon is a ghostly galleon tossed on cloudy seas
And the road is a ribbon of black moonlight looping the purple moor
The highwayman comes riding, riding riding riding
The highwayman comes riding up to the old inn door.
O'er the cobbles he clatteres to halt in the darkened yard
As he cuts with his whip at the shutters, but all is dark and barred
And he whistles a tune to the window, and who should be waiting there
But the landlord's dark-eyed daughter, aye, the landlord's dark-eyed daughter
Plaiting a dark red love knot into her long black hair.
(to the tune of "the Rising of the Moon")
The writer of the following song has been placed under geas under by Master El of the Two Knives to disseminate said song to the four winds, and craves the sssistance of all gentle hearts in accomplishing the geas by publishing, singing, teaching, and otherwise distributing said song to the utmost of their
ability.
In the Laurel Kingdom of the East, not very long ago
There ruled a man whose heart was great, whose courage all did know.
He led the realm in peace and war, and of him bards yet sing
That the Kingdom knew a golden age when Vissivald was king
When Vissivald was king, when Vissivald was king;
The kingdom knew a golden age when Vissivald was king.
Then came the day in far Thescorre of which this song will tell
When Vissivald to Gavin gave the realms he'd ruled so well.
His Earldom was proclaimed, but then he said, "There's just one thing;
I may no more be Master-at-Arms now I'm no longer king."
Now I'm no longer king, etc.
"I won the Crown," he said, "without my lady's free consent,
And so my honor's forfeit -- and this is my intent:
My Masterhood I here renounce, my theigns I do release,
And as Lord Aelfwine's man-at-arms, I'll take a humble place."
I'll take a humble place, etc.
Thus spoke great-hearted Vissivald before the silent crowd;
He strode from out the festive hall, his head held high and proud.
His simple dignity set all the court to murmering,
"He's a man of rare nobility who lately was our king."
Who lately, etc...
Then up stepped Johan, Theign 1-A, and to the hall he said,
"Though by his will I must this day give back the baldric red
I wear it still within my heart in spite of everything."
A faithful Theign to Vissivald, who lately was our king.
Who lately... etc.
Then forth came bold Sir Garanhir, and humbly begged a boon:
"Though Jamie Selkirk of redeeming qualities has none,
His son has shown his worthiness to wear the belt of white,
And as a boon I pray that Selkirksson be made a Knight."
Selkirksson be made... etc.
For Gavin and for Tamera we'll live and we will die
But now and then our thoughts will turn to days not long gone by
And now and then some of us will tell or else will sing
Of the honor of Earl Vissivald, who lately was our king.
Who lately... etc.
Written on coronation night in Thescorre, April 19-20, A.S. XIV, by Katya the Halfhanded
Stan Rogers
I took back my hand and I showed him the door.
No dollar of mine would I part with this day
For fueling the engine of a bloody, cruel war
In my forefather's home, far away.
Who fled the first Famine wearing all that they owned,
Were called Navigators, all ragged and torn,
And built the Grand Turk here, and found a new home
Wherever their children were born.
Their sons have no politics; none can recall
Allegiance from long generations before.
O' this or O' that name can't matter at all,
Or be cause enough for to war.
And meanwhile my babies are safe in their home,
Unlike their pale cousins who cower and cry
While kneecappers nail their poor dads to the floor
And teach them to hate and to die.
It's those cruel beggars who spurn the fair coin
The peace for their kids they could take at their will.
Since the day that King Billy prevailed at the Boyne,
They've bombed and they've maimed and they've killed.
Now they cry out for money and wail at the door
But Home Rule or Republic, 'tis all of it shame;
And a curse for us here who want nothing of war.
We're kindred in nothing but name.
All rights and all wrongs have since long blown away,
For causes are ashes where children lie slain.
Yet the damned U.D.L. and the cruel I.R.A.
Will tomorrow go murdering again.
But no penny of mine will I add to the fray.
"Remember the Boyne!" they will cry out in vain,
For I've given my heart to the place I was born
And forgiven the while House of Orange,
King Billy and the whole House of Orange.
Source: Stan Rogers, From Fresh Water, Cole Hill Music
Traditional
My life goes on in endless song
Of others' lamentation
I hear the (reels) of far off hills
That hails the new creation.
Above the tumult and the strife
I hear its music ringing
In sounds that echo in my soul
How can I keep from singing?
But though the tempest loudly roars
I hear the truth, it liveth
And though the darkness 'round me close
Songs in the night it giveth.
No storm can shake my inmost calm
While to that rock I'm clinging
Since love is heaven and earth
How can I keep from singing?
When tyrants tremble sick with fear
And hear their death knell ringing
When friends rejoice both far and near
How can I keep from singing?
In prison cells and dungeon vile
Our thoughts to them are winging
When friends ( ) are undefiled
How can I keep from singing?
My life goes on in endless song
Of others' lamentation
I hear the (reels) of far off hills
That hails the new creation.
Above the tumult and the strife
I hear its music ringing
In sounds that echo in my soul
How can I keep from singing?
Source: Clam Chowder
Traditional
Let your quacks and newspapers be cutting their capers
And curing the Vapours, the Scratch and the Gout
With their medical potions, their pills and their lotions
Upholding their notions, they're mighty put out.
Who can tell the true physic of all things pathetic
And pitch to the Devil Cramp, Colic, and Spleen?
Oh, you'll find them I think if you take a big drink
With your mouth to the brink of a jug of Poitin.
Then stick to the Cratur, the best thing in nature
For sinking your sorrows and raising your joys.
Oh what botheration no bolt to the nation
Can bring consolation like Poitin me boys.
No liquid cosmetic to lovers athletic
Or ladies pathetic can bring such a bloom
As the sweet, my the powers to the garden of flowers
Never brought its own powers such darling perfume.
And this liquid's so rare if you're willing to share
To be taking your hair when its grizzled and dead
Oh the sod has the merit to yield the true spirit
So strong it'll shake all the hairs from your head.
Then stick to the Cratur, the best thing in nature
For sinking your sorrows and raising your joys.
Oh since its perfection no doctor's direction
Can clean the complexion like Poitin me boys.
As a child in the cradle the nurse came from her ladle
Was swilling her mouth with a notion of "pep"
When a drop from her bottle fell in to me throttle
I capered and scrambled right out of her lap.
On the floor I lay crawling and screaming and bawling
'Til Father and Mother soon came to the fore;
Convinced I lay dying, all wailing and crying
They found I was only a-crying for more.
Then stick to the Cratur, the best thing in nature
For sinking your sorrows and raising your joys.
Oh Lord how I'd chuckle if babies in their truckle
Could only be suckled on Poitin me boys.
Through youthful digressions and times of depression
My childhood impression still clung to me mind.
In school and in college the basis of knowledge
I never could gulp 'til with whiskey combined.
Now as older I'm growing, time's ever bestowing
On Erin's potation a flavour so fine
And how e'er they may lecture on Jove or his nectar
Itself is the only true liquid divine.
Then stick to the Cratur, the best thing in nature
For sinking your sorrows and raising your joys.
Oh Lord, it's the right thing for courting and fighting
There's naught so exciting as Poitin me boys.
Come guess me this riddle what beats pipe and fiddle
What's hotter than mustard and wilder than cream?
What best wets your whistle, what's clearer than crystal
Smoother than honey and stronger than steam?
What'll make the dumb talk, what'll make the lame walk?
The elixir of life and philosopher's stone?
And what helped Mr. Brunnel to dig the Thames tunnel
Wasn't it Poitin me boys from old Innishowen.
Then stick to the Cratur the best thing in nature
For sinking your sorrows and raising your joys.
Oh Lord knows I wonder if lightning and thunder
Was made from the plunder of Poitin me boys.
Oh Lord knows I wonder if lightning and thunder
Was made from the plunder of Poitin me boys.
Source: Andy M. Stewart & Manus Lunny, Dublin Lady, Green Linnet
If I see her again I must die or kill
In the bleak dark wood on the stone-ringed hill
When the year wears down and the trees are bare
In the form of an upright white-fanged bear
For when she appears death is on the air
And someone in sight must die.
Have you seen her again in the dark and cold
The night black mare and her grim nine-fold
With her thigh-bone staff and her storm cloud robe
With her jet black eyes that no light can hold
When more than a few must die.
We will see her again and the earth shall cry
When the hills fall down and the seas run high
She will strike her hoof on the earth-way fault
With her twelve limbs bare to the heaven's fault
She will dance in flame 'til the stars cry halt
And all but a few shall die.
Source: Chickasaw Mountain
Traditional
Come all ye maids who live at a distance
Many a mile from off your love
Come and assist me this very moment
For to pass away some time
Singing sweetly and completely
Songs of pleasure and songs of love
My heart is with you all together
Though I live not where I love
When I sleep I dream about you
When I wake I find no rest
Every moment thinking of you
My heart fixed within your breast
Though great distance may prove assistance
From my mind your love to remove
My heart is with you all together
Though I live not where I love
All the world should be of one religion
All living things should cease to die
If ever I prove false to my jewel
Any way my love deny
The world would change and be most strange
If ever I inconstant prove
My heart is with you all together
Though I live not where I love
So, farewell lads and farewell lasses
Now I think I've got my choice
I'll away to yonder island
Where I think I may hear your voice
If you call then I will follow
Though the ocean be so wide
My heart is with you all together
Though I live not where I love
Source: Jean Redpath, Jean Redpath, Philo
(to the tune of "Jingle Bells")
Slashing through the foe
With a one hand sword I slay
To the East we go
Killing on the way (Hack, slash, stab)
On our first crusade
The Muslim foe we fight
What fun it is to laugh and sing
A slaying song tonight!
Infidels, infidels, we have come to slay
Seljuk Turks and Saracens
Come and join the fray (Hey Hey Hey)
Infidels, infidels, we have come to slay
If you will not fight with us
You'd better run away.
Source: 1990 Skaid-Brandr Thoralfsson (Carl Hylin)
editor's note: This song is, unfortunately, quite historically accurate. Popes such as Urban II and Innocent III would offer papal amnesty and all the loot they could carry to Christians it they would go off to win Jerusalem back from the Turks. They not only looted the holy land, but everywhere in between while they made their way over. With all the warfare, and land changing religious conquerors every 80 years or so, Jerusalem and the surrounding countryside weren't really very nice places to live.
Tune: Mick Hanly
Lyrics: Traditional
I'm a heartbroken raftsman, from Greenville I came
All my virtue departed, with a lass I did feign
From the strong darts of Cupid I've suffered much grief
And my heart's broke asunder; I can get no relief
Of my trouble I'll tell you without much delay
Of the sweet little lassie my heart stole away
She's a blacksmith's fair daughter on the Flat River side
And I always intended to make her my bride
I worked on the river where the white waters roar
And my name I engraved on the high rocky shore
I'm the boy that stands happy on the dark burling stream
But my thoughts were onMolly; she haunted my dreams
I gave her fine jewels, the finest of lace
And the costliest muslins, her form to embrace
I gave her my wages all for the keep safe
I deprived her of nothing I had in this earth
While I worked on the river I earned quite a stake
I was steadfast and steady and ne'er played the rake
For camp flat and river I'm very well known
And they call me Jack Haggerty, the pride of the town
'Til she wrote me a letter which I did receive
And she said from her promise herself she'd relieve
For to wed with another she'd a long time delayed
And the next time I'd see her, she'd no more be a maid
To her mother Jane Tucker I lay all the blame
For she caused her to leave and go back on my name
And to cast of the rigging that God was to tie
And to leave me a rambler 'til the day that I die.
So come all you bold raftsmen with hearts stout and true
Don't trust to a woman, for you're beat if you do
But if you do meet one with the darkest of curls
Remember Jack Haggerty and the Flat River girl
Source: Touchstone, The New Land, Green Linnet Records
Jack the Slob to Venus prayed
Prayed, prayed, merry merry prayed
Grant this night I shall get laid
Laid, laid, merry merry laid
This night I shall get laid.
Venus said this shall I do
Do, do, merry merry do
But first I ask three things of you
You, you, merry merry you
I ask three things of you.
Go clean your teeth and bod and hair
And change your week old underwear
Your week old underwear.
Pray put on clothes that flatter you
A clean t-shirt and jeans will do
A clean t-shirt will do.
And when a maid you would impress
Pray do not drool down her chest
Do not drool down her chest.
Jack replied no thank-you ma'am
Send a maid who'll take me as I am
Who'll take me as I am.
Venus said, I'll tell you what
Though I should kick your lazy butt
Should kick your lazy butt.
Perhaps would be more fitting far
To send a maid who'll take you as you
Who'll take you as you are.
Go at once to the city zoo
'Tis there you'll find the maid for you
You'll find the maid for you.
There he went his hopes held high
Until the ape house he came nigh
The ape house he came nigh.
There a maiden him did view
And she was struck with passion true
Was struck with passion true.
Her hair was wild, her looks were free
Indeed, she was a lovely chimpanzee
A lovely chimpanzee.
She leaped the fence 'ere he could run
And seized him boldy by the bun
Seized him by the bun.
She dragged him swiftly to her lair
For all that I know, he may still be there
He may still be there.
So lazy swains, you'd best believe
You should not get the Goddess peeved
You should not get her peeved.
Source: Chickasaw Mountain
Stan Rogers
Come all ye lads, draw near by me, that I be not forsaken
This day was lost the Jeannie C
and my living has been taken.
I'll go to sea no more.
We set out this day in the bright sunrise, the same as any other
My son and I, and Old John Price
in the boat named for my mother.
I'll go to sea no more.
Now it's well you know how the fishing has been
-it's been scarce and hard and cruel
But this day, by God, we sure caught cod,
and we sang and we laughed like fools.
I'll go to sea no more.
I'll never know what it was we struck,
but strike we did like thunder.
John Price gave a cry and pitched over side.
It's forever he's gone under.
I'll go to sea no more.
A leak we've sprung, let there be no delay
if the Jeannie C we're saving
John Price is drown'd and slip'd away.
I'll patch the hole while you're bailing.
I'll go to sea no more.
But no hole I found from bow to hold.
No rock it was that got her
But what I found made me heart stop cold,
for every seem poured water.
I'll go to sea no more.
My God, I cried as she went down. That boat was like no other.
My father built her when I was nine,
and named her for my mother.
I'll go to sea no more.
And sure I could have another made in the boat shop down in Dover
But I would not lave the keel they laid
like the one the waves rolled over.
I'll go to sea no more.
So come all ye lads, draw near by me that I be not forsaken
This day was lost the Jeannie C
and my whole life has been taken.
I'll go to sea no more.
Source: Stan Rogers, Turnaround, Fogarty's Cove Records
Jim Keelaghan
This morn as I was lost in thought, as up the hill I wandered.
Sitting there to greet the dawn, upon my life I pondered.
I glance along the shaded grove where often I had been
With Jenny Bryce, Jack the Rover's daughter.
Her family came of tinker's stock, baptized by flowing water
Old Jack, he was disposed to roam, and so his only daughter
And me a lad of seventeen, I left my parent's home
For Jenny Bryce, Jack the Rover's daughter.
And from wooded glen to heathered moor, with Jenny I went rowing
Her voice so sweet and soft and low, from daylight 'til day's closing.
And when, at night I laid to rest, 'twas in my lover's arms
Jenny Bryce, Jack the Rover's daughter.
One day she said, "Oh Willie, I weary of the road."
So, a fine small house I built for her, down in yon shaded grove
And there, with Jenny by my side, I led a settled life
With Jenny as companion, and as wife.
And one day she said, "Oh Willie, a child for us I bear."
And all that winter long I worked and helped her to prepare.
But none but God could help us, with a birth such as she had
She was Jenny Bryce, Jack the Rover's daughter.
And six tortured hours she lingered, and never once complained.
And all there was to do for her, I did to ease her pain
When morning came I carved a cross, and carved on it her name.
Jenny Bryce, Jack the Rover's daughter.
And this morn as I was lost in thought, as up the hill I ambled,
Back along the shaded stream, where with my love I rambled,
To greet a child of seven years, who bears her mother's name.
She is Jenny Bryce, Jenny Bryce's daughter.
Source: Garnet Rogers, The Outside Track, Snow Goose Records
Leslie Fish
Once a spy rode boldly into Jorey town
Seeking someone to question at length.
To see how her people fared in Jorey's hand,
And to judge for himself Jorey's strength.
Behind lay a man who would make himself king,
Awaiting the spy's word to go;
So he asked of a guardsman, "Who is Jorey's Lord?",
And the man said, amazed, "Don't you know?"
She is Jirel of Jorey, no man is her master,
And well she protects us indeed.
For with her sword above we fear no mage nor blade,
No injustice or overlord's greed.
"Once to ransom her men, into Hell's Guard she rode,
From that place no one ever returned.
And yet, she came back, Hell's Guard's treasures she'd won,
And in Hell her men's captors soon burned.
Once she lay near to death at the hands of our foes
From her bed she was stolen away.
She was taken by Darkness himself for a bride,
And yet, Jirel stands with us today.
"When conquered, she went into Hell for a means
To slay that foe, and free her men.
And when she found her enemy's spirit bound there
Then to free it, she went back again.
When a foul wizard ambushed and slaughtered her guard;
She leveled his Keep to the ground
And then travelled in realms of the fairie and worse
'Til at last that damned wizard she found."
Much taken aback was the spy by this speech
And he wasted no more time that day
But saddled his horse and left Jorey at once
Rode in haste to his master away.
The Lord heard his news and then said,
"These are strange, the words of a guardsmen unknown.
But he who would rule does not squander his strength
So I think we'll leave Jorey alone."
Source: Mercedes Lackey, Magic, Moondust & Melancholy, Firebird A&M
There were three men came out of the west
Their fortunes for to try.
And these three men made a solemn vow
John Barleycorn must die.
They've plowed, they've sowed, they've harrowed him in
Threw clods upon his head.
And these three men made a solemn vow
John Barleycorn was dead.
They've let him lie for a long, long time
'Til the rains from heaven did fall
And little Sir John swung up his head
And so amazed them all.
They've let him stand 'til Midsummer's Day
'Til he looked so pale and wan
And little Sir John's grown a long white beard
And so become a man.
They've hired a man with scythes so sharp
To cut him off at the knee
They've rolled him and tied him at the waist
Serving him so barbarously.
They've hired men with sharp pitchforks
To pierce him through the heart
And the granary has served him worst of all
For he's bound into a cart.
They've wheeled him around and around the field
'Til they came unto a barn
And these three men made a solemn vow
On poor John Barleycorn.
They've hired men with battering sticks
To cut him skin from bone
And the miller he has served him worst of all
For he's ground him between two stones.
But little Sir John of the nut-brown bone
Proved the strongest man at last.
For little Sir John of the nut-brown bone
Is whiskey in a glass.
The hunter he can't hunt the fox
Though so loudly blow his horn
And the tinker he can't fix cobble nor horn
Without a little Barleycorn.
Source: Celtic Stone
Traditional
There was a man called John Monroe,
Who did Miss Vale a courting go.
This girl was handsome, young and fair
And few with her there could compare.
Monroe was married; it is true.
He had a wife and children too.
Still Miss Vale he went to see
Not caring what the talk might be.
In course of time an offspring came
Which brought to light their hidden shame.
But still together they did go
Until he proved her overthrow.
Poor thing, he led her all about
To Boston by another route
Then did take her at his will
To the place she would be killed.
He led her to her final spot
There he fired the fatal shot.
A bullet buried in her brain
She fell in death, there to remain.
Then killed the baby with a rush
And covered them with moss and brush;
Hurried off with rapid flight
Not thinking it would come to light.
The jury found it very plain
Miss Vale and baby had been slain.
The jury found it plain also
They were killed by John Monroe.
By his own hand the deed was done
Now he is sentenced to be hung.
For the murder of Miss Sarah Vale.
He was hang'd by the neck in the county jail.
Source: East River Consort, Laurasia
Traditional
Here's a health to you bonny Kellswater
Where you get all the pleasures of life
Where you get all the fishing and fowling
And a bonny wee lass for your wife.
Oh it's down where your waters run muddy
I'm afraid they will never run clear
And it's when I begin for to study
My mind is on him that's not here.
And it's this one and that one may court him
But if any one gets him but me
It's early and late I will curse them
The parting lovely Willie from me.
Oh a father he calls on his daughter
Two choices I'll give unto thee
Would you rather see Willie's ship a'sailing
See him hung like a dog on yonder tree.
Oh father, dear father, I love him
I can no longer hide it from thee
Through an acre of fire I would travel
Along with the lovely Willie to be.
Oh hard was the heartbreak I'm finding
She took from her full heart's delight
May the chains of old Ireland come find them
And softly their pillows at night.
Oh yonder there's a ship on the ocean
And she does not know which way to steer
From the east and the west she's a'blowing
She reminds me of the charms of my dear.
Oh it's yonder me Willie will be coming
He said he'd be here in the spring
And it's down by yon green shades I'll meet him
And among wild roses we'll sing.
For a gold ring he placed on my finger
Saying love bear this in your mind
If ever I sail from old Ireland
You'll mind I'll not leave you behind.
Here's a health to you bonny Kellswater
Where you get all the pleasures of life
Where you get all the fishing and fowling
And a bonny wee lass for a wife.
Source: Loreena McKennitt, Elemental, Quinlan Road
Mike Cross
Kentucky winter morning, like a baby freshly born
Its snowy blanket may look cold but the feeling's soft and warm.
And though the world looks trapped beneath the ice on evergreen
Life is waiting crouched and set to spring.
Kentucky's just as close to heaven as I'll ever come
Up there the morning dew shines like emeralds in the sun.
The bluegrass in the meadow lifts you right up to the sky
And I hope that I can go back to Kentucky when I die.
Kentucky springtime afternoon with perfume in the air
Is like a young girl running free with flowers in her hair.
Warm threads of sunlight weave a blanket on the meadow
A bed just right for any weary fellow.
Kentucky summer days are lazy and long
The air is full of sunshine and the woods are full of song.
A father and his son sit beside a crystal stream
Reflecting on their past and future dreams.
Kentucky autumn evening, front room rocking chair
And old man lights his pipe and blows smoke rings in the air.
Smiles down at the children sitting at his knee
And tells them stories made of memories.
Source: Mike Cross, Alive and Kicking, Kicking Mule
Leslie Fish, Heather Alexander
Kerowyn, Kerowyn, where are you going?
Dressed in men's clothing, a sword by your side
Your face pale as death, your eyes full of fury
Kerowyn, Kerowyn, where do you ride?
Last night in the darkness black raiders attacked us;
Our hall lies in ruins below.
They've stolen our treasure, and the bride of my brother,
And to her aid now I must go
To her aid now I must go.
Kerowyn, Kerowyn, where is your father?
Where is your brother? This task should be theirs.
It is unseemly for maids to be warriors.
Go back to your valley and to women's cares.
My father lies dead at the hands of their leader,
My brother lies raving in pain.
The raiders left no man unwounded to free her,
But in their hands she'll not remain.
I vow she'll not with them remain.
Kerowyn, Kerowyn, where are your senses?
What can you hope to accomplish alone?
