Category: songs

trad

In South Australia I was born, (Heave away, haul away)
In South Australia round Cape Horn (We’re bound for South Australia)

Chorus:
Haul away, you rolling king, (Heave away, haul away)
Haul away, oh hear me sing, (We’re bound for South Australia)

As I walked out one morning fair, Twas there I met Miss Nancy Blair.

There only one thing grieves me mind, That’s leaving Nancy Blair behind.

O when I sail across the sea, My girl says she’d be true to me.

Oh, when we sail around Cape Horn, You’ll wish to God you’d never been born.

I wish I was on Australia strand, With a glass of whiskey in my hand.

 

 

trad 

Edith Gawler & Bennett Konesni

These words were composed by Spencer the Rover
Who traveled Great Britain and most parts of Wales
He had been so reduced, which caused great confusion
And that was the reason he went on the roam

In Yorkshire, near Rotherham, he had been on his rambles
Being weary of traveling, he sat down to rest
At the foot of yonder mountain there runs a clear fountain
With bread and cold water he himself did refresh

It tasted more sweeter than the gold he had wasted
More sweeter than honey and gave more content
But the thoughts of his babies, lamenting their father
Brought tears to his eyes which made him lament

The night fast approaching, to the woods he resorted
With woodbine and ivy his bed for to make
There he dreamt about sighing, lamenting and crying
Go home to your family and wandering forsake

On the fifth of November, I’ve a reason to remember
When first he arrived home to his family and wife
They stood so surprised, when first he arrived
To behold such a stranger once more in their sight

His children came around him with their prittle-prattling stories
With their prittle-prattling stories to drive care away
Now they are united, like birds of one feather
Like bees in one hive, contented they’ll be

So now he is a living in his cottage contented
With woodbine and roses growing all around his door
He’s as happy as those who have thousands of riches
Contented he’ll stay and go a rambling no more 

Lynz Morahn 2018

When we all stand together, then we grow our village stronger

We are stronger than we realize, we are stronger than we know

So stand together, love each other, sharing joys and sorrows

And we’ll grow our village stronger, this we know

(sing, dance, eat, laugh, stand, march, grieve, dream, rise up/rise)

Grace Petrie 2021

Grace Petrie: https://gracepetrie.bandcamp.com/track/storm-to-weather

Batten down the hatches love, the night is rolling in
The clouds are getting darker and you’re scared of what they’ll bring
And you are searching the horizon for some sign, some little spark
Of morning that will chase away the dark

Heavy was the winter, love, and what became of spring?
This demon came and got its claws in every little thing
Now there are miles and glass and distance that are keeping me apart
From the beating of your strong and steady heart

Chorus:
There’s a storm here to weather, the thunder’s coming near
Louder than ever and we don’t know where to steer
And though we can’t be together, no matter what my dear
I will love you forever and we will dance again next year (x2)

This world is unfamiliar now, it’s turned us all around
A sailboat in a hurricane and nothing’s bolted down
And whichever way you turn there is no sanctuary in sight
No path to some safe harbour in the night

But I am sailing right beside you, I am just out of arm’s length
Willing you remember you are wrought of iron strength
And I am hanging my tomorrows on the bones of yesterday
All I can do to make it through today 

trad 

The Teacups: https://haystackrecords.bandcamp.com/track/sugar-in-the-hold

Well, I wish I was in Mobile Bay
Screwing cotton all the day
But I’m stowing sugar in the hold below
Below, below, below

Chorus (x2)
Hey, ho, below, below
Stowing sugar in the hold below

The J. M White, she’s a new design
Stern to stem she’s mighty fine
She can beat any ship on the New Orleans Line
Stowing sugar in the hold below

Tell the mate we’ve got bad news
Can’t get no steam from the fire in the flue
The engineer he did bellow
Stowing sugar in the hold below

The captain’s on the quarter deck
Scratching away at his old neck
Heave the larboard lead and let her go
Stowing sugar in the hold below 

Lui Collins 1992

Lui Collins: https://luicollins.bandcamp.com/track/surrender

The ocean does not cry aloud when she is asked to leave
She does not fight the moon’s pull, the tugging on her sleeve
The time has come for parting, she’s only just arrived
Surrendering to the moon’s pull, the ocean stays alive.

The moon, it is her constant call, she rests not in one place
No claim on her the shore holds, it but reflects her face
A mirror to her visage, she knows herself in love
Thus looking outward finds herself – then comes the call from above

Chorus:
“Surrender,” the moon calls, “these boundaries are not your own
“Surrender,” the moon calls, “and I shall lead you home.”

The ocean does not question why she’s drawn from shore to shore
She does not ask the Heavens, “Then which do I love more?”
For she is not possessed by the west nor by the east
Her life is held in mystery, the secrets of the deep.

In deepest, darkest waters precious gems of life are born
In depths of secret longing the ocean births her own
The coral grows beneath the waves, the pearl is forged anew
As far below the surface ocean’s beauty reigneth true.

