Category: songs

Nancy Kerr 2017

A celebration of the women, including her mother, who participated in the Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp where as many as 70,000 women protested the siting of U.S. nuclear missiles at the British air base in 1981-87. Written for protest song collaboration "Shake the Chains".

Chorus:
Farewell the fire, likewise the freeze
Farewell the ash upon the breeze
That carrion day we’ll chase away
When peace comes marching through the trees

As a child I always knew that on the wind some poison blew
That gathering clouds would be our shroud for a falling fire was coming
Upon barbed wire around the base our mothers twined our baby lace
They linked their arms like lovers’ charms to bind all life in common

Now tyrants stir our fear for greed and even fair men pay no heed
Behind the trees and below the seas, our rulers hoard their weapons
And it is no curse to now begin to see the bones beneath the skin
Don’t turn away from judgment day for another storm does threaten

Upon barbed wire around the base our mothers twined our baby lace
They linked their arms like lovers’ charms to bind all life in common
Now see them fly upon the air, my baby’s clothes, my lover’s hair
That carrion day I’ll bear away with the strength of many women 

Cindy Kallet 1989

Chorus:
Come on, get your oars and row, my darling
Come on, get your oars and row
We’ve got tide and the river rising
Come on, get your oars and row

Come up on your feet and walk, my baby
Rise up on your feet and walk
We’ve got arms reaching out to catch you
Haul up on those feet and walk

In the morning call my name, my darling
In the morning call my name
We grow old, young; we birth, we die
And somehow rearrange

Some live and change the world with grace
And a vision and a strength of mind
Some rise from trouble, some lend a hand
And some keep trying to find

Watch that little boy go a-walking, my lover
And watch him as he learns to run
Watch him as he rounds the corner out of sight
Then tumbling back in our arms he comes

When it’s time to say goodbye, my darling
When it’s time to say goodbye
We’ll live on in the old and the young ones
Dreaming down a quiet line 

Stan Rogers 

Where Patterson Creek’s muddy waters run down
Past the penny arcades, by the harbour downtown,
All the old Turtlebacks rust in the rain
Like they never will leave there again.
But leave there they will in the hours before dawn,
Slip out in the darkness without word or song;
For a few more years yet they will work while they can
To catch tiny fish for Japan.

No white fish or trout here, we leave them alone.
The inspectors raise hell if we take any home.
What kind of fisherman can’t eat his catch
Or call what he’s taken his own?
But the plant works three shifts now. There’s plenty of pay.
We ship seventeen tons of this garbage each day.
If we want to eat fish, then we’ll open a can,
And catch tiny fish for Japan.

In the Norfolk Hotel over far too much beer,
The old guys remember when the water ran clear.
No poisons with names that we can’t understand
And no tiny fish for Japan
So the days run together, each one is the same.
And it’s good that the smelt have no lovelier name.
It’s all just a job now, we’ll work while we can,
To catch tiny fish for Japan.
And we’ll catch tiny fish for Japan. 

Rónán Ó Snodaigh 1997

Kíla: https://klamusic3.bandcamp.com/track/tip-toe

Tip toe through Tireless peace
Come and go Leave your toys and sweets
If I had a place You could visit me
Read fairy tales, play Hide and go seek

Cliff faces are far too steep
Even though we try to Smile through our teeth
This surface is not so deep
Although we have our Secrets to keep

Tightropes are seldom Too weak
Say I’ve lost my shoes or I have cold feet
Say stranger how did we meet
And who will hear us When we start to speak

Our shadows are still Out on the street
My skin is still as White as a sheet
Our time is short and fleet
Empty pockets, trick or treat

We all need food to eat
Friend or foe we all go to sleep
Life away from home is Far from cheap
So look long now before you leap

So soldier please have a seat
You’re only alive while Your own heart beats
There will always be Wolves among the sheep
But what’s left of the Earth will be ploughed By the meek 

Graham Moore 1995

Alex Sturbaum: https://alexsturbaum.bandcamp.com/track/tom-paines-bones

As I roved out one evening by a river of discontent
I chanced to meet with old Tom Paine as running down the road he went.
He said, “I can’t stop right now child, King George is after me.
He’d have a rope around my throat and hang me on the Liberty Tree.”

Chorus (x2)
I will dance to Tom Paine’s bones, dance to Tom Paine’s bones
Dance in the oldest boots I own to the rhythm of Tom Paine’s bones

He said I only talked about freedom and justice for everyone
But since the very first word I spoke I’ve been looking down the barrel of a gun.
They say I preached revolution, let me say in my defense
That all I did wherever I went was to talk a lot of common sense

Old Tom Paine, he ran so fast, he left me standing still.
And there I was, a piece of paper in my hand, standing at the top of the hill.
And it said, “This is ‘The Age of Reason’, these are ‘The Rights of Man’.
Kick off religion and monarchy,” it was written there in Tom Paine’s plan.

Old Tom Paine, there he lies nobody laughs and nobody cries.
Where he’s gone or how he fares nobody knows-and nobody cares. 

David Francey 1999

David Francey: https://davidfrancey.bandcamp.com/track/torn-screen-door

Late summer day and my love and I went walking
Over hills and fields we walked, laughing and talking
Came across an old farmhouse standing broken and bare
It used to be someone’s home, now no one lives there

There’s a red barn standing held together with nails and dust
And a tired old Massey Harris, all wires and rust
Weeds overgrown in a garden sown with care
It used to be someone’s home, now no one lives there

And through the crack in the window pane
I hear the sound of the falling rain
Another farm being left run down
Another family moved into town

Chorus:
Had a life that they tried to save
But the banks took it all away
Hung a sign on a torn screen door:
“Nobody lives here no more”

They worked their fingers to the bone
Nothing left they can call their own
Packed it in under leaden skies
With just the wheat waving them goodbye

Emma Azelborn 2023

"My friend Penny Gale posted about learning to stay in the moment and be authentic about who you are, and letting things go which are outside your control. Amidst posts about coming out, discovering who you are at any stage of life, and general turmoil in the world, her post was a light of inspiration and hope for me. She ended with these words which evolved into the chorus of Toss the Bones: 'So toss the bones high. They'll fall where they fall. I'll shrug, and dance while they spin. That's all one can do.'"