You have no knowledge of war or of weapons;
Why lose your life for a girl you've scarce known?
This is far more than a matter of honor
And more than a matter of pride.
She is but a child all alone and unaided,
And someone at least must have tried
So now to her rescue I ride.
Grandmother, Grandmother, I need a weapon.
I'm one against many, and I am afraid.
The raiders have brought them a dark wizard's power;
I cannot help Donna without magic aid.
Kerowyn, Grandaughter, into your keeping
I'll give you the sword I once wore.
Need is her name, now ride fearless to battle;
She'll aid you as she did me before her magic is strong as before.
Grandmother, Grandmother, why change your story?
Why did you try to persuade me to stay?
Whence comes the sword of steel and of magic,
And why do you choose now to give it away?
Kerowyn, not for the weak or the fearful
Is the path of the warrior maid.
You've passed all my test, now ride of with my blessing
And trust in the spell of the blade.
Ride now and go unafraid.
Repeat first verse.
Source: Mercedes Lackey, Magic, Moondust & Melancholy, Firebird Arts and Music, Inc.
Traditional
Let never a man a wooing ride e'er forget things three
A purse of gold, a heart to love, and full charity
For it happened to King Henry as a hunting he did ride
Ta'en his hawk, his good grey hound did lay down by his side
He's chased the hind, he's chased the buck all down to his den
And the fattest deer in all the flock, young King Henry has slain.
King Henry ate all the venison, the hounds drank all the blood
They lay down, they fell asleep, a sleep as if they were dead
It fell about the midnight hour, that hour when all men lay asleep
Such chill winds blew all around the house, the very trees did weep
Great shaking shook the house about, great shaking split the door
The foulest woman that e'er there was came a stamping on the floor
Her head hit the roof of the hunting lodge, her waist you could hardly span
If a fouler woman lived she was not known to God or man
Oh meat, meat, you King Henry, meat give though to me
What meat's there in the house, lady, that you're not welcome to
So she has ta'en his good goshawk, and oh, and oh but his heart was sore
She's ate it up all flesh and bones, left nothing but feathers bare
Oh meat, meat, you King Henry, meat give thou to me
What meat's there in the house, lady, that you're not welcome to
So she has ta'en his good greyhound, and oh, and oh but his heart was sore
She's ate it up all flesh and bones, left nothing but hide and hair
Oh drink, drink, you King Henry, drink give thou to me
What drink's there in the house, lady, that you're not welcome to
So he's sewn up his horse's hide and wine, a good wine he has put in
She drank it up, she drank it down, there was no drop left in
A bed, a bed, you King Henry, a bed for you and me
I do vow and I do swear, tonight to lie with thee
Oh take your boots off, King Henry, and let your clothes all fall
For you and I shall in one bed lie and I'll lie next to the wall
The night has gone, the day has come, the sun shone through the hall
The fairest woman that e'er there was lay 'twixt him and the wall
Oh what is this, cried King Henry, how long with this last with me?
And then up spoke the fair young lady, even 'til the day you dead be
I've met many a gentleman who's gave me all my fill
Ne'er met I a gentleman who's gave to me all my will
I've met many a gentleman who's gave me all my fill
Ne'er met I a gentleman who's gave to me all my will
Source: Martin Carthy, Sweet Wivelsfield, Rounder
Traditional
Let never a man a wooing wend that lacketh things three:
A store of gold, an open heart and full of charity.
And this was seen of King Henry though he lay quite alone
For he's taken him to a haunted hall seven miles from the town.
He's chased the deer now him before and the doe down by the den
Til the fattest buck in all the flock King Henry he has slain.
His huntsmen followed him to the hall to make them burly cheer
When loud the wind was heard to sound and an earthquake rocked the floor.
And darkness covered all the hall where they sat at their meat.
The grey dogs, yowling, left their food and crept to Henry's feet.
And louder howled the rising wind and burst the fastened door
And in it came a grisly ghost stamping at the floor.
Her head hit the roof tree of the house, her middle you could not span.
Each frightened huntsman fled the hall and left the King alone.
Her teeth were like the tether stakes, her nose like club or mell
And nothing less she seemed to be than a fiend that comes from Hell.
Some meat, some meat, you King Henry, some meat you give to me.
Go kill your horse you King Henry and bring him here to me.
He's gone and slain his berry brown steed though it made his heart full sore
For she's eaten it up both skin and bones, left nothing but hide and hair.
More meat, more meat, you King Henry, more meat you give to me.
Go kill your greyhounds King Henry and bring them here to me.
He's gone and slain his good greyhounds though it made his heart full sore
For she's eaten them up both skin and bones, left nothing but hide and hair.
More meat, more meat, you King Henry, more meat you give to me.
Go fell your gosshawks King Henry and bring them here to me.
And when he's slain his gay gosshawks it made his heart full sore
For she's eaten them up both skin and bones, left nothing but feathers bare.
Some drink, some drink, you King Henry, some drink you bring to me.
Go you sew up your horse's hide and bring in drink for me.
And he's sewn up the bloody hide and a pipe of wine put in.
And she's drank it all up in one draught, left never a drop therein.
A bed, a bed now, King Henry, a bed you'll make for me.
Oh you must pull the heather green and make it soft for me.
And pulled had he the heather green and made for her a bed
And taken has he his gay mantle and o'er it has spread.
Take off your clothes now, King Henry, and lie down by my side.
Now swear, now swear, you King Henry, you'll take me for your bride.
Oh God forbid, says King Henry, that ever the like betide
That ever a fiend that comes from Hell should stretch down by my side.
When the night was gone and the day had come and the sun shone
through the hall
The fairest lady that ever was seen lay between him and the wall.
I've met with many a gentle night that gave me such a fill,
But never before a courteous night who's given me all my will.
Source: Steeleye Span, Please to See the King, Chrysalis
Traditional
Your words are hard and harsh, lady
Your heart's made of stone
For to see in this water with a naked sword
It never can be done.
She's struck the water with her hand
And it swirled stark and white
Oh, will you be a false villian
Or be my own true knight?
You've taken from my hand, she said
The belt, and aye, the blade
Now will you be a coward, knight
And let your courage fade?
You've taken from my hand, she said
The better and the nest
Now will you be a coward, knight
And fail like all the rest?
Your blade will turn all in your hand
As light as a leaf on a tree
But are you now your last world's breath
You'll come again to me.
Source: Thomas the Rhymer, Ellen Kushner
Oh, she will bring the buds in the spring
And laugh among the flowers.
In summer's heat her kisses are sweet
She sings in leafy bowers.
She cuts the cane and gathers the grain
When the fruits of fall surround her.
Her bones grow old in wintery cold
She wraps her cloak around her.
Source: Gwydion Sings
Traditional
The Laird o'Elven stands on yon hill
Blaw, blaw, blaw winds blaw
An' he blaws his trumpet alood an' shrill
An' the wind it blaws my plade awa'
O gin I'd that horn in my kist
Blaw, blaw, blaw winds blaw
Then I'll be wedded wi' him next
An' the wind it blaws my plade away'
Maid, before I'll wed with thee
Blaw, blaw, blaw winds blaw
There is something ye maun do for me
An' the wind... etc.
Ye maun mark me a linen sark
Without a stitch of needle work
Ye maun wash it in yon dry well
Where waters never sprang nor fell
Ye maun dry it on yon hawthorne
Which has not blossomed since man was born
Man, before I'll wed with thee
I have some work ye maun do for me
Ye maun find me an acre o' land
Between the salt water an' the sea sand
Ye maun sow it wanton corn
An' row it with your ain horn
Y maun reap it with a sickle o' leather
An' bind it with a peacock feather
Ye maun stook it in the sea
An' bring the wheat-sheaf dry to me
An' when ye have done all o' this work
Come to me an' you'll get your sark!
Source: The singing of Lady Caitrin Gordon
LAMENT FOR PENNSIC WAR GARB
By Lady Anna Herold von Ossenheim
To the tune of the Battle Hymn of the Republic
The filth and mud of Cooper's Lake's embedded in my skirt
And ev'ry where I go I carry with me Pennsic dirt
And rain has made the mold begin to grow upon my shirt
And my war garb won't come clean!
Burn it, Burn the Pennsic war garb!
Burn it, Burn the Pennsic war garb!
Burn it, Burn the Pennsic war garb!
'Cause the war garb won't come clean!
From camp down in the gulley, a fair lady's moan doth sound
Her veil is soiled, the three-foot train's been draggin' on the ground
Her white chemise is edged now with dark grime all around
And her war garb won't come clean!
Beside the lake some Samurai have nearly lost their "face"
Their hippari and their hakima are now a great disgrace
And on the hill a Cavalier doth weep into his lace
And their war garb won't come clean!
The Celts and Scots and Romans will never see the mirth
Of tunics, kilts and chitons all well-marked with Pennsic earth
And Saturday in all the camps of clean garbs there's a dearth
And their war garb won't come clean!
Up on the ridge it's sad to hear the cries of royalty
The rain and mud has ruined all their court finery
Of Pennsic soil not even our brave Peerage will be free
And their war garb won't come clean!
As they strip off their armor you can hear the fighter's groan
Their tunics are so filthy that they'll stand up on their own
And you can smell them coming when they're half a mile from home
And their war garb won't come clean!
Next year clad in Tuchux dress, at Pennsic I'll be seen
For Tuchux leather diapers are so little to keep clean
Or better yet, I'll wrap myself in vines of forest green
And my war garb will stay clean!
Source: The Concordia Songbook
Heather Alexander
A waning moon conceals her face behind a scudding wind-tall cloud
She wraps herself in its embrace as in a tattered cloak The shadow wrote
The wind is blowing in the trees, their limbs are warped and bent and bowed. So weak and proud
I stand within the circle now to deal with what I wrought. Awake and seen but not yet free
A wanderer of wizard kind I was until a month ago So well I know
The headman of this village came and begged that I should stay So weak and fey
"For since our wizard died," he said, "and why he died we do not know So long ago
We have no one to weave us spells and keep the dark at bay." The dark so deep so cold complete
"His house and books are yours milady, if you choose but to remain." Remember pain
His offer was too tempting to be lightly set aside. Remember pride
I'd wearied of my travels, being plaything of the sun and rain. Choose to remain
This was the chance I'd hoped for, and I said that I would stay. I hope I pray that you must stay
Perhaps if I had been a man and not a maid; perhaps if I
Had been less lonely, less alone; or not of magic folk The spellbound broke
Whatever weakness was in me, or for whatever reason why I'm reason why
Something slept within that house that my own presence woke. You dream so much I try to touch
A half-seen shadow courted me, stood close at hand or by my side. To bid you bide
It left a lover's token, one fresh blossom on my plate. Afraid you wake
I woke to danger, knew the young magician still to earth was tied For freedom cried
And tied to me and I must act or I might share his fate. I need your aid be no afraid
I found a spell for banishment, the page then turned and not by me. Look now and see
The next spell differed by one word, a few strokes of a pen. And read again
The first one I had seen before, the spell to set a spirit free So I will be
The second let the mage born dead take flesh and live again. One spell and then I live
Now both these spells were equal in the risk to body and to soul I shall be whole
And both these spells demanded they be cast on Lammas Night The darkest night
And both these spells of castor and of spirit took an equal toll Task to the soul
But nowhere is it written that either spell is of the white. To live and see to touch to be
Can it be wise to risk the anger of the gods in such a task? Yet I must ask
But who am I to judge of who should live and who should die? Don't let me die
Does or duty call to him? Is his kindness to me all a mask? Take up the task
And could I trust his answer if I dared to ask him, "why?" Give all your trust my will you must
So I stand within the circles I have drawn upon the floor The open door
I have no further answer if this spirit's friend or foe Nor can you know
No godsign has been granted me, though I have prayed full often
Nor can I this moment answer if I'll tell him come, or go
Source: Mercedes Lackey, Magic, Moondust & Melancholy, Firebird A&M
Traditional
I'm wearin' awa', Jean, like snaw wreaths in thaw, Jean;
I'm wearin' awa' tae the Land o' the Leal.
There's nae sorrow there, Jean, there's neither cauld nor care, Jean,
The day is aye fair in the Land o' the Leal.
Ye aye were leal and true, Jean, your task is ended noo, Jean,
And I'll welcome you tae the Land o' the Leal.
Our bonnie bairn's there, Jean, she was baith guid and fair, Jean
And oh, we grudged her sair, tae the Land o' the Leal.
So dry that tearful eye, Jean, my soul langs to be free, Jean,
And angels wait on me tae the Land o' the Leal.
So fare-thee-weel my ain Jean, this world's care is vain, Jean.
We'll meet and aya be fain, tae the Land o' the Leal.
I'm wearin' awa', Jean, like snaw wreaths in thaw, Jean,
I'm wearing awa' tae the Land o' the Leal.
There's nae sorrow there, Jean, there's neither cauld nor care, Jean.
The day is aya fair in the Land o' the Leal.
Source: Silly Wizard, Silly Wizard, Shanachie
The TOTSA Hymnal
This is the start of the Large, Dark Aardvark Song
Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom.
There is a large, dark aardvark in the park
They say he's missing from the zoo.
And the police are looking high and low
They haven't seen him; have you?
Why did he go? OH! I'll tell you the reason:
'Cause it's aardvark mating season.
When an aardvark makes a date
He slips right through the old zoo gate.
So if you see two aardvarks necking in the park,
Don't upset their apple pie;
You are not a spy, you're not the F.B.I.
You should never break an aardvark's heart.
This is the second chorus of the aardvark song
Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom.
Being an aardvark isn't easy folks;
All you get to eat is ants.
And all the other animals make jokes
At your attempts to find romance.
They do not laugh at hippopotamus-es
Or at fat rhinoceros-es.
The aardvark really makes them howl
Because he's neither fish nor foul;
It's like a kangaroo in love with a g-nu
And that's what makes the zoo folks laugh.
You know my story's true
It's all been told you
By your friendly neighborhood giraffe.
This is the end of the Large, Dark, Aardvark Song
Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah...
Source: The Temple of The Sacred Aardvark, Mugwort
Sheena Wellington
or
Andy Barnes
Last night I heard the cry of my last companion.
The roar of a harpoon gun and then I was alone.
I reflected on the days gone by, when we were thousands
And I know that I soon shall die, the last leviathan.
My soul has been torn from me and I am bleeding
My heart it has been rent and I am crying
All beauty around me fades and I am screaming
I am the last of the great whales, and I am dying.
This morning the sun arose in a crimson North sky.
The ice was the colour of blood and the wind it did sigh.
I rose up to take a breath and it was my last one
From a gun came the roar of death, and now I'm undone.
And now that we are all gone there is no more hunting.
The "big fellow" is no more and it's no use lamenting.
What race will be next in line all for the slaughter?
The elephant or the seal, or your sons and daughters.
Source: Archie Fisher, Off the Map, Snow Goose Records
Colleen Crangle
Lay down your burden
Lay it all down
Pass the glass between you
Drink it up
Place the Light before you
Come through the door
The dragon doesn't live here anymore
Sing with the choir that surrounds you
And dance to the music in your soul
Look into the eyes that really see you
Place all that you have in to that bowl
Oh lay down your burden
Lay it all down
Pass the glass between you
Drink it up
Place the Light before you
Come through the door
The dragon doesn't live here anymore
Source: Paul Winter Consort, Common Ground
Traditional
Sometime in October
We sailed from England's shore,
When we ran into a raging storm
Like I've never seen before.
And all the crew they were brave men
But the Captain, he was braver
He said, "Never mind the ship, me boys,
There's none of us here can save her."
Let her go down
Swim for your lives
Swim for your children
Swim for your lives
But let her go down.
Lost in the open ocean
There was some of the crew and me
While the Captain steered our wounded ship
To the bottom of an angry sea.
And with his dying breath we all heard him say,
"That's the fortune of a sailor."
And he said, "Never mind the ship, me boys,
There's none of us here can save her."
He wondered if his shipmates
Were ready just to pray and give in
So he called their names out one by one
But there was no-one else around but him.
He saw the ship go down in a brilliant light
And he knew they could have saved her.
He said, "The Captain lied when the Captain cried,
'There's none of us here can save her.'"
Source: Steeleye Span, Sails of Silver, Takoma
Stan Rogers
At last the kids are gone now, for the day,
She reaches for the coffee as the school bus pulls away.
Another day to tend the house and plan
For Friday at the Legion, when she's dancing with her man.
Sure was a bitter winter, but Friday will be fine,
And maybe last year's Easter dress will serve her one more time.
She'd pass for twenty-nine, but for her eyes,
But winter lines are telling wicked lies.
Lies! All those lines are telling wicked lies.
Lies! All lies! Too many lines there in her face,
Too many to erase or to disguise -
They must be telling lies!
Is this the face that won for her the man
Whose amazed and clumsy fingers put that ring upon her hand?
No need to search that mirror for the years.
The menace in their message shouts across the blur of tears.
So this is Beauty's finish! Like Rodin's "Belle Heaulmiere,"
The pretty maiden trapped inside the ranch wife's toil and care.
Well, after seven kids, that's no surprise,
But why cannot her mirror tell her lies?
Then she shakes off the bitter web she wove,
And turns to set the mirror, gently, face down by the stove.
She gathers up her apron in her hand,
Pours a cup of coffee, drips Carnation from the can
And thinks ahead to Friday, 'cause Friday will be fine!
She'll look up to that weathered face that loves her, line for line,
To see that maiden shining in his eyes
And laugh at how her mirror tells her lies.
Source: Stan Rogers, Northwest Passage, Fogarty's Cove Records
Frank Hayes
When you land on Bailey 7
You may not like what you see.
There are monsters back of every rock
And up in every tree.
There are demon flies up in the skies
And manticores beneath
And there's little fuzzy animals
With big, sharp teeth.
There a little fuzzy animals
Little furry animals
Little fuzzy animals
With big, sharp teeth.
Now not all of the monsters there
Should fill you full of dread
For the demon flies speak English
And they love to scout ahead,
And the manticores will pull you
Through the swamp and through the mud
But the little fuzzy animals
Will drink your blood.
When nightfall comes to Bailey's
With the darkness growing deep
The music of the jungle night
Will lull you into sleep.
It' so restful and so peaceful
That you'll never feel the pain
Of the little fuzzy telepaths
That eat your brain.
So when you go to Bailey's now
You'll know what lies in store;
There are hoards of friendly fiends
And gentle monsters there galore.
But with all the cute and furry ones
You know what you must do:
Get the little fuzzy buggers
Before they get you!
Source: Frank Hayes, Don't Ask, Off Centaur
Traditional
Mother, mother, make my bed
Make for me a winding-sheet
Wrap me up in a cloth of gold
See if I can sleep.
Four and twenty bonny, bonny boys playing at the ball
Along came little Sir Hugh, he played with them all.
He kicked the ball very high, he kicked the ball so well
He kicked it over the castle wall where no one dared to go.
Out came a lady gay, she was dressed in green
"Come in, come in, Little Sir Hugh, fetch your ball again."
"I won't come in, I can't come in, without my playmates all,
For if I should I know you would cause my blood to fall."
She took him by the milk-white hand, led him to the hall
'Til they came to a stone chamber where no-one could hear him call.
She sat him on a golden throne, she gave him sugar sweet;
She lay him on a dressing board and stabbed him like a sheep.
Out came the thick, thick, blood, out came the thin
Out came the bonny heart's blood 'til there was none within.
She took him by the yellow hair and also by the feet
She threw him in the old draw well fifty fathoms deep.
Source: Steeleye Span, Chrysalis
Stan Rogers
You say, "Well met again, Lock-keeper!
We're laden even deeper than the time before,
Oriental oils and tea brought down from Singapore."
As we wait for the lock to cycle
I say, "My wife has given me a son."
"A son!" you cry, "Is that all that you've done?"
She wears bougainvillea blossoms
You pluck 'em from her hair and toss 'em in the tide,
Sweep her in your arms and carry her inside.
Her sighs catch on her shoulder;
Her moonlit eyes go bold and wiser through her tears
And I say, "How could you stand to leave her for a year?"
"Then come with me," you say, "to where the Southern Cross
Rides high upon your shoulder."
"Come with me," you cry,
"Each day you tend this lock, you're one day older,
While your blood grows colder."
But that anchor chain's a fetter
And with it you are tethered to the foam,
And I wouldn't trade your life for one hour of home.
Sure I'm stuck here on the Seaway
While you compensate for leeway through the Trades;
And you shoot the stars to see the miles you've made.
And you laugh at hearts you've riven.
But which of these has given you more love or life,
You, your tropic maids, or me, my wife.
"Then come with me," you say, "to where the Southern Cross
Rides high upon your shoulder."
"Come with me," you cry,
"Each day you tend this lock, you're one day older,
While your blood grows colder."
But that anchor chain's a fetter
And with it you are tethered to the foam,
And I wouldn't trade your life for one hour of home.
Ah, your anchor chain's a fetter, and with it you are tethered to the foam,
And I wouldn't trade your whole life for one hour of home.
Source: Stan Rogers, From Fresh Water, Fogarty's Cove
Hi - ri - u Hoireaun is oro
Ho - ro - ho Ta muid beo
Ho - ri - u Him oro ho
Him - o -ro - ho Go deo na ndeor
Source: Enya, Watermark
Traditional
There was a king who built a ship and sailed away
To look for gold in the hills of Skone far away
The only gold in the hills of Skone
Is gold you'll never own
It belongs to the giant Longbone
Far away
The only gold I've ever known
It all belongs to the giant Longbone
His teeth are sharp, his claws are long, so they say
His eyes are like a fire that burns far away
We will go to the hills of Skone
We'll find the giant Longbone
We'll turn him into stone
Far away
Through the rain and through the snow we sailed away
To the land where only fools go far away
We set down on the shore
And then we heard him roar
He must have seen us!
We tried to hide, we tried to run, run away
He killed the crew, he threw the boat far away
And then he said, "We are alone
I am the giant Longbone
You should have stayed at home!
Far away!"
Melissa Williamson
If you're fitting out a longship bound to raid the English coast
And it's spring and you're still desperate for a crew
To man the rowing benches
And fill out your fighting host,
I tell you what you're going to have to do.
Just a small appeal to greed that's the touch you really need
To quicken up the courage at the root
You can hear the call for miles
In the North and all the Isles
Then say you'll come to England for the loot.
Oh it's the loo-loo-loo-loo-loo-loo-loo-loo-loot
The loot, the loot, oh, there's lots loot, tons of loot
Lot's of stuff whose present ownership is moot.
We needs Swedes and Norse and Danes
Who will part some English Thanes
With the broadsword from their loo-loo-loo-loo-loot
Hey! Thor and Odin lead us to the loo-loo-loot!
Tell about the English pennies struck in silver, every one,
With Latin runes and pictures stamped out clear.
Tell how once you fight the English
And you've got them on the run
They'll pay you to fight someone else that year.
Tell how once the corpse is cold there's no-one who'll give more gold
Than an Angle or a Saxon or a Jute.
Just the bracelets off his arm
Will buy a longship or a farm
And they're waiting for the ones who'll find the loot.