The ocean does not cry aloud when she is asked to leave
She does not fight the moon’s pull, the tugging on her sleeve
And trusting in the parting, and knowing self in love
Surrendering to the moon’s pull, the ocean stays alive. 

Alex Sturbaum 2020

"I wanted there to be more explicitly LGBTQ songs in the folk tradition (after all, we've always been around), and while reading Nathaniel Philbrick's "In the Heart of the Sea", it occurred to me that whaler's wives had to sometimes fall in love."

Alex Sturbaum: https://alexsturbaum.bandcamp.com/track/sweet-mary-starbuck

I married John Coffin just two years ago
And he’s a fine man, as all Nantucket knows
And he’s bound to make second mate, or so I hear
If the Charles brings home enough oil next year

At twenty a mother, at nineteen a bride
With a child on my knee and another inside
My heart it was broken, and swept out to sea
Where my sweet Mary found it and brought it to me

Chorus:
Sweet Mary Starbuck from Nantucket town
If she were the sea I would willingly drown
And her voice like a bell on a clear winter’s day
Sets my heart a-ringing and winging away

At meeting one morning she came to me there
With the Nantucket wind in her flyaway hair
Her hand, soft and certain, clasped mine in the lane
And I felt my heart shiver when she spoke my name

Her words came in whispers, in trembling lines
Her cheeks red as roses, her eyes all a-shine
Then she kissed me so gently, so soft and so sure
The world spun round once, and at once I was hers

On Nantucket our men go to hunt for the whale
And they live at the mercy of teeth, sea, and gale
But in town life goes on, and it goes on apace
With children, and letters, and Mary’s sweet face

So when John comes I’ll give him a kiss and a smile
And a good whaleman’s wife I will be for a while
And in time I’ll stand watching his sail fade at sea
Then go home where my true love lies waiting for me 

trad 

Widespread in Cornwall, popularized by Charlie Bate. Some overlap with a Thomas Arne operetta from 1761, but to a different tune. First published in 1857.

My sweetheart, come along, don’t you hear the fond song,
The sweet notes of the nightingale flow?
Don’t you hear the fond tale of the sweet nightingale

Chorus:
As she sings in the valley below. (x2)

My sweetheart, don’t fail, for I’ll carry your pail
All down to the valley below
You shall hear the fond tale of the sweet nightingale

Pray let me alone, I have hands of my own;
And about you, sir, nothing I know
I can hear the fond tale of the sweet nightingale

Pray sit yourself down with me on the ground,
On this bank where the primroses grow.
You shall hear the fond tale of the sweet nightingale

So she sat herself down with him on the ground,
On the bank where the primroses grow.
And they heard the fond tale of the sweet nightingale

This couple agreed to be married with speed
And soon to the church they did go.
Never more she’s afraid for to walk in the shade 

Nancy Kerr 2010

James Fagan hears an Americana feel in this song. Kerr always thinks of Emily Smith because of her recording of it.

Nancy Kerr & James Fagan: https://kerrfagan.bandcamp.com/track/sweet-peace

I’ll take wine, just a little in the evening
And I’ve been known for my bar room dancing
And I don’t care if you’re selling or you’re saving
I just want to know, where we go will we gather in peace

Certain souls they don’t care where you wander
They just want to know if you’re following Jesus
Well I can’t see right over those mountains
I just want to know, where we go will we gather in peace

Chorus:
Sweet peace, the seed that we cling to
Like a willow weeping, carry it home
Sweet peace, the song that we sing you
Like a river calling, carry it home

I can see that we’re heading for a harvest
While there’s a storm in the north and fire in the forest
Well I need friends, not the pennies in my pocket
I just want to know, where we go will we gather in peace

I can’t speak for my sons or my daughters
But wouldn’t they cry if they never saw summers
They won’t care about saints or sinners
They’ll just want to know, when we will gather in peace 

Pat Humphries 1990

The Amidons: https://amidonmusicpublishing.bandcamp.com/track/swimming-to-the-other-side

Chorus:
We are living ‘neath the great big dipper We are washed by the very same rain
We are swimming in this stream together Some in power and some in pain
We can worship this ground we walk on Cherishing the beings that we live beside
Loving spirits will live forever We’re all swimming to the other side

I am alone and I am searching Hungering for answers in my time
I am balanced at the brink of wisdom I’m impatient to receive a sign
I move forward with my senses open Imperfection, it be my crime
In humility I will listen We’re all swimming to the other side

On this journey through thoughts and feelings Binding intuition, my head, my heart
I am gathering the tools together I’m preparing to do my part
All of those who have come before me Band together and be my guide
Loving lessons that I will follow We’re all swimming to the other side

When we get there, we’ll discover All of the gifts we’ve been given to share
Have been with us since life’s beginning And we never noticed they were there
We can balance at the brink of wisdom Never recognizing that we’ve arrived
Loving spirits will live together We’re all swimming to the other side