Emma Azelborn: https://emmaazelborn.bandcamp.com/track/toss-the-bones

You’ve been afraid for far too long
So hidden away So scared of a change and what could go wrong

Chorus:
Toss the bones high
Be steady and small
And dance while they spin in the sky
They’ll fall where they fall

The truth will grow so hard to hide And every time
You build on the lies will eat you alive

Your stem could be cut, your leaves could wilt Discarded aside
So suddenly dry yet drowning in guilt

But roots could expand so solid and deep Your branches could grow
Supported by those whose hearts you keep

Whatever may come your strength will hold Stop hiding away
You’re ready for change, go out and be bold

Sarah Pirtle 1988?

Chorus:
And it’s hey ho hi, I want to touch the sky
I want to know what the wild goose knows and hear the crickets cry
And it’s hey ho hi, you’ll know it by and by
When you seek the sound and you follow the ground
and you feel the night come round

My father knows the name of every bird and every tree
As we hike he whistles back each birdsong to me
Once we followed deer tracks for half of a day
We found the deer and the deer stood still before it ran away

We build our fires carefully, they only need one match
We eat our food from the milkweed leaves and the blackberry patch
We like to camp in a special spot where the trees make a ring
We’re not afraid of the dark, we hear the darkness sing

When you camp you hear the crickets, then you hear the frogs
Those tiny little peepers from the swampy wet bogs
Once I heard a rustle and I got up to see
A raccoon with some berries running up a tree

And I teach my father how to walk across the stream
To watch the rocks that can tip you down, slippery moss green
How to find the steady ones you can hop across fast
And how to jump that final jump, safe into the grass 

trad 

On the 1951 recording of Jimmy McBeath, who shared the song with Alan Lomax and Hamish Henderson, Peter Hall wrote that it was attributed to a Besom Jimmy from the late 19th century.

Chorus:
Come aw ye tramps and hawker lads And gaitherers o blaw
That tramps this country roon’ and roon’ Come listen ane and aw
I’ll tell tae ye a rovin tale On sichts that I hae seen
Far up intae the snowy north And south by Gretna Green

I’ve seen the high Ben Nevis A-towerin tae the moon
I’ve been by Crieff and Callander And roon’ by bonnie Doon
And by the Nethy’s silvery tide And places ill tae ken
Far up intae the stormy north Lies Urquhart’s fairy glen

Oft hae I laucht untae maself When trudgin on the road
Wi a bag o blaw upon ma back Ma face as broun’s a toad
Wi lumps o cake and tattie scones And cheese and braxie ham
Nae thinkin where I’m comin fae Or where I’m goin tae gang

I’m happy in the summertime Beneath the bricht blue sky
Nae thinkin in the mornin At nicht where I’ve to lie
Barns or byres or onywhere Or oot among the hay
And if the weather does permit I’m happy every day

I’ve done my share o lumpin Wi the dockers on the Clyde
I’ve helped the Buckie trawlers Pou the herrin ower the side
I’ve helped tae build the mighty bridge That spans the Firth o Forth
And wi mony an Angus fermer’s rig I’ve plowed the bonnie earth

Loch Katrine and Loch Lomond Have aw been kent by me
The Dee, the Don, the Deveron That rushes tae the sea
Dunrobin Castle by the way I nearly had forgot
And aye, the rickle o cairn marks At the house o John o Groat

I’m often roon’ by Gallawa Or doun aboot Stranraer
My business leads me onywhere I travel near and far
I’ve got a rovin notion Thare’s nothin’ that I loss
And aw the days my daily fare And what’ll pay my doss

I think I’ll go tae Paddy’s land I’m makkin up ma mind
For Scotland’s greatly altered now I canna raise the wind
But I will trust in Providence If Providence proves true
And I will sing o Erin’s isle E’er I get back tae you 

Fred Smith 2020

Fred Smith: https://fredsmith2.bandcamp.com/track/trembling-sky

"When the Taliban took power in 1996, many Afghans held hopes that, for all the severity of their approach, they might at least bring some order to the country wracked by conflict and predatory warlordism. But the regime was harsh, banning all nonreligious social activities including films, music, kite flying and poetry (Afghans love poetry and will take great risks to travel to a poetry meet). These rules were enforced by summary beatings, sham trials and public executions. A result of this was a continuing flow of refugees out of Afghanistan. By mid-2001, an estimated 3.6 million Afghans were living outside their national borders". First verse supplemented by Alex Ellis.

For my homeland I am pining I will keep this letter rhyming,
They can decode, what is written in prose
It’s much different here in Sydney But we never fit in, did we?
We didn’t comply with the trembling sky.

So they tried me in my absence, When I heard about my sentence,
I had to smile, here in exile
For you know from your excursions If the truth has many versions
then what is a lie, to the trembling sky?

As our nation looked for heroes We both fell in with the weirdoes
All of our peers, artists and queers
As I recall we still were kissing, As our friends were going missing
Spit in the eye, of the trembling sky

If you are taken for correction, They will ask about connection.
Just play the game, slander my name
And don’t ask them for a reason, Or they’ll have you tried for treason
Never ask why of the trembling sky

As our countrymen all hardened, Esmat found me in my garden
Gave me the queue, time to slip through
So I hope you understand There was no time to touch your hand
When I had to fly from the trembling sky