If you want to raid an Abbey in North Umbria or Kent
Or clean out a Wessex mead all roof to floor
Let our fishermen and farmers
Know that plunder's your intent
And they'll do the job and help you hunt for more.
It's a long cold road to row down to where the waters flow
From the sweet and handsome Humber to the sea
But they'll pull with might and maim
And they'll never once complain
'Cause they know that stolen silver isn't free.
Source: The Best of Constellation, Off-Centaur Productions
When she danced on the water and the wind was her horn
The Lady laughed, and everything was born.
She lit the sun and his light gave him birth;
The Lord of the Dance then appeared on the Earth.
Dance, then, wherever you may be,
For I am the Lord of the Dance, said he
And I'll lead you all, wherever you may be
And I'll lead you all in a dance, said he.
I danced in the morning when the world was begun
I danced in the moon and the stars and the sun
I was called from the darkness by the song of the earth
I joined in the singing and she gave me birth.
I dance at the sabbat when you chant the spell
I dance and sing, that everyone be well
When the dance is over do not think I'm gone
I live in the music so I still dance on.
They cut me down but I leap up high
I am the light that will never never die
I'll live in you if you'll live in me
I am the Lord of the Dance, said he.
Source: Gwydion Sings
LORD OF THE DANCE
Sidney Carter
Tune: Simple Gifts
I danced in the morning when the world was begun
And I dance in the moon and the stars and the sun
I came down from heaven and I danced on the earth
In Bethlehem, I had my birth.
Dance, then, wherever you may be
I am the Lord of the Dance, said he
And I'll lead you all wherever you may be
And I'll lead you all in a dance, said he.
I danced for the scribe and the pharisee
And they would not dance, they would not follow me.
So I danced for the fishermen, for James and John
They came with me and the dance went on.
I danced on the sabbath and I cured the lame
The holy people they said it was a shame
So they whipped, they stripped, they hung me high
They left me there on the cross to die.
I danced on the Friday when the sky turned black;
It's hard to dance with the devil on your back.
Oh, they buried me body, they thought I'd gone
But I am the dance and I still go on.
They cut me down but I leapt up high
I am the light that will never, never die
But I'll live in you if you'll live in me
I am the Lord of the Dance, said he.
Source: Martin Carthy, But Two Came By, Topic
Harald (Giffin) Ulfson
I dance in the morning when the Sun kisses the Earth
I dance in the noontime blessing it with mirth
I dance in the evening when the babes start to drowse
And I dance at midnight on the moon's silvery brows.
Dance, dance, where ever you may be
I am the Lord of the dance, said he
And I'll lead you all where ever you may be
And I'll lead you all in a dance said he.
I dance in the Springtime as my lady wakes
I dance in the Summer on the sunshiney lakes
I dance in the Autumn as the leaves turn to gold
I dance in the Winter in the wind and the cold.
I dance in the East where the winds gently blow
I dance in the South where the fire warmly glows
I dance in the West as the rain settles down
I dance in the North with my feet rooted to the ground.
I dance with my Lady as the moon reaches full
I dance as it wanes remembering her still
I dance in the dark waiting for her face
I dance as it waxes as she returns to her place.
I dance on the mantle as the babe first appears
And I dance at his shoulder through out all his years
I'll dance with his children when he goes in the ground
'Cause I know he'll dance again on his next time around.
Music: Phil Cunningham
Lyrics: Andy M. Stewart
She was in a flowery garden
When first she caught my eye.
And I, just a marching soldier,
She smiled as I passed by.
The flowers she held were fresh and fair,
Her lips were full and red
And as I passed that shady bower
These words to me she said:
"Last night we spoke of love
Now we're forced to part;
You leave to the sound of a marching drum
And the beat of a lover's heart."
She was by the shore in the evening
When next I saw my dear
Running barefoot by the waterside;
She called as I drew near.
The sunlight glanced on the water's edge
Making fire of her auburn hair.
My young heart danced to her parting words
That hung in the evening air:
She was on the strand next morning
When orders came to sail
And as we slipped our ropes away
I watched her from the rail.
She threw me a rose which fell between us
It floated on the bay;
And as our ship pulled from shore
I heard her call and say:
Now the soldier's life won't suit me;
Sweet music is my trade
For I'd rather melt the hardest heart
Than pierce it with a blade.
Let the time be short 'til I return
To my home in the north of Skye
And the loving girl who stole my heart
With these words when I passed by.
Source: Silly Wizard, A Glint of Silver, Green Linnet
Hear my voice, oh Lord of Hades
Ease my sorrow, light is fading
Muse, add thine eloquence to mine
End of year and end of Harvest
All that remains is memory's wine
Where the roses of the summer
Where the light when leaves are falling
Where are the works that I have done
As the sowing, so the reaping
Turn the year to joy or weeping
The hour of weighing grain has come
Wine distills the sun of summer
Now I wait and watch and slumber
Vigil to keep beneath the ground
Yet my eyes see light and darkness
Yet my soul knows truth and shadow
Yet I attend upon the spring
Deep in silence speaks the wisdom
Let me treasure autumn's season
Time to reflect the dream and plan
Burn the weeds and fill the grain bin
Rise the shades to whisper longings
Earth rents her garments, mourns the sun.
Source: Chickasaw Mountain
Lugh the light of summer bright
Clothed all in green
Tell to you his mother true
Rise up and be seen
At the festival sounds the horn
Calling the people again
Child of folly corn
Newly of summer born
Ripening like the grain
Lugh grew tall from spring to fall
And sought to find a wife
But Balor came and made his claim
And swore to take his life
The two did fight from morn 'til night
When Lugh did strike and won
Balor's eye flew in the sky
And there became the sun
Lugh was wed and made his bed
With Airleen in the North
And there they lay for many a day
And soon a child came forth
The child grew tall from spring to fall
Setanta was his name
Then at length through honest strength
Cuthualin he became
Source: Gwydion Sings
Poem by William Blake
Oh for a voice like thunder, and a tongue
To drown the throat of war! - When the senses
Are shaken, and the soul is driven to madness,
Who can stand? When the souls of the oppressed
Fight in the troubled air that rages, who
can stand?
When the whirlwind of fury comes from the
Throne of God, when the frowns of his
countenance
Drive the nations together, who can stand?
When Sin claps his broad wings over the battle,
And sails rejoicing in the flood of Death;
When souls are torn to everlasting fire,
And fiends of Hell rejoice upon the slain,
O who can stand? O who hath caused this?
O who can answer at the thrown of God?
The Kings and the Nobles of the Land have done it!
Hear it not, Heaven, thy Ministers have done it!
Source: Loreena McKennitt, Elemental, Quinlan Road
Lunar twilight, dying day
Shadows linger on as sunlight slowly fades
Darkness deepens as night is drawn
And it's so very long until another dawn.
The lunar miner stirs in his converted canister
Rubs his eyes and glances at the time.
Another day another shift tons of rock to dig and lift
And move and dozer through the shallow lunar mines.
Four a.m. or noon makes no difference on the moon
Clocks are just for keeping schedules defined.
The rugged miners claim a man can go insane
Seven days of sunshine, and seven more to go.
And midnight madness mars the beauty of the stars
Darkness is forever, Luna turns so very slow.
Then a hundred pairs of eyes are drawn to the skies
Scanning the horizon anticipating earth rise.
Eighteen months of tour lunar miners must endure
Many hardships, the work is never done.
A hundred men, no more, mine a million tons of ore
Every year to tame the power of the sun.
But somehow they survive, their spirits kept alive
With hope for their future and a dream of Island One.
Lunar sunrise, darkness wanes
Cold and grey dawn crawls across the plain
Blinding blur glistens on a crater rim
And it's so very long until the sun goes down again
So very long until the sun goes down again
So very long until the sun goes down...
Traditional
Abroad I was walking one evening in the spring
I heard a maid in Bedlam so sweetly for to sing
Her chain she rattled with her hands and thus replied she
I love my love because I know my love loves me.
O my cruel parents I'll be into unkind
They drove me and punished me and troubled my mind
Although I am cruel burned, he'll see, contented will I be
I love my love because I know my love loves me.
Would I become a swallow, I'd ascend into the air
And if I lost my neighbor and could not find him there
I quickly would become a fish and search the furling sea
I love my love because I know my love loves me.
With straw I'll make a garland and dross it very fine
I'll mix the same with roses, lily pink, and thyme
I will preserve it for my love when he returns from sea
I love my love because I know my love loves me.
Just as she was at weeping her love came on the land
Hearing she was in Bedlam, he ran straight out of hand
And as he entered in the gates he heard her sigh and say
I love my love because I know my love loves me.
He stood and gazed on her, he to his love complained
He could not stand any longer, he bled in every vein
He flew into her snowy white arms thus replied she
I love my love because I know my love loves me.
Source: John Renbourne Group, A Maid in Bedlam
Traditional
Come listen a while and I'll tell you a story
Of three merry gentlemen riding along.
They met a fair maid and to her did say
"We're afraid this cold morning will do you some harm."
"Oh no, kind sire," said the maid, "you're mistaken
To think that this cold morning can do me some harm.
There's one thing I crave and it lies twixt your legs, sir
If you give that to me it will keep me warm."
"Well, since you do crave it, my dear, you shall have it.
If you'll come with me to yonder green tree.
Well, since you do crave it, my dear, you shall have it,
I'll make these two gentlemen witness to be."
So the gentlemen lighted, and straightway she mounted
And looking the gentleman hard in the face
Said, "You knew not my meaning, you misunderstood me!"
And away she went galloping down the long lane.
"Oh gentlemen lend me one of your horses
That I might ride after her down the long lane.
If I overtake her, I warrant I'll make her
Return unto me my own horse again."
But soon as this fair maid she saw him a comin'
She instantly took her pistol in hand
She said, "Doubt not my skill but it's you I would kill
And I'll have you stand back or you are a dead man."
"Oh why do you spend all your time here in talking
Oh, why do you spend all your time here in vain?
Come give me a guinea, it's all she deserves
And I'll warrant she'll give you your own horse again."
"Oh no, kind sirs,you're vastly mistaken.
If it's his loss, well it is my gain
And you were a witness that he gave it to me."
And away she went galloping over the plain.
Source: Oak, Ash, and Thorn, Wild Oats, Off Centaur
Stan Rogers
There is a young maiden, she lives on the shore
She lives all alone on the shore-o
There is nothing she can find to comfort her mind
Than to roam all alone on the shore, shore, shore
But to roam all alone on the shore
'Twas of a young captain who sailed the salt seas
Let the winds blow high blow low
I will die, I will die, the young captain did cry
If I don't have that maid on the shore, shore, shore
If I don't have that maid on the shore
I have lots of silver, I have lots of gold
I have lots of costly ware-o
I'll divide, I'll divide with my jolly ship's crew
If they'll row me that maid on the shore, shore, shore
If they'll row me that maid on the shore
After much persuasion they got her aboard
Let the wind blow high blow low
They replaced her away in his cabin below
Here's adieu to all sorrow and care, care, care
Here's adieu to all sorrow and care
They replaced her away in his cabin below
Let the wind blow high blow low
She's so pretty and neat, she's so sweet and complete
She's sung captain and sailors to sleep, sleep, sleep
She's sung captain and sailors to sleep
Then she robbed them of silver, she robbed them of gold
She robbed them of costly ware-o
Then she took his broadsword instead of an oar
And paddled her way to the shore, shore, shore
And paddled her way to the shore
Me men must be crazy, me men must be mad
Me men must be deep in despair-o
For to let you away from my cabin do gay
And paddle your way to the shore, shore, shore
And paddle your way to the shore
Your men was not crazy, your men was not mad
Your men was not deep in despair-o
I deluded your sailors as well as yourself
I'm a maiden again on the shore, shore, shore
I'm a maiden again on the shore
Repeat first verse.
Source: Stan Rogers, Turnaround, Fogarty's Cove
Stan Rogers
She went down last October in a pouring, driving rain
The Skipper, he'd been drinking and the Mate, he felt no pain.
Too close to Three Mile Rock and she was dealt her mortal blow
And the Mary Ellen Carter settled low.
There was just us five aboard her when she finally was awash
We'd worked like hell to save her, all heedless of the cost
And the groan she gave as she went down, it caused us to proclaim
That the Mary Ellen Carter would rise again.
Well the owners wrote her off, not a nickel would they spend
"She gave twenty years of service, boys, then met her sorry end
But insurance paid the cost to us, so let her rest below,"
They laughed at us and said we had to go.
But we talked of her all winter, some days around the clock
For she's worth a quarter million afloat and at the dock.
And with every jar that hit the boat we swore we would remain
And make the Mary Ellen Carter rise again.
Rise again, rise again, that her name not be lost to the knowledge of men.
Those who loved her best and were with her to the end
Would make the Mary Ellen Carter rise again.
All spring now, we've been with her on a barge lent by a friend
Three dives a day in a hard hat suit and twice I've had the bends
Thank God it's only sixty feet and the currents here are slow
Or I'd never have the strength to go below.
We've patched her rents, stopped her vents,
Dogged hatch and porthole down,
Put cables to her fore and aft and girded her around
Tomorrow, noon, we hit the air and then take up the strain
And watch the Mary Ellen Carter rise again.
For we couldn't leave her there, you see, to crumble into scale;
She's saved our lives so many times, living through the gale
And the laughing, drunken rats who left her to a sorry grave
They won't be laughing in another day.
And you, to whom adversity has dealt a final blow
With smiling bastards lying to you everywhere you go
Turn to, and put out all your strength of arm and heart and brain
And, like the Mary Ellen Carter, rise again!
Rise again, rise again
Though your heart it be broken
And life about to end.
No matter what you've lost, be it a home, a love a friend
Like the Mary Ellen Carter, rise again!
Source: Stan Rogers, Between the Breaks, Live, Fogarty's Cove
Some friends and I in a public house
Were playing dominoes one night
When into the room a fireman came, his face all chalky white.
"What's up," says Brown, "have you seen a ghost?
Have you seen my Aunt Mariah?"
"Well your Aunt Mariah be buggered," says he,
"The bleeding Pub's on fire!"
Well, "Oh," says Brown, "what a bit of luck.
Everybody follow me. It's down to the cellar
If the fire's not there and we'll have a grand old spree."
So we all went down after good old Brown
And the booze you could not miss
And we hadn't been there ten minutes or more
When we were quite like this...
And there was Brown, upside down
Lapping up the whiskey on the floor.
"Booze! booze!" the firemen said
As they came knocking at the door.
"Well, don't let 'em in 'til it's all drunk up."
Somebody shouted, "McIntyre!"
And we all got blue blind paralytic drunk
When the old Dun Cow caught fire.
Well Smith walked over to the port wine tub
And gave it just a few hard knocks.
He started takin' off his pantaloons,
Likewise his shoes and socks.
"Oh no," says Brown, "That ain't allowed.
You can't do that thing here.
Don't go washing your trotters in the port wine tub
When we've got some Guiness' beer"
Then all at once came a mighty crash
Half the bloody roof caved in.
We were drowned in the firemen's hose
'Til we were almost sober.
Well we got some tacks and some old wet socks
And we tacked ourselves inside
And we sat there getting bleary-eyed drunk
While the old Dun Cow got fried.
Source: Clam Chowder
Heather Alexander
Another year goes by, another transfer and I go
To seek another world that holds no faces that I know.
Another sky, another star, forgive me that I flee
You try to breach the barrier between yourselves and me.
Now leave me to my silences, and let me live apart.
I'll heal your battered bodies; don't try to touch my heart.
I know the things you say of me, you think that I don't hear.
You call me ice and steel (alt. "iron maiden"),well how can you know I fear
The day that always comes that means my visit here must end.
A day I cease to heal the wound and start to heal a friend.
So please don't offer me your hand, for sooner we must part.
I'll heal your battered bodies; don't try to touch my heart.
There was a time I did avail myself in home at night
When I had friends and lovers and the days we shared were bright.
But our ship fell and foundered in a stormy alien sky
Amid the shattered wreckage I could only watch them die.
So please don't wake the memory or the pain it must impart.
I'll heal your battered bodies; just never touch my heart.
So I have worn my armor tight ever since that day
No love or friendship's worth the pain of tearing it away.
As long as you are faceless I can heal the hurts I see
As soon as you have faces all your wounds cut into me.
So let me wall you out, and let no breaching every start.
I'll heal your battered bodies, but don't try to touch my heart.
Source: Mercedes Lackey, Leslie Fish,Magic, Moondust & Melancholy, Firebird A&M
And I think of you now as a dream that I had long ago
On a kingdom lost to time.
In the forest of evening the archer is bending his bow
And I see you bring him bread and wine.
Down the legions of years the invaders have taken this land
And bent you to their will
And the memories fade of the ancients and all that they had
But their magic lingers 'round you still.
Oh who would walk the stony roads of Merlin's time
And keep watch along the border line
And who would hear the legends passed in song and rhyme
Upon the shattered pipes of Merlin's time.
Leslie Fish
I've got a unicorn's horn in the middle of my forehead
And the antlers of a stag on either side.
I've got pointed ears that are something like a deer's
Or something like an elk's; I can't decide.
I've got long green hair to match my flowing emerald mane
That turns red with the oak trees every fall
With my goatlike eyes it should come as no surprise
That I've got feathered eyebrows and that isn't all.
My mother never talks about that orgy
And I can't really blame her much although
I would love to read the guest list for that party
And if there's another like it let me know.
While my vampire's fangs make kissing kind of awkward
Like the set of gills implanted in my neck.
But my chest and arms aren't the least of all my charms
They somehow came out human, what the heck.
I've got phoenix wings well rooted in my shoulders
And I hope that you like legs 'cause I got four;
The furry forward pair would make a lion stare
'Cause they end in dragon's claws that rake the floors.
Chorus
I suspect my body's something like a centaur's
But my fur is somewhat tiger-like you'll find
And if you'd feared the legs in front were weird
You should only see the pair that walk behind.
They start off looking something like a horse's
But they're covered up with feathers, not with hair;
And they end in hooves like an antelopes which proves
That's there's nothing that the traffic will not bear.
Chorus
Now my tail is really something rather special,
Though you wouldn't think so seeing it at all.
For it's long and green like my hair and mane you've seen
And like them it turns red with every fall.
But beneath the hair, which is really quite attractive
The stinger of a manticore is hid;
So you really see when you look at all of me
That I really wish I knew what Mother did!
Source: Mercedes Lackey, Magic, Moondust & Melancholy, Firebird A&M
Brian McNeill
Father, Father, tell me, why do the horsemen ride?
Why do the troopers look so grim by Jamie Graham's side?
Is it true that he's a traitor? But Father, tell me why
There's not a man among them all to look him in the eye?
Chorus: Montrose, Montrose, you were the rose
you gave your life for loyalty;
But it's not the hour for the rose to flower
between the kirk and royalty, Montrose.
Hearken, now, my bonny boy, as we stand before the kirk,
Or does the thunder of the horses' hooves hide all the devil'd work?
For the Covenant's a Campbell mare that rides across the law
And ever a Stuart bridles her, a Graham's head must fall.
I'll read you now a riddle, by the shining of the moon.
When King and Kirk sit down to sup, what needs the longer spoon?
When Scotland hides her head in shame and justice looks away
And the scaffold buys an English throne with the bravest heart of all.
Source: The Battlefield Band, On the Rise
Chorus: Moose, moose, I like a moose
I've never had anything quite like a moose
I've had lots of lovers, my life has been loose
But I've never had anything quite like a moose.
When I get in the mood for an awfully good lay
I go to the closet and get me some hay
I go to the window and spread it around
For moose always come when there's hay on the ground.
A gorilla's all right for a Saturday night
And lions and tigers they put up a fight
But it's just not the same when you slam the caboose
As the feeling you get when you've just had a moose.
I've done it with all sorts of beasties with hair
I'd do it with snakes if their fangs weren't there
I've done it with walrus, a duck and a goose
But I've never had anything quite like a moose.
Now I'm getting old and advanced in my years
I look back on my life and I shed not a tear
I sit in my armchair and sip my Matteus
And play hide the salami with Millie the Moose.
Source: The Concordian Songbook
Leslie Fish
Here I sit on the head of Mount Tam
Might as well be in Vietnam
The battle is coming soon.
The stars are dim but the sky is grey
With the lights of the city that ring the bay
In the shape of a crescent moon.
Chorus: So if there be anything here
That cometh not in the name of the Powers of Light
Then in the name of the Powers of Light
Let it be gone.
Cities live, the stones have souls
As long as one dweller stands up whole
And here are three million lives.
Their spirits runs through the nerves of wire
Through the concrete bones and the furnace fire
The body of stone survives.
Warnings groan as the deep plates crack
Will shake one burden from Earth's green back
Tonight one of us goes down.
So here we fight with our wizard's force
To shift the fault on its other course
And swallow the southern crown.
We will feel the currents of power
Have no rest in the darkening hour
Of a war that we did not choose.
But if some city must fall to the brine
I swear that city will not be mine
I do not intend it to lose.
So aim the bolt, and raise the shield
The choice is cruel but we dare not yield
When life is a prize of war.
San Andreas we curse your name
As we strike your fault with our silent flame
And deflect and deflect once more.
Source: Chickasaw Mountain
Cathy Lesurf
No flirt or gigolo could reach me like you do
For sure, you are no hunter and I no wounded doe
I wish I knew what happened when my resistance was so low
I want to run, want to give in, and I wish you weren't so slow
Chorus: For my feet are set for dancing
Won't you turn the music on
My heart is like a loaded gun
Won't you let the water run
Won't you let the water run
This crazy love has got me drunk and the same rules apply
My heart wants me to play the fool
But my self respect says lie
You call up so much energy, I've got to let it free
Good company is what I need
I've got to laugh before I'm crying
Are my eyes a little starry?
Is my voice a little low?
Do I read your signals rightly?
Shall I stay or shall I go?
Your eyes don't give a thing away
So I guess you just don't care
But if you want to love me
Love me now or don't you dare
Oh you winners and your loses, you've all played the game
Thought the outcome may be different
Still the playing's just the same
So sweet sixteen or sixty
You think your heart does what you please
But love will creep up and he'll catch you
And he'll bring you to your knees
Source: Cathy Lesurf, Glady's Leap, Fairport Convention
As I walked out over London Bridge
One misty morning early
I overheard a fair pretty maid
Lamenting for her Geordy.
Oh my Geordi will be hanged with a golden chain
'Tis not the chain of many
He was born of King's Royal breed
And lost to a virtuous lady.
Go bridle me my milk white steed
Go bridleme my pony
I will ride to London's court
To plead for the life of Geordi.
Oh my Geordi never stold no cow nor calf
He never hurt nobody.
Stold sixteen of the King's royal deer
And sold them in (B......)
Two pretty babes have I born
The third lies in my body
I'd freely part with them everyone
If you'd spare the life of my Geordi.
The judge looked over his left shoulder
He said, "Fair maid, I'm sorry."
Said, "Fair maid, you must be gone
For I cannot pardon Geordi."
Oh my Geordi will be hanged in a golden chain
'Tis not the chain of many.
Stole sixteen of the King's royal deer
And he sold them in (B........)
By Dominic Seamour
To the tune of the Battle Hymn of the Republic
My helm has felt the pounding of a hundred thousand blows
The times my sword had broken only God in Heaven knows
I've felt that fearsome ringing from my head down to my toes
And I ain't gonna fight no more!
Chorus: Gory, gory, what a colorful bruise I've got!
Of skin and bone unbroken there is not one single spot
I've hacked and slashed with all the rest
But now it's time to stop!
And I ain't gonna fight no more!
On the morning of the tourney I strode bravely on the field
And then I saw my foeman and my senses they did reel
He was six-foot-eight, three hundred pounds and forged out of steel
And I ain't gonna fight no more!
He struck me once, he struck me twice, and I fell on the ground
My armor it was scattered on the list field all around
My right arm it was broken and my head it still doth pound
And I ain't gonna fight no more!
I quickly sold my armor knowing I could not go wrong
For after all, my friends, you know that I am not too strong
So I'll sit here on the sidelines with the girls where I belong
And I ain't gonna fight no more!
Source: The Concordian Songbook
Traditional
As I walked out one May morning
To view the fields and the leaves a-springing
I saw two maidens standing by
And one of them her hands was wringing
Chorus: Oh dear-o, Oh dear-o
Me husband's got no courage in him
Oh dear-o
All sorts of victuals I did provide
All sorts of meats that's fitting for him
With oyster pie and rhubarb too
But nothing will put the courage in him
Me husband can dance and caper and sing
And do anything that's fitting for him
But he cannot do the thing I want
Because he's got no courage in him
My husband's admired where ever he goes
And everyone looks well upon him
With his handsome features and well shaped leg
But still he's got no courage in him
And every night he goes to bed
I lie and throw my leg right over him
And my hand I clap between his thighs
But I cannot put any courage in him
Seven long years I've made his bed
And every night I've lain beside him
But this morning I arose with my maidenhead
But still he's got no courage in him
I wish my husband he was dead
And in his grave I'd quickly lay him
And then I'd try another one
A one that's got some courage in him
Source: Maddy Prior and June Tabor as Silly Sisters, Chrysalis
Mick Hanley
My Johnnie was a shoemaker and dearly he loved me.
My Johnnie was a shoemaker but now he's gone to sea,
With pitch and tar to soil his hands, and sail across the sea,
The stormy sea
And sail across the sea.
His jacket was a deep sky blue and curly was his hair
His jacket was a deep sky blue it was I do declare;
But to rig the topsail to the mast, and sail across the sea,
The stormy sea
And sail across the sea.
One day he'll be a captain bold with a brave and a gallant crew
One day he'll be a captain bold with a sword and a spy glass too;
And when he gets a captain's sword he'll come home and marry me,
He'll marry marry me.
Repeat first verse
Oh, me name it is Nell, and the truth for to tell
I come from Caudill which I'll never deny;
I had a fine drake and I'd die for his sake
That me Grandmother left me when she gone to die.
That dear little fellow, his legs they were yellow;
He could fly like a swallow, or swim like a hake.
'Til some dirty savage, to grace his white cabbage
Most wantonly murdered me beautiful drake.
Now, his neck it was green, most fit to be seen;
He was fit for a queen of the highest degree.
His body was white; it would you delight
He was plump, fat, and heavy, and brisk as a bee.
He was wholesome and sound, and would weigh twenty pound
And the universe round I would roam for his sake;
But look to the robber, be he drunk or sober
That murdered Nell Flaherty's beautiful drake.
May his spade never dig, may his sow never pig,
May each hair in his wig be well ( ) with the ( )
May his door never latch, may his roof have no thatch
May his turkey not hatch, may the rats eat his mill.
May every old fairy from Cork to Dunlerry
Dip him snug and nary in river and lake
That the eel and the trout, they may dine on the snout
Of the monster that murdered Nell Flaherty's drake.
May his pig never grunt, may his cat never hunt,
May a ghost o'er haunt him at the dead of the night.
May his hens never lay, may his horse never lay,
May his goat fly away like an old paper kite.
May the flies and the fleas may the rats ever tease
May the cold northern breeze make him shiver and shake;
May the lumps of the stick raise the bumps fast and thick
On the monster that murdered Nell Flaherty's drake.
Well, the only good news that I have to infuse
Is that old Barney Hills and young Anthony Blake;
Also Johnny Dwyer and Corny McGiure
They each have the grandson of my darling drake.
Me treasure had dozens of nephews and cousins
And one I must get or me heart it will break;
I'll get me none other if I have my druthers
So ends the story of Nell Flaherty's drake.
Source: Clancy Brothers, Irish Songs of the Rebellion
Frank Hayes
Never set the cat on fire
You only will annoy it
The heat will make the beast perspire
She surely won't enjoy it
Likewise do not ignite the dog
The snake, the gerbil or the frog
No, never set the cat on fire
Chorus: And mind your manners
As circumstances may require
And never set the cat on fire
Don't open up the cabin hatch
The air is sure to leave it
And air is very hard to catch
You never will retrieve it
And though you think your life's a bore
Don't open the reactor door
Don't open up the cabin hatch
Don't change the navigator's data
Someone's sure to see ya
You know the captain's view of that
A very bad idea
He doesn't want his ship to race
Forever lost in endless space
Don't change the navigator's data
Don't start an interstellar war
It has no helpful uses
If people ask you what's it for
You'll only make excuses
If thirty trillion folks get hurt
You'll go to bed with no dessert
Don't start an interstellar war
Source: Frank Hayes, Don't Ask, Off Centaur
Hello hello hello is there anybody home?
I only called to say I'm sorry
But the drums are in the dawn and all the voices gone
And it seems that there are no more songs.
Once I loved a girl, she was a flower in a flame
I loved her as the sea sings sadly
But the ashes of the dreams can be found in magazines
And it seems that there are no more songs.
Once I knew a saint and he sang upon the stage
He told about the world his lover
Now a ghost without a name stands ragged in the rain
And it seems that there are no more songs.
The ripples all were here, they stood behind the door
They told me that the moon was bleeding
Then much to my surprise they took away my eyes
And it seems that there are no more songs.
A star is in the sky and I now must say goodbye
A whale is on the beach he's dying
A white bone in the sand and a white flag in my hand
And it seems that there are no more songs.
Hello hello hello is there anybody home
I only called to say I'm sorry
But the drums are in the dawn and all the voices gone
And it seems that there are no more songs.
Source: Chickasaw Mountain
Stan Rogers
Chorus: Ah, for just one time I would take the Northwest Passage
To find the hand of Franklin reaching for the Beaufort Sea
Tracing one long line through a land so wide and savage
And make a Northwest Passage to the sea
Westward from the Davis Straight, 'tis there 'twas said to lie
The sea route to the Orient for which so many died
Seeking gold and glory, leaving weathered broken bones
And a long forgotten cairn of stones
Three centuries there after, I take passage overland
In the footsteps of Brave Kelso, where his "sea of flowers" began
Watching cities rise before me, then behind me sink again
This tardiest explorer, driving hard across the plain
And through the night behind the wheel, the mileage clicking West
I think upon Mackenzie, David Thompson and the rest
Who cracked the mountain ramparts, and did show a path for me
To race the roaring Frasier to the sea
How then am I so different from the first me through this way?
Like them I left a settled life, I threw it all away
To seek a Northwest Passage at the call of many men
To find there but the road back home again
Source: Stan Rogers, Northwest Passage, Fogarty's Cove Records
Traditional
Proudly the note of the trumpet is sounding
Loudly the war cries arise on the gale
Fleetly the steed by Lough Swilly is bounding
To join the thick squadrons on Swaimer's green vale
Oh, every mountaineer, strangers to flight or fear
Rush to the standard of dauntless Red Hugh
Connaught and Gallowglass, throng from each mountain pass
Onward for Erin, O'Donnell Abu
Princely O'Neill to our aid is advancing
With many a chieftain and warrior clan
A thousand proud steeds in his vanguard are prancing
'Neath the borderers brave from the banks of the Bann
Many a heart shall quail under its coat of mail
Deeply the merciless foeman shall rise
When on his ear shall ring borne in the breeze's wing
Tir Connell's dread war cry, O'Donnell Abu
Wildly o'er Desmond the war wolf is howling
Fearless the eagle sweeps over the plain
The fox in the streets of the city is prowling
And all who would scare them are banished or slain
On with O'Donnell then, fight the old fight again
Sons of Tir Connell, are valiant and true
Make the proud Saxons feel Erin's avenging steel
Strike for your then, O'Donnell Abu.
Source: Donal Maccian at the Warwickshire Faire The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem
Betty Thatcher
Tried to take it all away
Earn her freedom just inside a day
And find her soul to find their fears allayed.
Tried to make her love their own
And took her love they left her there
They gave her nothing back that she would want to own
Gold and silver, rings and stones
Dances slowly of moon
No one else can know she stands alone
Sleeping dreams will reach for her
She cannot say the words they need
She knows she's alone, and she is free
Chorus: Ocean Gypsy of the moon
The sun has made a thousand nights for you to hold
Ocean Gypsy where are you
The shadows followed by the stars
Have turned to gold
Turned to gold
Then she met a hollow soul
Filled him with her light and was consoled
She was the moon and he the sun was gold
Eyes were blinded with his light
The sun she gave reflected back the night
The moon was waning, almost out of sight
Softly Ocean Gypsy calls
Silence holds the stars awhile
They shine sadly for her where she falls
Just the time before the dawn
The sea is hushed, the ocean calls her
Day has taken her, and now she's gone
No one noticed when she died
Ocean Gypsy shackled to the tide
The ebbing waves were turning, spreading wide
Something gone within her eyes
Her fingers lifeless stroke the sand
Her battered soul was lost, she was abandoned
Silken threads like wings still shine
Winds take pleasure, still make patterns
In her lovely hair, so dark and fine
Stands on high beneath the seas, cries no more
Her tears are dried, oceans weep for her, the ocean sighs
Source: Renaissance, Scheherazade, Sire
Leslie Fish
I've always been a farmer and my heart's bound to the land.
The earth's deep roots are in me blood, She answers to my hand.
I grow the best of cabbages you ever hope to see
And once upon a moonstruck night I watched the dancing Sidhe.
Their music came before them and it pulled me from me bed.
It flowed like cool wine on the breeze and got inside me head,
It made be drunk and sober both, it made me sing and cry
It made me want to weep and dance and dream that I could fly.
And then their voices caroling like bells like birds like rain
In words I almost understood, in joy too near to pain.
The songs were like the ones you hear in dreams but can't recall
They fill your mind in slumber but with dawn you lose it all.
And then they came so wondrous bright so quite beyond compare
With starshine in their eyes and silver roses in their hair.
Rapt with an aching beauty, sweet and bitter, crystal light
A beauty that you fear to see but fear to lose the sight.
I saw them that there dancing, leaping air and silver flame
And conscious, all too conscious of my clumsy mortal frame.
I watched them at their dancing; light, light-footed, full of grace
While my legs of wood and feet of lead stood rooted in me place.
I am a framer, bound to earth, I know what I do well.
I'm mortal and I'm common, like the cabbages I sell.
There's virtue in a cabbage; even elves eat, I suppose;
But once, just once I wish that I could grow a silver rose.
Source: Mercedes Lackey, Magic, Moondust & Melancholy, Firebird A&M
It was good enough for Odin
though that creakin' was forebodin'
'Til at last the giants rode in
still it's good enough for me.
Chorus: Gimme that Old Time Religion
Gimme that Old Time Religion
Gimme that Old Time Religion
It's good enough for me!
Montezuma liked to start out
rites by carrying a part out
That would really tear your heart
and it's good enough for me.
It was good enough for Kali
though embracing her was folly
She'd be quite an armful, golly!
So it's good enough for me.
It was good enough for Dagan
that conservative old pagan
Who still votes for Ronald Reagan
and it's good enough for me.
It was good enough for Isis
she will help us in a crisis
And she's never raised her prices
so she's good enough for me.
Plus what ever anyone else makes up!
Traditional
A Newfoundland sailor when walking on the strand
He spied a pretty fair maid and he took her by the hand
"Oh will you go to Newfoundland along with me?" he cried
But the answer that she gave him was. "Oh no, not I."
"If I were to marry you, on me 'twould be the blame
Your friends and relations would scorn me to shame.
If you were born of noble blood and me of low degree
Do you think that I would marry you? It's oh no, not me."
Six months being over and seven drawing nigh
This pretty fair young maiden she began to look so shy
Her corsets would not meet and her apron would not tie
Made her think on all the times when she said, "Oh no, not I."
Eight months being over and nine coming on
This pretty fair young maiden she brought forth a son.
She wrote a letter to her love to come most speedily
But the answer that he gave her was, "Oh no, not me."
He said, "My pretty fair maid, the best thing you can do
Is take your child upon your back and a begging you may go.
And it's when you get tired you can sit you down to cry
And think on all the times when you said, 'Oh no, not I.'"
So come all you pretty fair maids, a warning take by me:
Don't ever put your trust in the green willow tree
For the leaves they will wither and the root it will die
Make you think on all the times when you said, "Oh no, not I."
Source: Stan Rogers, Turnaround, Fogarty's Cove
When the silver barren winter casts its frozen cold
Over trees and grassy hilltops, rivers large and small
Suddenly, the snow stops falling, and from out of the cold
Comes the form of the fairy maiden, as the legends foretold.
Lady Day, on quiet Lady Day, with blossoms in her hair
Comes the form of the fairy maiden, leaving green every where.
Oh, the mighty fairy maiden rises from the earth.
'Tis the winter gently falling heralds her rebirth.
Softly now, the budding branched of the new life for old
And in splendor the holy maiden thus her mantle unfolds.
Lady Day, on quiet Lady Day, the world is fresh for spring
And in splendor the holy maiden lifts her silvery ring.
Treading softly through the valley, across the snowy field
She has brought the clouds to pass which every step revealed.
Quietly she bares her bosom where the fountain once played
And in hand several waters come forth to the will of the maid.
Lady Day, on quiet Lady Day, her smile has thawed the spring
And in hand several waters come forth through the winter born king.
Source: Gwydion Sings
Music: Gerry Hallom
Lyrics: Henry Lawson
The port lights glowed in the morning mist
that flowed on the waters green.
And over the railing, we grasped his fist
as the dark tide came between.
We cheered the captain, we cheered the crew
and our mates, time out of mind.
We cheered the land he was going to
and the land he had left behind.
Chorus: For they marry and go, as the world rolls back
They marry, and vanish, and die.
But their spirit shall live on the outside track
As long as the years go by.
We roared, "Old Lang Syne," as a last farewell
but my heart seemed out of joint.
I well remember the hush that fell
as the steamer passed the point.
We drifted home through the public bars;
we were ten less, by one
Who sailed out under the morning stars,
and under the rising sun.
And one by one, and two by two
they've sailed from the wharf since then.
I've said good bye to the last I knew;
the last of the careless men.
And I can't but think that the times we had
were the best times, after all
And as I turn aside with a lonely glass
and drink to the bar-room wall.
Source: Garnet Rogers, The Outside Track, Snow Goose
Andy M. Stewart
Oh what a Parish, a terrible Parish
Oh what a Parish is that o' Dunkeld
They hangit their minister
Droon'd their precentor
Dang doun the steeple and fuddled the bell
The steeple was doun but the kirk was still standin'
They bigit a lum where the bell used to hang
A still pot they got and they brewed Highland whiskey
On Sundays they drank it and ranted and sang
Oh, had you but seen how graceful they lookit
To see the cramm'd pews so socially join
MacDonald the piper, stuck up in the pulpit
He made the pipes skirl out, the music diving
Wi' whisky and beer they'd curse and they'd swear
They'd argy and fecht like ye daurna well tell
'Bout Geordie and Charlie they bothered fu'rarely
Wi' whiskey they're worse than the Divil himsel'
When the heart cheerin; spirit had mounted their garret
To a ball on the green they a' did adjourn
The maids wi' coats kilted they skippit and lilit
When tired they shook hands and then hame did return
If the kirks of a'owre Scotland held like social meetings
Nae warnin' ye'd need from a far tinkling bell
For true love and friendship wad draw you together
Far better than roarin' the horrors o' Hell
Source: Andy M. Stewart, By the Hush, Green Linnet
Deep I sleep in my dreams of fire
Dancing visions of crimson flame
'Til I wake on my funeral pyre
Rebirth the symbol of what I am
Chorus: And I'll rise to the start
Golden feather and flame I'll fly
And I'll touch your reams in the dark
Remember the glory that time passed by
Once I lived long ago in memory
Gliding like wind song above your land
Now I sleep may the Gods forgive me
Awaiting capricious time's demand
When I'll rise...
Touch my dreams and the magic wakens
Speak my name and the dream is yours
Born again in the name of Pheonix
Though lost in legend my power is yours
And we'll rise...
Grit Laskin
Early Saturday morning while strolling in the woods
I chanced upon a lady who by the wayside stood
"And what, pray tell would such a lass as you be doing here?"
"I've come to take some photographs," she said as she drew near.
Says me, to her, "I do declare. This is a fateful day.
For I have come to photograph the same as you did say."
So I pulled out my Nikon F and placed it in her hand
She said, "That's quite a camera you've got at your command."
My camera so delighted her that with no more delay
She let me see her camera case, wherein her accessories lay
She had her shutter open wide for daylight had all gone
Likewise my naked camera lens it had its filter on.
We photographed from haylofts and up against the wall
If you've not photographed on Saturday night, you've not photographed at all.
We photographed the upright pines that reached up for the sky
We photographed the waterfall; I heard an eagle cry.
She said "I've had Minoltas, Yashikas, and Rolleis
Hasselblad and Pentax, likewise a Polaroid.
Miranda, Leika, Nikormat, a Kodak and the rest
But now I've had your Nikon F and surely it's the best.
Source: Grit Laskin, Unmasked, Fogarty's Cove
By Dominic Seamour
To the tune of Lord, it's Hard to be Humble
Chorus: Oh Lord, it's hard to be humble
When you fight well in every way.
I can't wait to get on the list field
'Cause I fight better every day.
To know me is to fear me
I must pack a hell of a wham
Oh, Lord, it's hard to be humble
But I'm doing the best that I can.
I used to have a lady
But I guess she just couldn't compete
With all of these fear-crazed wenches
Who keep shuddering at my feet.
I prob'ly could find me another
But I guess they're all in awe of me
Who cares, I'll never get rusty
'Cause I practice on people I meet.
I guess you could say I'm a loner
A man all armored and proud
Oh, I could have lots of slaves if I wanted
But their screams wouldn't seem quite as loud.
Some folks say that I am a sadist
Heck, I don't even know what they said
I guess it has something to do with the way
That I rip off my opponent's head.
Source: The Concordian Songbook
Rome never looks where she treads
Always her heavy hooves fall
On bellies, on heart and on heads
And Rome never heads when we squall.
Her centuries pass on and that's all,
As we gather behind them in hoards,
And pland to reconquer our wall,
With only our tongues for our swords.
Chorus: We are the little folk we,
Too little to love or to hate,
But leave up alone and you'll see
How fast we can drag down your state.
For we are the worm in the wood,
We are the rot at the root,
We are the taint in your blood,
And we are the thorn in your foot.
Mistletoe killing an oak,
Rats gnowing cables in two,
Moths eating holes in a cloak,
How they must what they do?
Yes, and we little folk to,
We are as busy as they,
Working our works out on you,
Watch and you'll see us someday.
Chorus
No, maybe we are not strong,
But we know peoples who are.
Gladly we'll guide them along
To crush and destroy you at war.
Yes, we'll be slaves just the same,
But when have we never been slaves,
And you, you will die of the shame,
And then we will dance on your graves.
Chorus
Note: Some people like to adlib arrangments on the final chorus.
Source: The singing of Grace Cecil
Four years after the Revolution and the old king's execution
Four years after remember how those torches took their final bows.
String up every aristocrat!
Out with the priests and let them live on their fat!
Four years after we started fighting Marat keeps on with his writing
Four years after the Bastille fell he still recalls the old battle yell:
Down with all of the ruling class!
Throw all the generals out on their ass!
Why do they have the gold? Why do they have the power?
Why why why why why
Do they have the friends at the top?
Why do they have the jobs at the top?
We've got nothing, always had nothing
Nothing but holes, and millions of them.
Living in holes, dying in holes
Holes in our bellies and holes in our clothes...
Marat we're poor, and the poor stay poor
Marat don't make us wait anymore
We want our rights, and we don't care how
We want a revolution now.
Chanted:Four years he fought and he fought unafraid
Sniffing out traitors, by traitors betrayed
Marat in the courtroom, Marat underground
Sometimes the otter, and sometimes the hound
Fighting all the gentry, fighting every priest
The business man, the bourgeois, the military beast
Marat always ready to stifle every scheme
Of the sons of the ass-licking, dying regime
We've got new generals, our leaders are new
They sit and they argue and all that they do
Is sell their own colleagues, or ride upon their backs
Or jail them, or break them, or give them all the axe
Screaming in language that no one understands
Of the rights that we grabbed with our own bleeding hands
When we wiped out the bastards and stormed through the wall
Of the prison that they told us would outlast us all!
Marat we're poor, and the poor stay poor
Marat don't make us wait anymore
We want our rights, and we don't care how
We want a revolution now.
Poor old Marat, they hunt you down
The bloodhounds are sniffing all over the town.
Just yesterday your printing press
Was smashed, now they're asking your home address.
Poor old Marat, in you we trust
You work 'til your eyes turn as red as rust
Poor old Marat
We trust
in
you.
Marat we're poor, and the poor stay poor
Marat don't make us wait anymore
We want our rights, and we don't care how
We want a revolution NOW.
Source: Judy Collins, So Early in the Spring
Down in some lone valley, in a lonesome place,
Where the wild birds do all whistle
And their notes do increase
Farewell pretty Saro, I must bid you adieu
But I'll dream of pretty Saro
Where ever I go.
My love, she won't have me, and I understand.
She wants a rich merchant
And I have no land.
I cannot maintain her, I've no silver and gold
Can't give her the nice things
That a big house will hold.
But if I were a merchant, and could write a fine hand
I'd write my love a letter
That she'd understand.
I'd write it by the river, where the rivers o'erflow
And I'll dream of pretty Saro
Where ever I go.
Source: Judy Collins, So Early in the Spring
To the tune of The Ash Grove
From the Concordia Songbook
When I was a young man, and very well thought of
I couldn't ask aught that the ladies denied
I nibble their hearts like a handful of raisins
And I never spoke love but I knew that I lied.
But I said to myself, "Ah, they none of them know
The secret I shelter and savor and save:
I wait for the one who will see through my seeming
And I'll know when I love by the way I behave.
The years drifted over like clouds in the heavens;
The ladies went by me like snow on the wind.
I charmed and I cheated, deceived and dissembled,
And I sinned, and I sinned, and I sinned, and I sinned.
But I said to myself, "Ah, they none of them know
There's part of me pure as the whisk of a wave.
My lady is late, but she'll find I've been faithful
And I'll know when I love by the way I behave.
At last came a lady both knowing and tender
Saying, "You're not at all what they take you to be."
I betrayed her before she had quite finished speaking
And she swallowed cold poison and jumped in the sea.
And I say to myself, when there's time for a word
As I gracefully grow more debauched and depraved
"Ah, love may be strong, but a habit is stronger.
And I knew when I loved by the way I behaved."
Source: The Last Unicorn, by Peter S. Beagle
Mercedes Lackey
Our eartucks are gleaming with rings of bright gold
Our dress is as rich as the goods in our hold
Yet we pause on the ramp for a moment in shock
To see the strange creature that bolts from the dock.
It dodges our claws and leaps straight through the lock
Right into the Pride of Shinurr.
Chorus: We are the Pride of Shinurr, glossy of eye, fang and fur
Our fame is unblemished, our ship is the best
For we are the Pride of Shinurr.
Now this is no beast, for it knows where to run
Knows when it's trapped, recognizes a gun.
In spite signs of hunger and cuts in its side
It stands to defy us with true honny pride
Then writes unknown letters in the blood from its hide
On the deck of the Pride of Shinurr.
Now this is a prize, and a mystery to track
And here come the Kipp theives demanding it back.
Now shall we give over and meekly obey
Once more let the pirates of Kipp have their way?
They've robbed us before, but they'll not win today
No deal from the Pride of Shinurr.
They've fired on the station, the jump points and more
They're halting all trade, and they've started a war.
Great Gods how enormous the trouble has grown
For the sake of one male of a species unknown.
Would we have done better to leave it alone?
Hell no, not the pride of Shinurr.
Poul Anderson
It was the Ranger Arvid rode homeward through the hills
Among the shadowy silver leaves, among the charming rills
The night wind whispered round him with scent of brok and rue
Both moons rose high above him, the hills a-flash with dew.
The dance weaves under the fire-thorn.
And dreaming of that woman who waited neath the sun
He stopped, amazed by starlight, and thus he was undone
For there beneath the barrow that bulked athwart a moon
The Outling folk were dancing in glass and golden shoon.
The dance weaves under the fire thorn.
The Outling folk were dancing, like water wind and fire
To frosty ringing harp strings, and never did they tire
To Arvid she came striding from where she watched the dance
The Queen of Air and Darkness, with starlight in her glance.
The dance weaves under the fire thorn.
"Light down you, Ranger Arvid, and join the Outling folk.
You need no more be human, which is a heavy yoke."
He dared to give her answer, "I may do naught but run.
A maiden waits me dreaming in lands beneath the sun."
The dance weaves under the fire thorn.
"And likewise waits me comrades and tasks I must not shirk,
For what is Ranger Arvid if he lays down his work?
So wreak your spells, you Outling, and cast your wrath on me.
Though maybe you can kill me, you'll not make me unfree!"
The dance weaves under the fire thorn.
The Queen of Air and Darkness turned rapt about with fear.
In northlight flares and beauty, he dared not look too near
Until she laughed like harp song, and said to him in scorn,
"I do not need a magick to make you always mourn!"
The dance weaves under the fire thorn.
"I leave you hear with nothing except your memory
Of moonlight, Outling music, night breezes, dew, and me.
And this shall run behind you, a shadow on the sun
And this shall lie beside when your day's work is done.
Your dull and foolish woman keep kindly as you can.
Go home now Ranged Arvid, set free to be a man!"
The dance weaves under the fire thorn.
In flickering wind and laughter, the Outling folk were gone.
He stood alone by moonlight, and wept until the dawn.
The dance weaves under the fire thorn.
Source: Clam Chowder, Stewed
Andy M. Stewart
Gentlemen it is my duty
To inform you of one beauty
Though I'd ask of you a favor
Not to seek her for a while
Though I own she is a creature
Of character and feature
No words can paint the picture
Of the Queen of all Argyll
Chorus: And if you could have seen her there
Boys, if you had just been there
The swan was in her movement
And the morning in her smile
All the roses in the garden
Would bow and ask her pardon
No one could match the beauty
Of the Queen of all Argyll
On the evening that I mentioned
I passed with light intention
Through a part of our dear country
Known for beauty and for style
Being a place of noble thinkers
Of scholars and great drinkers
But above them all for splendor
Shone the Queen of all Argyll
So my lads I needs must leave you
My intentions not to grieve you
Nor did what I deceive you
Oh I'll see you in a while
I must find some way to gain her
To court her and to tame her
Oh I fear my heart's in danger
From the Queen of all Argyll
Source: Silly Wizard
The knight came home from the quest
Muddied and sore he came
Battered sore of shield and crest
Bannerless, bruised and lame.
Fighting we take no shame
Better is man for a fall
Merrily-borne, the bugle-horn
Answered the warder's call.
Chorus: Here is my lance to mend
And here is my horse to be shod
Aye, they were strong and the fight it was long
But I paid as good as I got
I paid as good as I got.
Oh dark and deep their van
That mocked my battle-cry
I could not miss my man
But I could not carry by.
Utterly whelmed was I
Flung under horse and all
Merrily borne, the bugle-horn
Answered the warder's call.
My wounds are noised abroad
But theirs my foeman cloaked
Ye can see my broken blade
But never the blade she broke
Paying them stroke for stroke
Good handsel over all.
Merrily borne, the bugle-horn
Answered the warder's call.
My shame ye count and know
Ye say my quest was in vain
But ye have not seen my foe
Ye have not told this slain
Surely he fights again, again,
But when ye prove his line
There shall come to your aid my broken blade
In the last, long fight of mine!
Source: a poem by Rudyard Kipling
Andy M. Stewart
Chorus: There are sober men and plenty
And drunkards barely twenty
There are men of over ninety
That have never yet kissed a girl.
But give me a ramblin rover
Fae Orkney down to Dover
We will roam the country over
And together we'll face the world.
There's many who feign enjoyment
From merciless employment
Their ambition was this deployment
From the minute they left the school
And they save and scrape and squander
See the world and roam and wander
And they're happier as a rule.
I have roamed through all the nations
Ta'en delight in all creation
And I've tried a wee sensation
Where the company did prove kind
And when parting was no pleasure
I've drunk another measure
To the good friends that we treasure
For they always are in our minds.
If you're bent with arthritis
And your bowels have got colitis
And you've galloping bollicitus
And you're thinking it's time you died
If you've been a man of action
Though you're lying there in traction
You may gain some satisfaction
Thinking, "Jesus, at least I tried."
Source: Andy M. Stewart, By the Hush, Green Linnet
The Raven is calling, she sits at my side.
She laughs like a demon, for death is my bride.
She has courted me often, but ne'er in the sun
And now she will wed me when the battle is done.
The stag is my totem, the bull is your own
'Tis reason we now that we fight all alone.
I call to my brother but now we must fight
And the victor be crowned as the day turns to night.
Oh, my brother is wary, I'll not easily die
Though the season is turning and the sun it stay high.
My sword it is heavy, my arms they are cold;
Though the raven is calling, I'll so battle sae bold.
My shield it is broken like the coveted sword
Twixt the guards and my mother on the day I was born.
They promised her truly that I would not die
'Til the sun stood quite still in the solstice day sky.
The raven is calling, with her black hawking voice
I would not heed it, but she leaves me no choice.
She sings as she flies across the sun's face
And her shadow it falls on this very place.
Now wisdom is folly and folly is wise
When the battle is joined and the sun's in your eyes
I have fought like the champion I was raised up to be
But the raven is calling, she keeps calling to me.
Source: Gwydion Sings
Stan Rogers
The worn down shacks of labor past
On a hill of broken stone
Once brought by men to the stamping mills
To crush away the gold
But before it could pass to their sons
The glory left the hold
The Rawdon Hills once were touched by gold
The grandsons of the mining men
Scratch the fields among the trees
When the gold played out, there were all turned out
With granite dusted knees
But at night around the stoves,
Sometimes the stories still are told
The Rawdon Hills once were touched by gold
Grandsons of the mining men
You'll see it in your dreams
Beneath your father's bones still lies the undiscovered dreams
Of quartzite in a serpentine vein
That marks the greatest yield
And around the Midland railway, it's still told
How the Rawdon Hills once were touched by gold
Eighty years have come and gone
Since there was colour in the hole
And the care worn shades of the hard-rock men
Surround the old Cope Lode
And through the tiny hillside farms the stories still unfold
The Rawdon Hills once were touched by gold
Source: Stan Rogers, Fogarty's Cove, Fogarty's Cove
Dark, dark is the swirling flood
Black, black is the stain of blood
Deep slumbers the apple's bud while old fires burn.
Winds blow where the night is chill
Howl, shriek from the highest hill
She waits 'neath the moon until her lover's return.
Oh, now is the star in its course in the sky
Each day it passes by, enters not far.
Leaves fall from the dying trees
Cold bearing the autumn breeze
Now locked in deep mysteries
He sleeps in the earth.
Here long be the making those
Who crossed the fields and froze.
Earth waits for the King she loves
Waiting to give birth.
When the summer was high and the leaves were bright green
Stags in the wood were seen, birds blackened the sky.
Red mantle and silver wing
Flash bright in the early spring
True love is awakening
On the Lady's bright face.
Long winter is passing now
Buds swell on the apple bough
Earth every seeds to plow
Where lovers embrace.
All creatures rejoice for the King and his Queen
Wearing the gardens green, now speaking one voice.
Winds blow where the night is chill
Howl, shriek from the highest hill
She waits 'neath the moon until
Her lover's return.
Source: Gwydion Sings
Rise up bright sun, bring back the days again
Rise up bright sun, show us your face again
Come calling the leaves back into the trees
Come breaking the ice flows out of the seas
Rise up bright sun
Rise up bright sun, give us your light again
Rise up bright sun, chase back the night again
Come driving the iron gray out of the sky
Come gather the clouds and hammer them dry
Rise up bright sun
Rise up bright sun, give us your lives again
Rise up bright sun, 'til spring arrives again
Come burning the snow to rivers of rain
Come turning the ice to oceans of grain
Rise up bright sun
Rise up bright sun, your children call to you
Rise up bright sun, our futures fall to you
Forgive us the days forgotten to fear
We know it too well this time of the year
Rise up bright sun
Rise up bright sun
Source: Chickasaw Mountain
Traditional
It's a rose bud in June and the violets in full bloom
And the small birds singing love songs on each spray
Chorus: We'll pipe and we'll sing love,
We'll dance in a ring love
When each lad takes his lass
All on the green grass
And it's oh to the plow
Where the fat oxen graze low
And the lads and the lasses to sheep shearing go.
When we have sheared all our jolly, jolly sheep
What joy can be greater than to talk of their increase
Their flesh it is good, it's the best of all food
And their wool it will clothe us and keep our backs from cold
Here's the ewes and their lambs, it's the hogs and their rams
And the fat whithers too they will make a fine show
Source: Steeleye Span, Below the Salt, Chrysalis
Three blind mice are dead
Three blind mice are dead
See how they lie
See how they lie
Cold grey bodies on the ground
Cold grey bodies on the ground
Poor dead mice
Poor dead mice
If I'll be alive tomorrow
Really I don't know
But if I'm alive tomorrow
I am sure I'll drink tomorrow
That I promise you
Source: Oak, Ash, and Thorn, Wild Oats, Off Centaur
Drunk since ever I saw your face
Drunk since ever I met you
Drunk since ever I saw your face
And the devil if I can forget you!
Happy Birthday
Happy Birthday
Gloom doom and despair
People dying every where
Happy Birthday
Happy Birthday
May the cities in your wake
Burn like candles on your cake
Happy Birthday
Happy Birthday
Hear the women wail and weep
Kill them all but save the sheep
Happy Birthday
Happy Birthday
Source: Randal of the Dark, then King of the East Kingdom
By Dominic Seamour
To the tune of The Muppet Show
It's time to put on costumes!
It's time to speak forthright!
It's time to get things started
At the royal court tonight!
It's time to set the thrones up!
It's time to light the lights!
It's time to "Where's the herald?"
For the royal court tonight!
It's time to play the fanfare!
It's time for "All please rise!"
It's time to do our courtesy
As the King and Queen go by!
It's time to hear the speeches!
It's time to do things right!
It's time to hold the revel
(spoken) Why don't you hold the revel?
Come on let's hold the revel
After this most sensational, inspirational, celebrational, S-C-A-tional
This has been the Royal Court tonight!!!!
Source: The Concordian Songbook
By Morimoto Ichihatsu-no-hime-gime
To the tune of My Favorite Things
Never serve mushrooms unless it's with raisins
Purple and chartreuse are both quite in fashion
Always serve Gatorade, chase it with Pimms
These are a few of the Crown's Royal Whims.
Chorus: When the feast's cold, or the field's hot and the mead's gone bad
They simply proclaim a few more Royal Whims
And then they don't feel so bad.
Please do not laugh at the king's padded codpiece
France, in this reign, shall be known as the Far East
No bawdy songs, we'll sing nothing but hymns
These are a few of the Crown's Royal Whims.
Ducks are protected and shouldn't be eaten
Music indeed is a sheep's mournful bleatin'
Never make fun of the Queen's double chin
These are a few of the Crown's Royal Whims.
Source: The Concordian Songbook
S 100 BUS
Frank Hayes
(to the tune of Bonnie Ship the Diamond)
When I young my friends all worked
Like fools to get their share
Of an S-100 system like the Imsai or Altair
Well the S-100's still around I'm very glad to say
But friends I'm here to tell ya
It ain't the same today
Chorus: And it's cheer up me lads
Let your hearts never fuss
When you're integrating systems
For the S-100 bus
To tell the truth the source of all
Our trouble seems to be
A committee on computers of the I of triple E
They settled on a standard spec, Six-ninety-six by name
Now everything is standardized
But nothing works the same
They say the 80 boards are way to slow
It's enough to give you fits
If the old I/O isn't fast enough then go to sixteen bits
Sixty-eight and Z-8000 and Eighty-six as well
And code compatibility
Goes straight to bloody hell
Then add a board for the modem line
And one for every port
Add a printer board and a keyboard board and as a last resort
For every problem we will add a board that has a cure
It's not too damned efficient
But it's a Mother, that's for sure
And when it's all assembled
There's computer to your collar
It's nice to have a micro but a mainframe would be smaller
And when they turn the power on it's sure to dim the lamps
At plus and minus sixteen volts
And fourteen-hundred amps
Source: Frank Hayes, Don't Ask, Off Centaur
Traditional
Away with Canada's muddy creeks
And Canada's fields of pine
Your land is a goodly land
But oh, it is not mine.
The heathy hill, the grassy dale
The daisy spangled lea
The purling burn and craggy linn
Auld Scotland's glens give me.
Oh I would like to hear again the lark on Tinny's hill
And see the wee bit gowany that blooms beside the rill
Like banished Swiss who views afar his Alps with longing eye
I gaze upon the morning star that shines on my country.
No more I'll win by Eskdale glen or Pentland's craggy comb
The days can ne'er come back again of thirty years that's gone
But fancy, oft at morning hour will steal across the sea
And yestereve, in a pleasant dream, I saw the old country.
Each well known scene that met my view brought childhood's joys to mind
The blackbird sang on Tushey linn the song he sang, "lang syne."
But like a dream time flies away, again, the morning came
And I awoke in Canada, three thousand miles frae hame.
Source: Stan Rogers, For the Family, Folk Tradition
Mike Cross
A Scotsman clad in kilts left a bar one evening fair
And one could tell by how he walked that he'd drunk more than his share.
He stumbled on until he could no longer keep his feet
Then staggered off into the grass to sleep beside the street.
Ring ding diddle diddle aye de aye
Ring ding diddle aye dee
He staggered off into the grass to sleep beside the street.
Then later on two young and lovely girls did happen by
One said to the other with a twinkle in her eye,
"See yon sleeping Scotsman so strong and handsome built
I wonder if it's true what they don't wear beneath the kilt?"
Ring ding...
They crept up on that sleeping Scotsman, quiet as could be
Lifted up his kilt about an inch so they could see
And there behold for them to view beneath his Scottish skirt
Was nothing more than God had graced him with upon his birth.
Ring ding...
They marveled for a moment then one said, "We'd best be gone.
Let's leave a present for our friend before we move along."
So as a gift they left a blue silk ribbon tied into a bow
Around the bonnie star this Scot's kilt did lift them show.
Ring ding...
The Scotsman woke to nature's call and stumbled towards the trees
Behind the bush he lifts his kilt and gawks at what he sees
Then in a startled voice he says to what's before his eyes,
"Och, lad, I don't know where you've been, but I see you've won first prize!"
Ring ding...
Source: Mike Cross, Child Prodigy, Live and Kicking, Boot Hill Brian Bowers, The View from Home
Stan Rogers
I've been sitting here crying since long before the day began
With my pockets full of nothing but broken dreams
And my head in my empty hands
The winnings that I thought I had and come so far to get
Are further away than they've ever been
They've been taken away by another man.
I wouldn't take a train for home even if I could
'Cause they've been saving their joy for the hometown boy
Who went away to make it good
I bet they cleared away the parlour
So my Ma could dance me in the door
And the Old Man can wink, and pour me a drink
And ask me what the tears are for.
It's harder to try again than it was to begin
A man can play a lone hand in a high stakes game
But it doesn't mean he's gonna win
And somehow I've got to keep from getting further down
Before I buy me a bottle of cheap escape
And a ticket to another town.
I know I'm not crying 'cause I think I had it mighty tough
I did my best with all the rest
But it just wasn't good enough
Still, I've been working and training too long just to make it here
To merely swallow my pride and walk outside
And come back in another year.
It's harder to try again than it was to begin
A man can play a lone hand in a high stakes game
But it doesn't mean he's gonna win
And somehow I've got to keep from getting further down
Before I buy me a bottle of cheap escape
And a ticket to another town.
I wanna drown in the grape and make my escape
On a ticket to another town.
Source: Stan Rogers, Turnaround, Fogarty's Cove
Traditional
My love said to me
My Mother won't mind
And me Father won't slight you
For your lack of kind
Then she stepped away from me
And this she did say
It will not be long love
'Til our wedding day.
She stepped away from me
And she moved through the Fair
And fondly I watched her
Move her and move there
And she went her way homeward
With one star awake
As the swans in the evening
Move over the lake.
The people were saying
No two e'er were wed
But one has a sorrow
That never was said
And she smiled as she passed me
With her goods and her gear
And that was the last
That I saw of my dear.
I dreamed it last night
That my true love came in
So softly she entered
Her feet made no din
She came close beside me
And this she did say
It will not be long love
'Til our wedding day.
Source: Lorenna McKennitt, Elemental, Quinlan Road
By Siubhan ni Coinneach
To the tune of The Ash Grove
There once was a young shepherd who lived in a far valley
And he longed for a fair face, in the morning, to greet.
He knew a great deal of the ways of his charges
But he knew not the way a fair maiden to meet.
And he said to himself, "Ah, I'm tired of the cold!
I need a fair form in my bed ere I'm old!
My sheep are quite warm, but I've heard lasses are more willing
And I'll know my true love by the sound of her bleat!"
He walked to the village at the end of his valley
And eyed all the maidens who walked down the street.
Their wiggles were enticing, but they spurned all his advances,
And wrinkled dainty noses at the smell of his sheep.
And he said to himself, "Ah, I'm tired of this hell!
I'm dreadfully lonely, and horney as well!
The ladies despise me, so I'll try out a different gender
And I'll know my true love by the sound of his bleat!"
The lads he approached with sweet words of passion
But they planted their boots on his most tender seat!
He ran back to his valley where he was most warmly welcomed
By a soft, wooly Venus of the multiple teat.
And he said to himself, "Ah, it's good to be home!
I know where I'm wanted, and will no further roam.
The lasses were fair, but my sheep are much more willing
And I know my true love by the sound of her bleat!"
Source: The Concordia Songbook
Once there was a ship of stone that orbited a mighty star
And from it flew the first ship's crew whose children we all are.
And no matter how long we've drawn our track
Still over our shoulders looking back
Through the hydrogen's hiss and the methane's moan
As the bomber clouds of the dead star's shrouds
All our roads run back to the ship of stone.
There the first crew all were formed and wakened from unknowing sleep
By the boundless sight of heaven's height and the fires on the deep.
And no matter how strange the forms we wear
How warped and wild, how rich and rare
How changed we've made the seeds we've sown
We are blood of those who singing rose
From the body of the ship of stone.
And their our own ships frames were formed to grow through glowing wings
And spread them wide to the farthest tide where the last lone beacon sings.
And no matter how tight the net they knot
Of our web where the wheel of light is caught
How strange and lost, how grand they've grown,
They too desire all heaven's fire
Our companions of the ship of stone.
Once there was a ship of stone, clear domed, broad hulled and clean
Where the air shone blue, through whose hold birds flew, whose decks were
growing green.
And no matter how odd these things may seem
As madly mazed as shards of dream
They are not a dream that you dream alone
All ships, all men, are of one kin
We shall not forgive the ship of stone.
Source: Chickasaw Mountain
Heather Alexander
She's Captain of the Norway, a thorn in Union's side
Protector of Bell Station and source of grudging pride.
Left the Marziani with a price upon her head
And stayed to guard that stations that the Company left for dead.
They say she doesn't think about the lives that she has lost
They say when Norway goes to fight she doesn't count the cost.
That once she's planned a course she never reckons wrong or right -
So why does she stare sleeplessly into the dark all night?
Chorus: Captain Signy Mallory has no soul they say
The Captain of the Norway has a heart of frozen clay
And on the bridge of Norway she throws men's lives like dice
Captain Signy Mallory her eyes are fire and ice.
They say the Norway's Captain disciplines an iron whip
It's worth your life to break her rules in dock or on the ship
That no-one prospers under her command but if that's so
Then why do her troops cheer her when she passes them below.
They say the Captain has no crude emotions to control
Just an iron fist, an iron will, and an iron-banded soul.
They say she shows no mercy and they say she never can
So why is Norway refuge for a burned-out Union man?
She's Captain of the Norway, and a thorn in Union's side
The Marziani fear her, she's the heart of Norway's pride
And stationer or merchanter from Vargon back to Bell
For Mallory all Norway would fight demons out of Hell.
Source: Mercedes Lackey, Magic Moondust & Melancholy, Firebird A&M
Traditional Shaker Hymn
Chorus: When true simplicity is gained
To bow and to bend we will not be ashamed
To turn, turn will be our delight
'Til by turning, turning we come 'round right.
'Tis a gift to be simple, 'tis a gift to be free
'Tis a gift to come down where we ought to be
And when we find ourselves in the place just right
It will be in the valley of love and delight.
'Tis a gift to be simple, 'tis a gift to be free
For the proud are cast down deeper than the sea
The first shall be last and the last shall be first
And the meek at last shall receive the earth.
'Twas oft I sat on my love's knee
And many a fine tale he's told to me
He's told me of things that ne'er shall be
He's gone, he's gone, my bonny boy.
I sold my cloak, I sold my ring
When my flax was spun I sold my reel
To buy my love a sword of steel
He's gone...
With fife and drum he's marched away
He would not heed what I would say
He won't be back for many a day
He's gone...
But now my love has gone to France
To try his fortune to advance
If he e'er comes back 'tis but a chance
He' gone...
I'll dye my petticoat, I'll dye it red
For all the world I've made my bed
'Til I find my love alive or dead
He's gone...
Siril siril siril agrar
Only death can end my woe
And the pain in my heart from me will go
He gone...
Source: Pentangle, In the Round
Traditional
Oh have you seen Sir James the Rose
The young hair of Loch Lagen
For he has killed a gallant squire
And his friends are out to take him.
And he's gone to the House of Mar
The nurse there did befriend him
And he has gone down on his knee
And begged for her to hide him.
"Where are you going, Sir James?" she said
"Where now are you riding?"
"Oh I am bound for a foreign land,
But now I'm on to hiding."
Chorus: Where shall I go?
Where shall I go?
Where shall I go for to hide me?
For I have killed a gallant squire
And they're seeking for to slay me.
Then he turned to right and round about
And rolled him in the bracken
And he's gone to take his sleep
In the lowlands of Lock Lagen.
He had not well gone out of sight
Nor was past the mill
When four and twenty belted knights
Came riding on the leaven.
"Have you seen Sir James the Rose,
The young heir of Loch Lagen?
For he has killed a gallant squire
And we're sent out to take him."
"You will see the bank above the mill
In the lowlands of Loch Lagen.
There you'll find Sir James the Rose
Sleeping in the bracken.
You must not wake him out of sleep
Nor yet must you affright him
Just run a dart right through his heart
And through the body pierce him."
They saw the bank above the mill
In the lowlands of Loch Lagen
And there they found Sir James the Rose
Sleeping in the bracken.
Then up and spake Sir John the Grail
Who had the charge of keeping.
"It will never be said, dear gentlemen
We killed him while he's sleeping."
They seized his broadsword and his helm
And closely him surrounded.
But when woke up out of sleep
His senses were confounded.
Now they have taken out his heart
And stuck it on a spear
They took it to the House of Mar
And gave it to his dear.
Henry Lawson
Garnet Rogers
The colors of the setting sun withdrew across the western land
He raised the sliprails one by one
And shot them home with trembling hand
Her brown hands clung, her face grew pale
Ah! Quivering chin, and eyes that brim.
One quick fierce kiss across the rail
Then, "Goodbye Mary," "Goodbye Jim!"
Oh he rides hard to race the pain
Who rides from love, who rides from home.
But he rides slowly back again
Whose heart has learnt to love and roam.
One hand upon the horse's mane
One foot in stirrup set,
And stooping back to kiss again
With "Goodbye Mary, don't you fret!"
"When I return," he laughed for her,
"We do not know how soon 'twill be.
I'll whistle as I round the spur
You let the sliprails down for me."
She gasped for sudden loss of hope
Ah, with a backward wave to her.
He cantered down the grassy slope
And swiftly 'round the darkening spur.
And so often at the set of the sun
In winter bleak or summer brown.
She'd steal across the little run
And shyly let the sliprails down.
And listen there, 'til darkness shut
The nearest spur in silence deep.
And when they'd call her from the hut
Steal home, and cry herself to sleep.
Oh he rides hard to race the pain
Who rides from love, who rides from home
But he rides slowly back again
Whose heart has learnt to love and roam.
And he rides hard to dull the pain
Who rides from one who loves him best
But he rides never back again
Whose restless heart must rove for rest.
Source: Garnet Rogers, Speaking Softly in the Dark, Snow Goose
The Battlefield Band
Oh the north wind knows no borders
As it shifts across the shore.
The road finds only other roads
And the dark hides even more
For there's many a weary corner
From Flanders to the Boigne.
Chorus:
And the snows of France of Holland
Have parted me and mine.
There's sounds to hear and sounds to feel
And sights to make you sing
And the bonniest in among them
Is the snow goose on the wing
For her neck is long and slender
Her road's a simple line.
Oh the moon stands over the ocean
And the waves roll back the tide.
The strongest man is the wisest fool
'Till he knows the road he rides.
For the snow goose cries to the cold north wind
And the fool cries out for signs.
Source: The Battlefield Band, Anthem for the Common Man
Traditional
So early, early in the spring
I shipped on board to serve my king.
I left my dearest dear behind
She ofttimes swore her heart was mine.
My love, she takes me by the hand.
"If ever I marry, you'll be the man."
A thousand vows, so long and sweet
Say we be married when next we meet.
And all the time I sailed the seas
I could not find one moment's peace
In thinking of my dearest dear
But never a word from her could I hear.
At last we sailed into Glasgow town.
I strode the streets both up and down
Inquiring for my dearest dear,
But never a word from her did I hear.
I went straightway to her father's house
And loudly for my love did call.
"My daughter's married, she's a rich man's wife.
She's wed to another, much better for her life."
If the girl is married that I adore.
I'm sure I'll stay on land no more.
I'll sail the sea, 'til the day I die
I'll break the wave's rolling mountainside.
Sources: Judy Collins, So Early in the Spring John Renbourne * Stefan Grossman Pentangle, So Early in the Spring
Eric Bogle
Somebody's Moggy
By the side of the road
Somebody's pussy
Has forgot his highway code
Someone's favorite feline
Has run clean out of luck
When he ran into the road
And tried to argue with a truck
Yesterday he pranced and played
In his pussy paradise
Decapitating tweety birds
And masticating mice
Now he's just six pounds of raw read meat
That don't smell very mouse
He's nobody's moggy now
Now you that love your pussy
Be sure to keep him in
Don't let him argue with a truck
The truck is bound to win
And if upon that busy road
You let him play and frolic
If you do I'm telling you
It could be catastrophic
If you let him play in the roadway
I'm afraid that will be that
You'll hear one last despairing meow
And a sort of squishy splat
And your pussy will be slightly dead
And very very flat
He's nobody's moggy
He's nobody's moggy
He's just squishy red and soggy
He's nobody's moggy now
Source: Clam Chowder
She comes at the first hint of morning
As sweet as the breath of the sea
'Til the cock of the sun cries his warning
She will walk in the garden with me.
Her kisses so wild yet so tender
Shall make up my body aflame.
No cloud shall obscure her bright splendor
No veil, and no garment of shame.
Oh she is my lady of twilight
My comfort in life's darkest hour.
I see in her heavens of midnight
Her shield of omnipotent power.
The mortals deny and deride me
'Til love must rise up and depart.
In a dread secret place she will hide me
Sealed up, with the blood of my heart.
She comes at the first scent of morning
Her feet on the crests of the sea.
'Til the cock of the sun cries his warning
She will lie in the garden with me.
Source: Gwydion Sings
THE SULTAN
Sultan King, cruel majesty ordered that his women die
A single night, this for all his wives
Takes his pleasure, then their lives.
And so for many days with the dawn,
The sultan had his way
Wives were put to death
His name upon their dying breath.
Then one day as the evening came
Sultan sends for him a wife.
Choose her well, charms I wish to see
Bring her, send her in to me.
Then came to Scheherazade
To his side and her beauty shone
Like a flower grown gentle as he'd ever known.
Scheherazade bewitched him with songs of jewelled keys
Princes and of heroes and eastern fantasies
Told him tales of sultans and of talismans and rings
A thousand and one nights she sang to entertain her king,
She sings...
Scheherazade, Scheherazade, Scheherazade...
AS TOLD BY SCHEHERAZADE
And you would cause the sun to see your light and then be shamed
You cover darkness with a thousand secret flames
With your love, oh my love, oh my love, my love.
And I would cause the wind to blow a hundred different ways
And bring the perfumes with a thousand secret flames
With your love, oh my love, oh my love, my love.
The crystal and the clay - nights and the day
All on the prince's seal
Eagle of the sky, lion of the earth
This is what the seal is worth, what the seal is worth.
Holds all of the dreams of a man
Tapestries, wishes of man, pictures and visions of man
The spirit, the soul of the man
And he would vow to love her for the rest of all his days.
SONG CONTINUED...
Scheherazade this day is yours
The bearers of your gifts they're all around you stand
The finest silk in all the land
Is waiting for your choice it shimmers at your hand.
Scheherezade your life is won
You have this day the Sultan's love
Your people wait, you step into the sun.
Stalls and bars of every kind
The food piled high on woven leaves for all to eat.
Drums and flutes at every turn
The music winding twisting through the crowded streets
Caravans from far away
Bring people laughing
People in to see the Sultan in Baghdad today.
Scheherazade her name is known
Her tale is told, the Sultan let her life be spared.
The festival begins this day
To celebrate her fame,
The people sing her praise.
Stories sung, the crowds are dancing
To the music and the entertainment, all the voices sing.
The people call to see the King
The Sultan smiles, his story is just begun,
The Sultan king and Scheherazade are one.
Scheherazade, Scherehazade, Scherehezade, Scheherazade...
She told him tales of sultans and talismans and rings
A thousand and one nights she sang to entertain her king,
She sings...
Scheherazade, Scheherazade, Scheherazade, Scheherazade...
Source: Renaissance, Scheherazade and Other Stories
Chris Williamson
Open my eyes that I may see
Glimpses of truth thou hast for me
Open mine eyes, illumine me
Spirit divine
Love of my life I am crying
I am not dying, I am dancing
Dancing along in the madness
There is no sadness
Only a song of the soul
Chorus: And we'll sing this song, why don't you sing along
And we can sing for a long, long times
Why don't you sing this song, why don't you sing along
And we can sing for a long, long time
What do you do for your living?
Are you forgiving, giving shelter?
Follow your heart, love will find you
Truth will unbind you
Sing out a song of the soul
Come to your life like a warrior
Nothing will bore you
You can be happy
Let in the light,
It will heal you
And you can feel you
And sing out a song of the soul
Source: Chris Williamson, The Changer and the Changed, Falcon
Ned Kelley
Big Barney Fish he got suddenly rich
Got a big fancy house in Melbourne.
With buckets of loot and big black leather boots
Acting so haughty and well born.
But we of Australia we're children of convicts
And some of us wear it quite proudly
So as he rides by in his carriage so fine
I wave and I call to him loudly.
Chorus: Was your Grandma a whore?
Was your Grandpa a thief?
Where they forgers and grafters?
Who fell to their grief?
If you're born of Australia
I know who you be
You're the son of a son of a
Scoundrel like me.
Maggie McKay's got a sweet loving way
And I know that she does adore me.
But her parents, they feel, it would be a bad deal
They say that she's much too good for me.
So as we said good-bye with a tear in our eye
They were smiling and glad of the breaking
But they didn't look so proud
When I shouted out loud
'Til the whole floggin' town was awaken.
Madame Marie loves the men from the sea
She says that they're good for business.
Her daughters are found in a section of town
Known for a certain rudeness.
Then the cops pay a call
And the judge says, "That's all.
It's time for a new profession."
Marie laughed out loud and in front of the crowd
Says, "Judge, will you answer this question?"
Source: Clam Chowder
Lyrics: Debra Doyle
Music: Melissa Williamson
Do you not know that under my skin
Are teeth and claws and a furry hide?
Do you not know that the mail and helmet
Are only to keep the bear inside?
Hark to the song of metal on metal
The song of battle, come if you dare
My sword is waiting, his grey tooth hungry
And I am the one with the soul of the bear.
Are you so brave that come before me
Eager to lie in your blood-stained robes?
Do you not know that the sword grows hungry
And hungrier still as the slaughter grows?
Hark to the song of metal on metal
The song of battle, come if you dare
Come where the grey sword spreads out carnage
Come now and face me and summon the bear.
Brave young men that come before me
Mortal now are you ready to die?
Brave young men in the thick of battle
Can you not hear the grey sword's cry?
Hark to the song of metal on metal
The song of battle, come if you dare
Come where I stride through the heaviest battle
My grey sword making the feast of the bear.
Do you not see by the light of battle
Something never a man in my eyes?
Do you not hear in the strong voice shouting
A thing not human behind those cries?
Hark to the song of metal on metal
The song of battle, come if you dare
Face what you dare to summon to slaughter
Know I am hungry and I am the bear.
Source: The Best of Constellation, Off Centaur
Stan Rogers
I took up my pen tonight, I couldn't seem to write.
It's like I got religion and then I lost the light.
An old woman once told me that she'd always felt that way
She said, "Taken from the mold while it still can run
A candle may not keep you from the cold.
But buy another candle, son, it's not too much to pay
For one more try." And I had to smile
Before I walked away.
Coffee houses bother me. I cannot tell you why.
But, it never seems hello sounds as sweet as good-bye.
And the waitresses, in passing, remember all your names.
They say, "Look around and try to meet a single eye."
And, "Empty cups will mock me if I stay, but
Buy another coffee, Stan, it's not too much to pay
And we will try to raise your smile before you walk away."
Tonight in a room full of candles another cup of ashes drains away.
And, at times it gets so hard to handle
Knowing one more simple song has swiftly taken wing
And I'm left alone to hear the song a lonely candle sings.
The priest, I found, was nervous. He cleared his throat a lot.
But, framed in a stained glass window, his eyes were lost in thought.
And, I said, "Father, can you tell me, is some happiness my right?"
He said, "Rather seek you joy, the blessings of your God,
And happiness from worship in His sight.
And buy another candle, son, before you start to pray.
And don't forget to cross your breast
Before you walk away.
Tonight in a room full of candles,
Another cup of madness drains away
And at times it gets so hard to handle
Knowing one more simple song has swiftly taken wing
And I'm left alone to hear the song a lonely candle sings.
One too many cigarettes, slowly burning down
And the final cup of coffee was cold and full of grounds
And maybe one last pipeful might send the words around.
Still, underneath my hand this night has slipped away
And it leaves me as empty as this page.
One more candle flickers out, the night is turning grey
And I just can't watch the dying flame. I have to walk away.
Tonight I have burned all my candles
Leaving only ashes in their wake.
And at times, I get so hard to handle
'Cause simple songs leave me behind,
They all have taken wing
And I'm left alone to hear the song a lonely candle sings.
Source: Stan Rogers, Turnaround, Fogarty's Cove
Traditional
Last night as I lay dreaming
Of pleasant days gone by
My mind it started wanderin'
To Ireland I would fly.
I stepped on board a vision
A vision I can see still
'Til I went and set my anchor down
A mile from Spancil Hill.
It bein' on the 21st of June
The day before the fair
When Irish sons and daughters
Had all a-gathered there
The young and the old, the brave and the bold
Their duty for to full
All had gathered at the parish church
A mile from Spancil Hill.
Then I paid a final visit
To my first and only love.
She's white as any lily
And gentle as a dove.
She threw her arms around me
Saying, "Johnny I love you still."
She was the farmer's daughter
And the pride of Spancil Hill.
Then I dreamed I touched and kissed her
As in the days of yore.
She said, "Johnny, you're only foolin'
Like many's the time before."
Then the cock he crew in the morning
He crew both loud and shrill.
I awoke in California
Many miles from Spancil Hill.
Source: The singing of Frieda Toth-Webber
Traditional
Farewell and adieu to you Spanish ladies.
Farewell and adieu to you daughters of Spain.
For we've received orders for to sail for Old England
And we hope in a short time we will see you again.
Chorus:
We'll rant and we'll roar like true English sailors
We'll rant and we'll roar all along the salt sea.
Until we strike sounding in the Channel of Old England
From Ushant to Scilly be thirty-five leagues.
We hove our ships to with the winds from the so'west, boys
We hove our ships to, deep soundings at bay
It's forty-five fathoms with a sandy white bottom
So we squared our main yard and up Channel did make.
The first land we made was a point called the Deadman,
Next Ramshead off Plymouth, Stuart, Portland, and Wight.
We sailed them by Beachie, by Fairlee, and Dungyness
Then bore straight away for the South Foreland Light.
The signal was made for the grand fleet to anchor
And all in the downs that night for to lie
We stood by our stoppers, we brailed in our spankers,
And anchored ahead of the noblest of fleets.
Let every man drink up his full bumper
Let every man here drink up his full bowl
And let us be jolly and drown melancholy
Drink health to each jovial and true-hearted soul.
Source: From the singing of Peasant Under Glass heard at the Warwickshire Faire
Additional verses from Stan Hugill, Songs of the Sea
By Dominic Seamour
To the tune of The Ash Grove
I saw a fair lady who walked through the darkness
Outshining the stars in the heavens above
She summoned the skies with a wave of her hand
And the stars fell to serve her, the Lady they loved.
Chorus: And I said to myself, "Such beauty I see
A star in her service I wish I could be."
She is honored by ribbons of heavenly fire
And I love her more than my own heart's desire.
The stars fall about her in waves of bright jewels
The tail of a comet was weaved through the rows.
The stars shone the brighter to honor her beauty
And in their soft light her fair form darkly glows.
And then with her robe of bright stardust she dances
The stars show her motion with shimmering light.
About and around in her fullness of splendor
She danced and she danced through the mystical night.
Compelled by her beauty I went forth to greet her
I knelt at her feet and I showed her my heart.
A moment she stood, and then softly she kissed me
And I knew that we would be never apart.
Source: The Concordia Songbook
Poem by W.B. Yeats
Where dips the rocky highland
Of sleuth wood in the lake
There lies a leafy island
Where flapping herons wake
The drowsy rats
There we've hid our fairy vats
Full of berries
And of reddest stolen cherries
Chorus: Come away oh little child
To the waters and the wild
With a faery hand in hand
For the world's more full of weeping
Than you can understand
Where the wave of moonlight glosses
The dim grey sands with light
By far off furthest rosses
We foot it all the night
Weaving olden dances
Mingling hands and mingling glances
'Til the moon has taken flight
To and fro we leap
And chase the frothy bubbles
Whilst the world is full of troubles
And is anxious in its sleep
Where the wandering water gushes
From the hills above glen car
In pools among the rushes
That scarce could bathe a star
We seek for slumbering trout
And whispering in their ears
Give them unquiet dreams
Leaning softly out
From ferns that drop their tears
Over the young streams
Away with us he's going
The solemned eyed
He'll bear no more the lowing
Of the calves on the warm hillside
Or the kettle on the hob
Sing peace into his breast
Or see the brown mice bob
Round and round the oatmeal chest
For he comes, the human child
To the waters and the wild
With a faery hand in hand
For the world's more full of weeping
Than you can understand
Source: Loreena McKennitt, Elemental, Quinlan Road
On a hill far away stands a stone menhir ring
The emblem of druidic pride
And we love that stone ring and the circle within
As the Goddess as Hag, Mom, and Bride.
Chorus: So we'll dance 'round the stone menhir ring
'Til the flames of the fire have died down.
We'll emote, slit a goat's throat and sing
Then get dressed and drive back into town.
On a hill nearby stands a looped and stained cross
Of the sort that some folks call an ankh.
Keeping evil at bay like the shield of the law
For which we have Gardner to thank.
In the valley below shines a flashing blue light
On the car of the local police.
But the law's on our side, and we soon will be free
At least by next midsummer's eve.
Source: Chickasaw Mountain
Have you seen the old man, walking down the streets of London
Kicking up the papers with his worn out shoes.
In his face you see no pride
His hands hang loosely by his sides
Yesterday's papers bringing yesterday's news.
Chorus: And how can you tell me that you're lonely?
How can you tell me that the sun don't shine?
Let me take you by the hand
And lead you through the streets of London
I'll show you something to help you change your mind.
And in the all-night cafe at quarter past eleven
An old woman sits, she is eating all alone
Watching the world go by
Over a cooling tea cup
Each tea lasts an hour then she wanders home alone?
Have you seen the old men outside the sailor's mission?
Their minds are fading like the ribbon that they wear
And in our winter city the rain cries out
Show little pity
On yesterday's heroes in a world that doesn't care.
Have you seen the old girl walking down the street by market?
Dirt in her hair and her clothes in rags.
She has got no time for talking
She just keeps on walking
Carting her life around in carrier bags.
Source: Donal MacCian, Warwickshire Fair
Two men walked on a beach in the sun
One left footprints, the other left none.
One was a man that no man obeys
The other a god of the ancient days.
"Look," said the man, "How my kind make war.
I summoned you here to ask, 'What for?'"
"For wealth, or land," the God replies
"For life, or freedom, or some king's lies."
Chorus: The Sun is also a Warrior
Knowledge can also destroy
Nor can the kindest will
Preserve you from the kill
Not all of wisdom brings joy.
"Four of these five," the first one said
"Are not enough to appease the dead.
To save my kind all this strife must cease.
So now, I bid you, to conjure peace."
"This I will do, though it grieves me sore
For I was once a god of war
And I remember what you forget;
Four of these five you may still regret."
He raised his voice and he raised his hand.
All strife stopped at the god's command.
No voice ventured an angry word.
No hand struck and no weapon stirred.
In time the man called the old god back.
"Look," he cried, "what my people lack.
One lord rules over all the earth
And we're all his slaves from the hour of birth."
"He owns all the wealth and he owns all the land.
We starve and die under his command.
He speaks the truth and he gives us peace
But all that I hope for is our release."
The old god said, "This is what you willed
For only thus is your wish fulfilled.
War's five sources I took away
But I will give four of them back today."
He raised his hand and his voice once more.
All the world overturned in war
And when the last of those fires let fall
There was no lord in the world at all.
"Go rebuild now, " the old god said.
"Feed the living and bury the dead
And remember this when you think of war
And think upon what is worth fighting for."
Source: Chickasaw Mountain
High on the mountain top
Up there, where the winds can blow free.
I saw the Sun God
Smilin' down on me.
He was the Sun God.
Cool was the morning breeze
Like fire was the touch of his hand.
He was the Sun God
And he came to me.
He was the Sun God.
I built an alter there
Spilled my blood upon the ground.
Gave to the Sun God
All I had to give.
He was the Sun God.
Ten million years ago
Mother Earth gave her love up to the Sun.
Lay with the Sun God
That her children might be free.
He was the Sun God.
High on the mountain top
Up there, where the winds can blow free.
I saw the Sun God
I saw the Sun God
I saw the Sun God!
Source: Gwydion Sings
Music: Claudine Langville
Lyrics: John Allison
Susanna Martin was a witch who dwelt in Amesbury
With brilliant eye and salty tongue she worked her sorcery
And when into the judge's court the sheriff brought her hither
The lilacs drooped as she passed by
And then were seen to wither.
A witch she was, though trig and neat with comely head held high
It did not seem that one as she with Satan would so vie
And when in court the afflicted ones proclaimed her evil ways
She laughed aloud and boldly then
Met Cotton Mather's gaze.
"Who hath bewitched these maids?" he asked and strong was her reply
"If they be dealing in black arts ye know as well as I."
And then the stricken ones made moan as she approached near
They saw her shape upon the beam
So none could doubt 'twas there.
The neighbors 'round swore to the truth of her Satanic powers
That she could fly o'er land and stream and come dry shod through showers
At night, 'twas said, she had appeared a cat of fearsome mien
"Avoid, She-Devil!" they had cried
To keep their spirits clean.
The spectral evidence was weighed, then stern the parson spoke
"Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live, 'tis written in the book."
Susanna Martin, so accused, spake with flaming eyes
"I scorn these things for they are naught
But filthy gossip's lies."
Now those bewitched, they cried her out, and loud their voice did ring
They saw a bird above her head, an evil yellow thing
And so, beneath a summer sky Susanna Martin died
And still in scorn, she faced the rope
Her comely head held high.
Source: Touchstone, The New Land, Green Linnet
Rescued from Fairyland
by Janet of Carterhaugh
Young Janet sits in her bower high,
he gold comb in her hair
The leaves grow green in Carterhaugh
Oh, would that I were there!
She has not pulled the double rose
Twisted the stem full sore
When up there starts him young Tamlin
Says, Lady, pull no more.
Oh, pleasant is that other land
But an eerie place to dwell
For at the end of seven years
They pay a tithe to hell.
First let pass the black, Lady
And then let pass the brown
For I will ride on the white steed
The nearest to the town.
Because I was an earthly knight
They gave me that renown
She'd first let pass the coal black steed
And then let pass the brown
She's quickly ran to the white steed
And pulled the rider down.
At last they turned him in her arms
Into a naked man
She's wrapped him in her green mantle
And young Tamlin's she's won.
Up there spoke the Elfin Queen
An angry queen was she
Oh, ye haved robbed the fairest knight
In all my company.
And had I known, Tamlin, she said
What this night I have known
I'd have plucked out your earthly heart
Changed it for a heart of stone.
Ewan McColl
The heather will fade and the bracken will die
Streams will run cold and clear
And the small birds will be going
And it's then you will be knowing that the terror time is near.
Whaur will ye gan an' whaur will ye bide
Noo that th' work's a' done
And the fairmer disnae need ye
And the cooncils winnae hee' ye - and the terror time is come?
The woods give no shelter and the trees they are bare
Snow is falling all around
And the children are crying
For the bed on which they're lying is frozen to the ground.
The shaw winna lift and the stove winna draw
There's ice in the water churn
In the mud and snaw you're sloshing
Trying to do a bit o' washing
And the kindling winna burn.
When you need the warmth of your own human kind
You move near a town and then
The sight o' you is offending
An' the police they soon are sending
An' you're on the road again.
Whaur can ye gan an' whaur can ye bide
Noo that the work's a' done
An' the fairmers disnae need ye
An' the cooncils winnae heed ye - and the terror time is come?
Source: Jean Redpath, Jean Redpath, Philo
Bob Franke
It's so easy to dream of days gone by;
So hard to think of times to come.
And the grace to accept every moment as a gift
Is a gift that is given to some.
What can you do with your days
But work and hope?
Let your dreams bind your work to your play.
What can you do with each moment of your life
But love 'til you've loved it away?
Love 'til you've loved it away.
There are sorrows enough for the whole world's end.
There are no guarantees but the grave.
But this life that we live and the times that we spend
Are treasures too precious to save.
What can we do with our days
But work and hope?
Let your dreams bind your work to your play.
What can you do with each moment of your life
But love 'til you've loved it away?
Love 'til you've loved it away.
Source: Garnet Rogers, Garnet Rogers, Snow Goose
Andy M. Stewart
Come gather 'round, ye free-born men
And draw your chairs to mine
And I'll tell you of my country
That you might understand
And of the English army
That marched in for to stay
Oh that night they wounded old Ireland
And she's bleeding to this day.
Their dogs of war were loosed to run
And hunt the rebels down.
They hoped to rule this land by fear
And to hold it for the crown.
But a mighty thought was born in men
When they killed James Connolly
Oh that night they wounded old Ireland
And she's bleeding to this day.
The border lies like an open wound
That only love can heal.
For bitterness and cruelty
They will never close the weal.
The men of vision built a dream
Which blind men stold away
Ah that night they wounded old Ireland
And she's bleeding to this day.
My heart it holds a vision clear
That thousands more can see
Of Ireland free from hatred
And death and bigotry.
Where Irishman and Irishmen
Can in friendship clasp a hand
If we banish fright from the Ulster night
Then we'll free old Ireland.
Repeat first verse.
Source: Andy M. Stewart, Fire in the Glen, Shanachie
Traditional
It's of three jolly butchers as I've heard many say
They were going to some market for their money for to pay
They rode together for a mile or two
And a little more besides
Says Johnson unto Jenson, "Stop! I heard a woman cry!"
Then, "Stop I won't," says Jenson.
And, "Stop I won't," says Bride
"Then stop I will," says Johnson, "For I heard a woman cry."
Johnson he alighted and threw the brace around
And saw a naked woman with her hair tied to the ground.
"How came you here?" said Johnson
"How came you here?" said he
"Two highwaymen have robbed me, that you can plainly see."
Then Johnson being a valiant man, a man of courage bold
He took the cloak from off his back to keep her from the cold.
Then Johnson being a valiant man, a man of valiant mind
This lass he mounted on his horse and mounted up behind.
And as they rode along the road as fast as they could ride
She put her fingers to her lips and gave three piercing cries.
Out sprang then bold highway men
With weapons in their hands.
They up on young Johnson and boldly bid him stand
"Stand I will," said Johnson, "as long as ever I can.
For I was never in all my life afraid of any man."
Then Johnson being a valiant man, he made those villains fly
'Til nine of them bold highwaymen all on the ground did lie.
This wicked woman standing by young Johnson did not mind
She took a knife all from his side and stabbed him from behind.
This day it being a market day and people passing by
They saw this woman's dreadful dead and raised a hue a cry
Then she was down to Newgate court and bound in irons strong
For killing the finest butcher that ever the sun shone on.
Source: Gryphon, Gryphon, Transatlantic
Traditional
Concerning of three young men one night in January
According laws contrary of poaching went straight way
They were inclined to ramble amongst the trees and bramble
A-firing at the pheasant, which brought the keepers down
The keepers dared not enter, nor cared nor would to venture
But outside near the center, in their old bush they stood
The poachers, they were tired, and to leave they were desired
Then at last young Parkins fired, and saw one keeper's blood
Fast homeward they were making, nine pheasants they were taking
Then another keeper faced him, they fired at him also
Beyond the ground lay crying, just like some person dying
With no assistance lie him, may God forgive their crime
And they were taken with all speed all for their inhuman deed
It caused their young hearts to bleed for their tender years
The scene before was never three brothers tried together
Three brothers condemned for poaching found guilty as they stood
Exiled and transportation, two brothers they were taken
And the other one hung as a token; may God forgive their crime
Concerning of three young men one night in January
According laws contrary of poaching went straight away
Source: Clam Chowder; Steeleye Span
Heather Alexander
Deep into the stony hills miles from keep or hold
A troop of guards come riding with a lady and her gold
Riding in the center shrouded in her cloak of fur
Companioned by a maiden and a toothless aged cur.
Three things see no end, a flower blighted 'ere it blooms
A message that was wasted, and a journey that was doomed.
One among the guardsmen has a shifting restless eye
And as they ride he scans the hills that rise against the sky.
He wears a sword and bracer worth more than he can afford
And hidden in his baggage is a heavy secret hoard.
Of three things be wary: Of the hungry hunting cat
The shepherd eating mutton, and the guardsman that is fat.
From ambush bandits screaming charge the pack train and its prize
All but four within the band are taken by surprise
And all but four are cut down as a woodsman fells a log
The guardsman and the maiden and the lady and the dog.
Three things know a secret; first, the lady in a dream,
The dog that barks no warning, and the maid who does not scream.
Then up the lady pulls her cloak, in armor she is clad
Her sword is out and ready and her eyes are fierce and glad.
The maiden gestures briefly and the dog's a cur no more;
A wolf, sword-maid and sorceress now face the bandit horde.
Three things never anger or will not live for long:
A wolf with cubs, a man with power, and a woman's sense of wrong.
The bandits growl a challenge and the lady only grins.
The sorceress bows mockingly, and then the fight begins.
When it ends there are but four left standing from that horde;
The wolf, the witch, the traitor and the woman with the sword.
Three things never trust in: the maiden sworn as pure
The vow a king has given, and the ambush that is sure.
They've stripped the traitor naked and they've whipped him on his way
Into the barren hillsides like the folk he used to slay.
They take a thorough vengeance for the women he's cut down
And then they mount their horses and they journey back to town.
Three things trust and cherish well: the horse on which you ride
The beast that guards and watches and the sister at your side.
Source: Mercedes Lackey
Annie Haslan?
I took a trip down to look at the fair
When I arrived I found nobody there
It seemed I was all alone
Must be that they've all gone home
Chorus: A trip to the fair but nobody was there (repeat)
Voices of yesterday make not a sound
Even the roundabout stopped going round
I wonder just what it means
Is everything how it seems?
A creak as the dodgems came onto the scene
Wheels began turning, I started to scream
A carousel swung around
My head turned and hit the ground
I close my eyes to disguise the fear from inside
Trembling within my own mind I find no place to hide
Stars of tomorrow shine through the grey mist that has gone
I wish this trip to the fair had never begun
Suddenly thousands of faces I see
Everyone seems to be staring at me
Clowns laughed in the penny arcade
What was this game my mind played?
Source: Renaissance, Scheherezade and Other Stories
Traditional
As I was walking all aline
I heard twa corbies makin' a main
And tain untay the t'ither did say-o
Where sa'll we gang and dine today-o
Where sa'll we gang and dine today
In behind you auld fell dike
I would there lies a new slain night
And nae body kens that he lies there-o
But his hawk and his hound and his lady fair-o
Hawk and his hound and his lady fair
His hound has ta'en a hunting game
His hawk tae fetch the wild fowl game
His lady has ta'en a nither mate-o
So we may mak our dinner sweet-o
We may make our dinner sweet
Ye'll sit on his white haws bane
And I'll pike out his bonny blue ain
With many a lock of his golden hair-o
We'll fleece our nest when it grows bare-o
We'll fleece our nest when it grows bare
Many a one for him maks mane
But nane sall ken where he is gane
O'er his white bones when they are bare-o
The wind sall blow forever maire-o
The wind sall blow forever mare
Source: Steeleye Span, Now we are Six, Chrysalis
Sung to the Twelve Days of Christmas
On the first day of decadence my camp-mates gave to me
A peach in a glass of pink champagne
On the second day of decadence my camp-mates gave to me
Two loaded dragons
And a peach in a glass of pink champagne
On the third day of decadence my camp-mates gave to me
Three war virgins
Two loaded dragons
And a peach in a glass of pink champagne
On the four day of decadence my camp-mates gave to me
Four leaning nuns
Three war virgins
Two loaded dragons
And a peach in a glass of pink champagne
On the fifth day of decadence my camp-mates gave to me
Five crammed in one......tent
Four leaning nuns
Three war virgins
Two loaded dragons
And a peach in a glass of pink champagne
6th day: Six Non-committals
7th day: Seven brazen candles
8th day: Eight gourmet picnics
9th day: Nine cold, glazed chickens
10th day: Ten hours to Pennsic (are we there yet?)
11th day: Eleven cups of coffee (I gotta go pee!)
12th day: Twelve rhinestone baubles
Source: The Concordia Songbook
Spoken:
A lady sits at her own front door, as straight as the willow wand
And by there comes a lusty smith, with his hammer in his hand.
Sung: (Chorus)
Bide, Lady, bide! For there's no-where you can hide
And the lusty smith will be your love and he will lay your pride!
Why do you sit there lady fair, all in your robes of red
When come to morrow at this time, I'll have your maidenhead
Singing...
Away, away you cold blacksmith, would you do me this wrong?
For to think to have me maidenhead, which I have kept so long!
I'd rather I was dead and cold and me body laid in the grave
Then a husky, lusty cold blacksmith me maidenhead shall have.
So the lady she curled up her hand, she swore upon the mold
That he'd not have her maiden head for all the pots of gold.
But the blacksmith he curled up his hand and he swore upon the mass
That he would have her maidenhead for half of that or less,
Singing...
Spoken:
And thus began the battle of transmogrofication betwixt the two magicians
Sung:
The lady she turned into a dove and flew into the air
And he became an old cock pigeon and they flew pair and pair, cooing...
The lady she turned into a mare as dark as the night is black
And he became a saddle and clung upon her back.
The lady she turned into a hare and ran all over the plain
But her became a greyhound dog and ran her down again, barking...
She turned into a sailing ship and sailed toward the sea
But he became a bo'captain and aboard of her came he.
So the lady she turned into a sheep a-grazing on yon common
And he became a big horny ram, and soon he was upon her, bleating...
The lady she turned into a cloud floating in the air
And he became a thunderbolt and zipped right into her, shocking...
She's turned into a leafy tree a-hiding in the wood
But he came forth as the morning dew, and sprinkled her where she stood.
So the lady she ran out of tricks and she turned into a bed
And he became a coverlet, and gained her maidenhead, singing...
And when she woke he took her so and still he made her bide
And the lusty smith became her love, for all her mighty pride, singing...
Source: Celtic Stone
Traditional
Cold blows the wind to my true love
And gently drops the rain
I only have but one true love
And in Greenwood she lies slain
I'll do as much for my true love
As any young man may
I'll sit and mourn along the grave
For twelve month and a day
When the twelve month and a day was passed
The ghost began to speak
"Why sittest though beside my grave
And will not let me sleep?"
"There's one thing that I want, sweetheart,
There's one thing that I crave;
And that is a kiss from your lily-white lips
Then I'll go from your grave."
"My lips they are as cold as clay
My breath smells earthly strong
And if you kiss these cold clay lips
Your days they won't be long.
Go fetch me water from the desert
And blood from mountain stone
Go fetch me a letter from a fair maid's breast
That a young man never has known."
'Twas down in Cupid's garden
Where you and I would walk
The finest flower that ever I saw
Is withered to a stalk.
The stalk is withered and dry sweetheart
The flower will ne'er return
And since I lost my own true love
What can I do but mourn?
When shall we meet again sweetheart
When shall we meet again?
As the oaken leaves that fall from the trees
Are green and spring back again?
from Rudyard Kipling's "Harp Song of the Dane Woman"
Ah what is it woman that you forsake her,
And the hearth-fire and the home-acre,
To go to the old, grey Widow-maker?
She has no house to lay a guest in
But one great bed that all can rest in
That the pale suns and the stray bergs nest in
She has no strong white arms to fold you
But the ten-times-fingering weed to hold you
Out on the rocks where the tide has rolled you
Yet, when the signs of summer thicken
And the ice breaks and the birch buds quicken
Yearly you turn from our sides and sicken
Sicken again for the shouts and the slaughter
You steal away to the lapping waters
And look at your ship in her winter quarters
You forget our mirth and our talk at the table
The kine in the shed and the horse in the stable
To pitch her sides and go over the cable
Then you drive out where the storm-clouds swallow,
And the sound of your oar-blades ringing hollow
Is all we have left in the months that follow
Ah, what is woman that you forsake her
And the hearth fire and the home acre
To go to the old grey widow maker?
From the Singing of Clam Chowder
While in the street of all our fears
They reign and supreme as orders go
They are the last to have their say
And last to know
It doesn't matter how you try
It doesn't matter what you say
They always watch with hollowed eyes
To put you down
They always find a way to criticize
Chorus: The vultures fly high
They circle over us all
The vultures fly high
I'll take your hand if you fall
All those you sheltered in their smile
Are scattered here from yesterday
And if the weak are left behind
They have to pay
And though you haven't much to give
You know they'd take it yours and mine
Sometimes it looks as though we lose
But then in time
The finger points at them
The next in line
Source: Renaissance, Scheherazade and Other Stories
Traditional
There was a lord of a north country manor and he courted a lady gay
And as they were riding side by side a wager he did lay
"And I will wager you five hundred pounds, five hundred pounds to one
That a maid I will go to the bonny green wood and a maid I will return."
For then she's sat in her own bowered hall and there's she's made a moan
Saying, "Shall I go to the broom filled hill or should I stay at home?"
Chorus: And a wager, a wager, a wager she did lay
A wager of five hundred pounds
That a maid she would climb that broom filled hill
And a maid she would climb down
Up then spake an old witch woman and she sat all alone
Saying, "You shall go to the broom filled hill and a maid you will return.
For when you go to the broom filled hill you'll find your love asleep
With his hawks and his hounds and his satin gown and the ribbons at his feet.
And you'll pick the blossom from off the broom and the blossom it smelled so sweet
And lay some down at the crown of his head and more at the soles of his feet."
So she's away to the broom filled hill and she's found her love asleep
With his hawks and his hounds and his satin gown and the ribbons at his feet.
And she's picked the blossom from off the broom and the blossom it smelled so sweet
And laid some down at the crown of his head and more at the soles of his feet.
When he awakened out of his sleep his birds began to swing.
They cried, "Awaken, awaken, awaken master! You're true love's been and gone!"
"Oh, where were you me good greyhawks? Where were you my steed?
And where were you me good greyhounds, why did you not awaken me?"
"Oh, I clapped with my wings, master, shook all my bells they rang,
I cried 'Awaken, awaken, awaken, master! You're true love's been and gone!'"
"And I stamped with my hoof master; shook my bridle bells they rang!
But there was nothing would awaken you, 'til she had been and gone!"
Source: Steeleye Span, Clam Chowder
Traditional
MALPAS WASSAIL SONG (CORNWALL)
Of the harvest being over and Christmas drawing in
Please open your door and let us come in
Chorus: With our wassail, waissail, wassail, and joy come to our jolly wassail
Here's the master and the mistress sitting down by the fire
While we poor sailboys do trudge through the mire
Here's the master and the mistress sitting down at their ease
Put your hands in your pockets and give what you please
This ancient old house we will kindly salute
It is your custom you need not dispute
Here's a health to the master and a long time to live
Since you've been so kind and so willing to give
There's a saddle and bridle hanging up from the shelf
If you want any more you can sing it yourself
(DEVON & SOMERSET)
Oh, Lilly, white Lilly, oh Lilly, white pin
Please to come down and let us come in
Oh, Lilly, white Lilly, oh Lilly, white smock
Please to come down and pull back the lock
Chorus: And it's our wassail, jolly wassail
Joy come to our jolly wassail
How well do the May bloom, how well the May bear
So we may have apples and cider next year
Oh Master and Mistress oh are you within
Please to come down and pull back the pin
There was an old farmer and he had an old cow
But how to milk her, he didn't know how
He put his old cow down in his old barn
And a little more liquor won't do us no harm
Harm me boys, harm me boys harm
And a little more liquor won't do us no harm
Oh the ringles and the jingels and the teller of the song goes
Merrily, merrily, merrily;
For the teller of the song goes merrily
Hat fulls, cap fulls, three bushel bags full
Little eaves under the stairs; Hip, hip, hooray!
Source: The Watersons, For Pence and Spicy Ale, Topic
Traditional
The prince who should our king hae been
He wore the royal red and green
A bonnier lad was never seen
Then our brave royal Charlie
Oh, ye've been long a-coming
Long, long, long a-coming
Oh, ye've been long a-coming
Welcome Royal Charlie.
Since our true king was sent away
A doited German rules us all
And we are forced against the law
For the right belongs to Charlie
We dare not brew a pack of malt
Or German Geordie finds a fault
And for our kail we'd scarce get salt
For the want of royal Charlie
When Charlie in the highland shield
Foregathered with the great Lochiel
Oh, what kindness did prevail
Between the chief and Charlie
At Falkirk and at Prestonpans
Supported by our highland clans
We broke Hanoverian bands
The right belongs to Charlie
The prince who should our king have been
He wore the royal red and green
A bonnier lad was never seen
Than our brave royal Charlie
Source: Archie Fisher, A Man with a Rhyme
Robert Burns
Now westlin winds and slaughtering guns
Bring autumn's pleasant weather
The moorcocks spring on whirring wings
Among the blooming heather
Now waving grain, wild o'er the plain
Delights the weary farmer
And the moon shines bright as I rove at night
To muse upon my charmer
The partridge loves the fruitfull fells
The plover loves the mountains
The woodcock haunts the lonely dells
The soaring hern the fountains
Through lofty groves the cushat roves
The path of man to shun it
The hazel bush o'erhangs the thrush
The spreading thorn the linnet
Thus every kind their pleasure find
The savage and the tender
Some social join and leagues combine
Some solitary wander
Avaunt, away! The cruel sway
Tyrannic man's dominion
The sportsman's joy, the murdering cry
The fluttering, gory pinion
But, Peggy dear, the evening's clear
Thick flies the skimming swallow
The sky is blue, the fields in view
All fading, green and yellow
Come let us stray our gladsome way
And view the charms of nature
The rustling corn, the fruited thorn
And every happy creature
We'll gently walk and sweetly talk
'Til the silent moon shine clearly
I'll grasp thy waist and, fondly pressed,
Swear how I love thee dearly
Not vernal showers to budding flowers
Not autumn to the farmer
So dear can be as thou to me
My fair and lovely charmer
Source: Garnet Rogers, Garnet Rogers, Snow Goose
When I was in my prime I flourished like a vine
There came along a false young man which stole the heart of mine
Which stole the heart of mine.
The gardener standing by, three choices he offered to me
The paint, the violet and red rose, which I refused all three
Which I refused all three.
The paint's no flower at all, for it fades away to soon
The violet is too pale a hue, I think I'll wait 'til June
I think I'll wait 'til June.
In June the red rose blooms, that's not the flower for me
I think I'll pull the red rose up and plant a willow tree
And plant a willow tree.
And the willow tree shall weep, and the willow tree shall whine
I wish I was in the young man's arms that stole the heart of mine
That stole the heart of mine.
If I should last for one year more, and God should grant me grace
I'll save enough crystal tears to wash his deceitful face
To wash his deceitful face.
Source: Pentangle, A Maid that's Deep in Love
By Shoshonnah Jehane Ferch Emrys
To the tune of Greensleeves
A lady's life is not an easy one
Getting herself up before the sun.
Taking care of a castle isn't very much fun
While wearing the dreaded weyrhoop.
Chorus: Weyrhoop, weyrhoop, how it does catch
My feet and others, it doth make me retch.
Oh, I have become a miserable wench
Since wearing that dam-ned weyrhoop.
Once I was happy with carefree garb
Surcoats and head rails, the odd widow's barb
But a fashionable Tudor I wanted to be
And took up the dreaded Weyrhoop.
My dancing steps now I cannot control
Life was much simpler with just a bum roll
When dancing a pavanne I look like a troll
And all from the dreaded weyrhoop.
I wish I had never set eyes on that beast
It tripped up the King at the last great feast
The Queen wants to kill me, I'll soon need a priest
Save me from the dreaded weyrhoop.
Weyrhoop, weyrhoop, you're no more for me
My costume now; it fits to a "T"
Satins and fine laces I no more will see
I've fallen for Harold Tuchux!
Source: The Concordian Songbook
Anthony Phillips
Look, see how the world goes round,
Look see how the day goes on.
You, it won't stop to help you
Me, it won't stop to help you.
All the time a wind is blowing
Where it's blowing we don't know.
Look, some spend their days in slumber
Look, someone is weary toiling.
Home, be my guest and come back home.
Come, you'll be better off at home.
All the time someone is dying
Where he's dying next we don't know.
I sit in the sunset
Watching God's evening
Receding so gently now
Into the Westlands.
I think I'm at peace now
But of nothing am I certain
Only which way will the wind blow next time?
You, you might never have been saved
Ah, well, you might not have been so brave.
Time would have shown under the parting waves.
And now I know that nothing is what it ever seems.
I sit in the sunset
Watching God's evening
Receding so gently now
Into the Westlands.
I think I'm at peace now
But of nothing am I certain
Only which way will the wind blow next time?
Source: Anthony Phillips, The Geese and the Ghost, Passport
Mike Cross
Well early one morning the sun wouldn't shine
I was walking down the street, not feeling too fine
I saw two old men with a bottle between them
And this is the song I heard them singing.
Lord preserve us and protect us
We've been drinking whiskey 'fore breakfast
Well I stopped by the steps where they were setting
And I couldn't believe how drunk they were getting
I said, "Old men, you been drinking long?"
They said, "Long enough to start singing this song."
Well they passed me the bottle and said, "Take a little sip."
And it felt so good that I just couldn't quit.
So I drank a little more and next thing I knew
There were three of us sitting there singing this tune.
Well one by one everybody in the town
Heard all our ruckus and they all came down.
And pretty soon all the streets were ringing
With sound of the whole town laughing and singing.
Source: Mike Cross, Live and Kicking, Kicking Mule
Nigel Russell
Well, I rise up every morning at a quarter to eight
Some woman who's my wife tells me not to be late
I kiss the kids good-bye, I can't remember their names
And week after week, it's always the same
Chorus: And it's ho, boys, can't you code it, and program it right
Nothing ever happens in this life of mine
I'm hauling out the data on the Xerox line
Then it's code in the data, give the keyboard a punch
Then cross-correlate and break for some lunch
Correlate, tabulate, process, and screen
Program, printout, regress to the mean
Then it' home again, eat again, watch some TV
Make love to my woman at ten-fifty-three
I dream the same dream when I'm sleeping at night
I'm soaring over hills like an eagle in flight
Someday I'm gonna give up all the buttons and things
I'll punch that time clock 'til it can't ring
Burn up my necktie and set myself free
'Cause no one's gonna fold, bend or mutilate me
Source: Stan Rogers, Between the Breaks,Live, Fogarty's Cove
Chorus: Hail, Thor! Lord of Thunder,
Master of the Winds of the Western World!
Hail, Thor! Hammer-wielder
Lord of Lightning, Lord of Storms!
Bring the winds that bear the water
Master of the Winds of the Western World!
Call the cloud and all it utters
Lord of Lightning, Lord of Storms!
Fetch the flock of cloud sheep grazing
Master...
Lift the lash of lightning blazing
Lord...
Into your arms the waters gather
Whip the waters to raging lather
Draw the drops of the sky together
Break the back of burning whither
Join our joys of feast and singing
Set the sky with laughter ringing
Source: Chickasaw Mountain
Stan Rogers
Now it's just my luck to have the watch, with nothing left to do
But watch the deadly waters glide as we roll north to the 'Soo,
And wonder when they'll turn again and pitch us to the rail
And whirl off one more youngster in the gale.
The kid was so damn eager. It was all so big and new.
You never had to tell him twice of find him work to do
And evening on the mess deck he was always first to sing
And show us pictures of the girl he's wed in spring.
Chorus: But I told that kid a hundred times
"Don't take the lakes for granted
They go from calm to a hundred knots so fast they seem enchanted."
But tonight some red-eyed Wiarton girl lies staring at the wall
Her lover's gone into a white squall.
Now it's a thing that us old-timers know. In a sultry summer calm
There comes a blow from nowhere, and it goes off like a bomb.
And a fifteen thousand tonner can be thrown upon her beam
While the gale takes all before it in a scream.
The kid was on the hatches, lying staring at the sky
From where I stood I swear I could see tears fall from his eyes
So I hadn't the heart to tell him that he should be on a line
Even on a night so warm and fine.
When it struck, he sat up with a start; I roared to him. "Get down!"
But for all that he could hear, I could as well not made a sound
So, I clung there to the stanchions, and I felt my face go pale,
As he crawled hand over hand along the rail.
I could feel her heeling over with the fury of the blow.
I watched the rail go under then, so terrible and slow.
Then like some great dog she shook herself and roared upright again
Far overside I heard him call my name.
So it's just my luck to have the watch, with nothing left to do
But watch the deadly waters glide as we roll north to the 'Soo,
And wonder when they'll turn again and pitch us to the rail,
And whirl off one more youngster in the gale.
But I tell these kids a hundred times, "Don't take the lakes for granted.
They go from calm to a hundred knots so fast they seem enchanted."
But tonight some red-eyed Wiarton girl lies staring at the wall
And her lover's gone into a white squall.
Source: Stan Rogers, From Fresh Water, Cole Heather
Traditional
Chorus: Oh, Martin said to his man,
"Fie, man, Fie."
Martin said to his man,
"Who's the fool now?"
Oh, Martin said to his man,
"Fill now the cup and I the can.
Thou has well drunken man.
Who's the fool now?"
I saw the man in the moon
Closing up St. Peter's shoon
I saw a hare chase a hound
Twenty miles above the ground
I saw a mouse chase a cat
I saw a cheese eat a rat
I saw a maid milk a bull
Every stroke a bucket full
I saw a cart draw a horse
But the horse was drunk, of course
I saw a wolf that could sing
I saw a rabbit crowned a king
Make up versus as the whim strikes
Source: Tim Hart and Maddy Prior, Songs of Old England
Chorus: The wild geese are flying out on a bright wind
And never again will their song fill our sky.
They've taken their magic and grace from our ceiling
And followed to the dark in their eyes.
The wild gypsy gazed in the thousand sad cities
For takes of a chance to fly from their tears.
Out on a sunbreeze in a dark banshee wailing
A journey of more than a hundred light years.
The wild gypsy gazed like some star haunted pilgrim
By ones and by twos they all flew to the scene
They knew they would fly to the last if they had to
That every dark hunger might somehow be healed.
And though they were strangers they shared a wild dreaming
A meaning that first time they knew had a plan.
Without any warning, by some magic signal
They captured the ship that would see the stars dance.
And out on the sun wind they flew in their rapture
With never a thought to the world left behind
The poets, the singers, the dreamers the mystics
The ones who could see among so many blind.
And every gosling they birthed on the starship
Was heir to the wild streak that drove them all on
And still the dark dream and the wild banshee wailing
Would haunt all their sleep and at night without dawn.
Somewhere between the gold star that they came from
And one more unseen at the end of their flight
They lost their last yearning for somewhere to settle
And chased the wild wing across the dark night.
The wild geese are flying on sun-colored feather
In black velvet skies beyond galaxy shore
The wild geese with all our dreams in their pockets
Are wheeling away for ever more.
The King has been a prisoner
And a prisoner long in Spain
And Willie of Winsbury
Has lain with his daughter at home.
"What ails you, what ails you my daughter Janet?
Why you look so pale and wan.
O have you had any saucy cares
Or yet been sleeping with a man?"
"I have not had any saucy cares
Nor yet been sleeping with a man.
It is for you my father dear
Abiding so long in Spain."
"Cast off your berry-brown gown
And stand naked upon the stone
That I may know you by your shame
If you be a maiden or no."
And she's cast off her berry-brown gown
She stood naked upon the stone.
Her apron was lowered, her haunches were round
Her face was pale and wan.
"Who was it with a lord or duke or night?
Or a man of gallant mien?
Or was it with one of my serving men
That's lately come out of Spain?"
"No it wasn't with a lord or duke or night
Nor a man of gallant mien
But it was with Willie of Winsbury.
I could abide no longer alone."
And the King has called all his men up
By thirty and by three.
Said, "Fetch me this Willie of Winsbury
Or hanged he shall be."
But when we came the King before
He was clad all in red silk.
His hair was like the strands of gold
His skin was as white as milk.
"And it is no wonder," said the King
"That my daughter's love you did win.
For if I was a woman as I am a man
My bedfellow you would have been."
"And will you marry my daughter Janet
By the truth of your right hand?
Oh will you marry my daughter Janet?
I will make you a lord of my land."
"Oh yes I will marry your daughter Janet
By the truth of my right hand.
Oh yes I will marry your daughter Janet
But I'll not be the lord of your land."
And he's mounted her on a milk-white steed
And himself on a dapple gray.
He has made her the lady of Asmarch land
And she shall ride on a long summer's day.
Heather Alexander
Chorus: Winds' four quarters, air and fire
Earth and water hear my desire
Grant my plea who stands alone
Maiden, Warrior, Mother and Crone
Easter Wind blow clear, blow clean
Cleanse my body of its pain
Cleanse my mind of what I've seen
Cleanse my honor of its stain
Maid whose love has never ceased
Bring me healing from the East.
Southern Wind blow hot, blow hard
Fan my courage to a flame
Southern Wind be guide and guard
Add your bravery to my name
Let my will and yours be twin,
Warrior of the Souther Wind.
Western Wind blow stiff, blow strong
Grant me arm and mind of steel
On a road both hard and long
Mother hear my where I kneel
Let no weakness on my quest
Hear me Wind of the West.
Northern Wind blow cruel, blow cold
Sheath my aching heart in ice
All around my soul enfold
Crone I need not call you twice
To my foes bring cold of death
Chill me North Wind's frozen breath.
Editor's note: Do not sing this one lightly! And remember: Be careful what you ask for!
Source: Mercedes Lackey, Magic, Moondust & Melancholy, Firebird A&M
Blood red skies in the morning, pitch black heavens every night.
Take them both as a warning that the winter fire need be bright.
Fierce the blaze on the mountain, sheds its light for miles around
While the stream and the fountain are frozen and locked in the ground.
Chorus: Now the leprous white lady leads her train of the lost
Meets the spirits through flame and wood and goodly fields of frost.
Summer's consort shine brightly the tall and golden haired prince
And she came to him nightly with pomegranate and quince.
Dead and gone is her lover, the most fair and radiant of all
Now she'll never recover the king cut down in the fall.
While the climbing sun tarries as if his marches were stayed
That wet summer they marry, mortal man and immortal maid.
Has the king ever reckoned what he gives for the royal crown
To be god but a second ere the sun starts its course ever down.
Through the summer and after, in the sere and brown of the fall
Days would fill with their laughter and nights with their echoing call.
But as autumn leaves smoulder and the smoke slowly drifts in the air
So the young king grew older and withered and died in despair.
Nine white maidens attend her where she treads without leaving spoor
As she speaks her defender who will take the ground once more.
By the light of the beacon you can see her pass through the ring
She'll not weary nor weaken 'til she finds the winter-tide king.
Source: Gwydion Sings with the California Wicca Blues Band, Songs for the Old Religion
For the winter it is passed and the summer's come at last
And the small birds sing on every tree
Their little hearts are glad but mine is ever sad
Since my true love is far away from me.
The rose among the briar by the water running clear
Brings joy to the linnet and the bee
Their little hearts are blessed, but mine can know no rest
Since my true love is far away from me.
For my love is like the sun, in the firmament doth run
Forever constant and true
But hers is like the moon that wanders up and down
And every month it is new.
All you who are in love and cannot it remove
I pity the pain that you endure
For experience lets me know that your hearts are full of woe
And a woe that no mortal can cure.
Source: Archie Fisher, Off the Map, Snow Goose Records
Archie Fisher
Pale was the wounded knight
That bore the rowan shield.
Loud and cruel were the raven's cries
That feasted on the field, saying
"Beck water cold and clear
Will never clean the wound.
There's none but the witch of the winding mere
Can make ye hale and sound."
"So course well me brindled hounds
And fetch me the mountain hare
Whose coat is as grey as the waste water
Or as white as the lily fair," who said
"Green moss and heather bands
Will never staunch the flood.
There's none but the witch of the west mer-lands
Can save thy dear life's blood.
"So turn, turn your stallion's head
'Til his red mane flies in the wind
And the rider of the moon goes by
And the bright star falls behind."
And clear was the paley moon
When his shadow passed him by;
Below the hill was the brightest star
When he heard the owlet cry, saying
"Why do you ride this way
And wherefore came ye here?"
"I seek the witch of the west mer-lands
That dwells by the winding mere."
"Then fly free your good grey hawk
To gather the golden rod
And face your horse into the cloud
Above yon gay green wood."
And it's weary by Ullswater
And the misty brake fern way
'Til through the cleft of the Kirkstone Pass
The winding water lay.
He said, "Lie down, my brindled hound,
And rest my good grey hawk.
And thee, my steed, may graze thy fill
For I must dismount and walk.
"But come when you hear my horn
And answer quick my call
For I fear e'er the sun shall rise this morn
You will serve me best of all."
And down to the water's brim
He's borne the rowan shield
And the golden rod he has cast in
To see what the lake might yield.
And wet she rose from the lake
And fast and fleet went she
One half the form of a maiden fair
With a jet black mare's body.
And loud, long and shrill he blew
And his steed was by his side.
High over head his grey hawk flew
And swiftly he did ride, saying
"Course well, me brindled hounds
And fetch me the jet black mare.
Stoop and strike my good grey hawk
And bring me the maiden fair." She said
"Pray sheath thy silvery sword
Lay down the rowan shield,
For I see by the briny blood that flows
You've been wounded in the field."
And she stood in a gown of velvet blue
Bound 'round with a silver chain.
She's kissed his pale lips once and twice
And three times 'round again.
And she's bound his wound with the golden rod
Full fast in her arms he lay,
And he had risen hale and sound
With the sun high in the day. She said
"Ride with your brindled hounds at heel
And your good grey hawk in hand.
There's none can harm a knight what's lain
With the witch of the west mer-lands."
Source: Archie Fisher, A Man with a Rhyme, Folk Legacy
Now if you be my lady love and come and sit down near me
Then I will sing a dancing song so every one can hear me.
We'll drink the muses' wine so fine and eat the sacred bread
We'll dance the circle night and night and burn the candles red, oh
Chorus: Dance around the old black stone in a grove so shady
Kiss beneath the blood-red moon, protected by our Lady.
In a forest long ago our Lady took my hand
She led me to a temple bare and gave me her command.
"Go and find your mortal love, she awaits you daily
But she won't wait for ever more to dance the circle gaily."
Now that I have found you dear, oh won't you dance the penton.
The air is warm, the moon is clear, your love is what I'm bent on.
Dance the penton with me dear, the pentagram is waiting
My heart is beating faster dear at what your eyes are stating.
New serve the cauldron three times three and burn the incense nightly
For I have found the love at last that shook my passions brightly.
I'll dance with you around the grove, we'll dance until the dawn
And though the world is bright again our love will not be gone.
Gwydion Sings and the California Wicca Blues Band, Songs for the Old Religion
What's the use of wearing braces
Hats, or spats, or shoes with laces
Vest, or pants you buy in places
Down on Brompton Road?
What's the use of wearing cotton
Studs that always get forgotten
These affairs are simply rotten
Better far is woad!
Woad's the stuff to show men. WOAD!
Woad to scare your foemen.
Boil it to a brilliant blue and
Rub it on your legs and your abdomen.
Ancient britons never hit on
Anything as good as woad to fit on
Neck or knees or where you sit on
Tailors be you blowed.
Romans came across the Channel
All dressed up in tin and flannel
Half a pint of woad per man'll
Clothe us more than these.
Saxons you may save your stitches
Building beds for bugs in britches
We have woad to clothe us which is
Not a nest for fleas.
Romans keep your armors
Saxons your pajamas
Hairy coats were made for goats,
Gorillas, yaks, retriever dogs and llamas
March on, snowed on, with your woad on
Never mind if you get rained or snowed on
Never need a button sewed on
Bottoms up ! To woad.
Source: Oak, Ash and Thorn, Wild Oats, Of Centaur
Ashley Hutchins
Spoken:
The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power
And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave
Awaits alike for the inevitable hour.
The paths of glory but lead to the grave.
Sung:
The fleet was a floating forest
Spread before me on the Thames
And Greenwich bells saluted all her proud departing sons.
I stood upon the hillside with my spyglass misted o'er
And I turned to make my way to home once more.
Chorus: Oh to cross the line
And defy the tide forever.
To take the paths of happiness
And walk away the pain.
If for one last time
You could hold these hands together
Content to scale the heights of home again.
It's hard to lose your loved one
To a nation's grateful heart
For now you are a sweetheart and you never more to part.
Your virtue she may trade on and your life's loss she may be
But she'll not hold you half any more than I.
Last night I dreamed you lay with me
Your head upon my breast;
You had not thought of trading me for glory in the west.
The park was then our Eden and the stars a guileless game
We charted them until the comet came.
This land may want you for a hero she can call her very own
To glory of in ballads and do honour to in stone.
But I have no need of gratitude and grace and nothing more
I want my love beside me as before.
Source: The Albion Band, Light Shining, Albino
Clam Chowder
Chorus: For we are the worms of the earth against the lions of might.
All of our days we are tied to the land
While they hunt and they feast and they fight.
We give our crops and our homes and our land
And the clerics tell us this is right.
And they've beat us before, and they'll beat us again
But we'll drink from their helmets tonight.
My father worked on the land as did his father before him
Plowing and sowing by hand, harvesting what the land bore him.
He was killed by the robbers before I was ten
One stroke of the sword and then they were gone
While our lord strutted bravely atop his tall wall
And did nothing to hinder the slaughter.
Chorus
Our lord went away to the wars mounted atop a bold stallion
To fight for some noble cause with his knights there and henchmen to guard him.
Then we heard they'd been captured, both he and his men
And for that they raised our taxes again
For to pay the great ransom in gold and in gems
To get our lord back to rule us.
Chorus
This year there was a great drought, our crops were burned to the ground.
Not that our lord went without for his men took all that they found.
Then our lord came among us with some of his men
To announce that the taxes were raised yet again
So a few of us acted on our desperate plan
Now his body is meat for the crows.
Into the fire we stare, behind our poor barricade.
Too tired to feel the despair, knowing no-one will come to our aid.
For when that sun rises the knights all around
They will gather in force and they'll hunt us all down
And mount our heads proudly on pikes in the town
And our final tax will be paid.
For we are the worms of the earth against the lions of might.
All of our days we are tied to the land
While they hunt and they feast and they fight.
We give our crops and our homes and our land
And the clerics tell us this is right.
And they've beat us before
And they'll kill us tomorrow
But we'll drink from their helmets tonight!
Stan Rogers
We were drinking down to Ready's house when first we heard the blow
It seemed to come from Ripper Rock so boldy forth we go
And sure enough, a rusty tub could just be barely seen
As her stern was high up in the air we made out Athens Queen
Oh, the lovely Athens Queen.
Me boys, I must remind you, there's a bottle left inside
So let us go and have a few and wait until low tide
And if the sea's not claimed her when the glasses are licked clean
We will then set forth some dories, lads, and see what may be seen
On the lovely Athens Queen.
Some songs and old tall stories then came out to pass the time
Nor could a single bottle keep us all until low tide
And so it was before we left the house we were at sea
So I scarcely can remember how we made the Athens Queen
Oh, the lovely Athens Queen.
Oh the waves inside me belly were as high as those outside
And though I'm never seasick, I lost dinner overside
'Twas well there was no crew to save, for we'd have scared them green
We could scarcely keep ourselves from falling off the Athens Queen
Oh, the lovely Athens Queen.
Well, Ready goes straight down below and comes up with a cow
"Hello," I said, "now what would you be wanting with that now?
You'll never take a cow home in a dory in such seas!"
"Well, me son," he says, "I've always fancied fresh cream in me tea
'Fore the lovely Athens Queen."
I headed for the galley, then, as I was rather dry
And glad I was to get there, for what should I espy
Oh what a shame it would have been for to lose it all at sea
Forty cases of the best Napolean brandy ever seen
On the lovely Athens Queen.
I loaded twenty cases, boys, then headed for the shore
Unloading them as quick as that and then pulled back for more
Smith was seen pulling for the shore but he could scarce be seen
Under near two hundred chickens and a leather couch of green
From the lovely Athens Queen.
Well, here's to good salvagers, likewise the Ripper Rock
And to Napoleon Brandy of which now we have much stock.
We eat a lot of chicken and sit on a couch of green
And we wait for Ripper Rock to claim another Athens Queen
Oh, the lovely Athens Queen.
Source: Stan Rogers, Fogarty's Cove, Fogarty's Cove
Yes they're real (No, they can't be)
Yes they are, I've seen them walking out beyond the wooded garden
Through the town and through the valley.
Yes they're real (No they can't be)
Yes they are, you are not hearing for I say I've seen them drinking
In the tavern at the road.
Steel and mail and gilded cross bow
Feather of the ancient wind bird
Wide as wonder, tall as starlight
Lords of earth and lords of fire
Like the love that they desire
Lords of earth and lords of fire
Like the love that they desire
Yes they're real (No they can't be)
Come with me and see what might be (I'm afraid) Oh you are childish
Nothing kills that does not know ye!
Come right now (No I fear thee)
Did I say that I would lead thee? (We have walked the farthest side
Out beyond the fire light)
Come right now (No I fear thee)
Come with me, for I will take you dancing now with all my brothers
I am real, and like the others
Yes they're real, no you told me
Yes, I said you should believe me, now we have you wrapped in darkness
Now we keep you never leaving
Trade your life for not believing!
Steel and mail and gilded cross bow
Feather of the ancient wind bird
Wide as wonder, tall as starlight
Lords of earth and lords of fire
Like the love that they desire
Lords of earth and lords of fire
Like the love that they desire!
Source: Mercedes Lackey
Bryan Bowers
Well I once was a Baptist
And on each Sunday morn
I'd be in church praying
As sure as you're born.
We'd sing there like angels
In that good harmony
But sin and salvation
Are no longer for me.
For now I'm a Buddhist
I chant my mantra each day
But I miss that hymn singing
In that good gospel way.
So I'll sing to old Buddha
And the wonders of Zen
We'll meet in Nirvana
Yes we'll be there then.
My old friends don't like me
Now I've shaved my head
They all talk about me
As if I were dead.
Now my good old Zen buddies
They like me okay
But I can't get them singing
More than one note a day.
As we sit here cross-legged
Eating brown rice and tea
We chant out our mantras
In four square harmony.
We don't sing of salvation
Or our heavenly home
In Zen gospel singing
It's just Om, Om, sweet Om.
Source: Brian Bowers, By Heart, Flying Fish Records
(THE DANCE THAT KILLED CALYPSO)
Lord Invader and the Penetrators
Chorus:
Way now!
Back to back, belly to belly
And I don't give a damn 'cause I done that already
Back to back, belly to belly
At the Zombie Jamboree!
Zombie Jamboree took place in a New York cemetery
Zombie Jamboree took place in Long Island cemetery.
Zombies from all parts of the island
Some of them great Calypsonians
Since the season it was carnival
They got together in a bacchanal.
One female zombie would not behave
She say she want me for her slave
In the one hand she's holding a bottle of wine
In the other she's pointing that she'll be mine.
Now believe me, folks, yes I had to run
The husband of a zombie ain't no fun
I said, "Oh , no my turtledove
That old bag of bones I cannot love."
Right then and there she raised her feet
"I'm going to get you now my sweet
Gonna make you call me sweetie-pie."
I said, "Oh no, get back, you lie!"
"I may be lying but will see
After you've kissed this dead zombie!"
"Now I've never seen such a horror in my life
Can you imagine me with a zombie wife?"
Source: Clam Chowder, Stewed