Category: songs

Adam Broome? 

 

Lullula arborea alaudidae Lullula [lusinea] alaudidae

There is a land I know right well Far beyond this ocean’s swell Where calling [loves] and plovers dwell And all is green and growing Where I’ll away before the day To walk the dewy footpath way In fields where scarlet poppies sway And gentle winds are blowing High above these wooded vales Through beech trees bent by autumn gales The sun arises like a grail For weather tides are flowing Chorus: There was a time when you were young Oh how soon that time was wrung Like summer leaves you’ve grown and gone Now winter skies are snowing By the churchyard wall you [rang] While flowers their blooms gone by No comfort for the tears I cry Greaving at your growing I’ve yet to find another place Where I feel the wind’s embrace It fills me with a loving grace And sets my mind to knowing Knowing that I feel you near In spirit and in memories dear Perchance I’ll turn and find you here When we were young and growing

 

 

trad 

 

Roud 1512, recorded by Cantwell Family 1964. Final verse rewritten by Alex Ellis

When I was a young man my father did say Summer`s a coming it’s time to make hay Now when hays been carted don’t you ever fail To drink gaffer`s health in a pint of good ale. Chorus Ale, ale, glorious ale Served up in pewter it tells it’s own tale Some folks likes radishes some curly kale But give I boiled parsnips and a great dish of taters And a lump of fatty bacon and a pint of good ale. Now take those teetotallers they drinks water neat. It must rot their gutses and give ’em damp feet. Now I always say that a man can’t grow stale On boiled beef and bacon and a pint of good ale. Our General Assembly, their pledge for to keep Except for our own rep they sit there and sleep Best send her a letter, phone call, or email Saying “bring down the price of a pint of good ale!”

 

 

trad 

 

Steeleye Span: TOPPOP: Steeleye Span – All Around My Hat

https://youtu.be/QUw59M8dTBg?si=ARKOqMCOZqBWA4o7

Chorus: All around my hat I will wear the green willow, All around my hat, for a twelve-month and a day. And if anyone should ask me the reason why I’m wearing it: It’s all for my true love who’s far, far away. Fare thee well, cold winter and fare thee well, cold frost, Nothing have I gained but my own true love I’ve lost. I’ll sing and I’ll be merry when occasion I do see; He’s a false deluding young man, let him go farewell he. The other night he brought me a fine diamond ring But he thought to have deprived me of a far better thing. But I being careful like lovers ought to be; He’s a false deluding young man, let him go farewell he Here’s a quarter pound of reasons, and a half a pound of sense, A small sprig of time and as much of prudence. You mix them all together and you will plainly see. He’s a false deluding young man, let him go farewell he.

 

 

Jess Arrowsmith 2018

 

Jess Arrowsmith solo: All the Salt in the Sea ‘Songs for a Long Night’ but the recording on the album of the same name by the Arrowsmith:Robb Trio has great harmonies from Ian Robb, though it is not available digitally.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcFMEevk7Ho

When we are gone from this place, a dim remembered face Can bind us all together, our mothers and our sons And every link in that chain, forged with love, blood and pain Can remind us all forever of where once we had begun Chorus All the salt in the sea cannot preserve me All the heat in the fire cannot bring my heart’s desire All the birds in the sky cannot teach me to fly But the love in my soul can keep me whole Now if we have purpose here, give up duty and fear Cherish family, cherish friends, our fathers and our daughters To each moment hold fast, as if each were your last And hope each day will end with embraces, smiles and laughter. When reasoned thought can’t explain untold suffering and pain Take solace in good company, our partners and our neighbours If we strive, do our best to fill their hearts with happiness Then our own soon full can be, and so reward our labours

 

 

Utah Phil 1999?

 

Roy Bailey: All Used Up

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHs_P2Pfx24

I spent my whole life making somebody rich I busted my ass for that son of a bitch He left me to die like a dog in a ditch And told me I’m all used up He used up my labor, he used up my time He plundered my body and squandered my mind Then he gave me a pension, some handouts and wine And told me I’m all used up My kids are in hock to a god you call Work Slaving their lives out for some other jerk And my youngest in ‘Frisco just made shipping-clerk He don’t know I’m all used up Some young people reach out for power and gold And they don’t have respect for anything old For pennies they’re bought, for promises sold Someday they’ll be used up They use up the oil, they use up the trees They use up the air and they use up the seas But how about you, friend, and how about me What’s left, when we’re all used up Outside my window the world passes by It gives me a handout, then spits in my eye And no one can tell me, ’cause no one knows why I’m still living, but I’m all used up Sometimes in a dream I sit by a tree My life is a book of how things used to be And the kids gather ’round and they listen to me They don’t think I’m all used up And there’s songs and there’s laughter and things I can do And all that I’ve learned I can give back to you And I’d give my last breath just to make it come true And to know I’m not all used up They use up the oil, they use up the trees They use up the air and they use up the seas But as long as I’m breathing they won’t use up me Don’t tell me I’m all used up

 

 

John Warner 1994

 

Warner says this basic story happened “frequently”. This particular group helped a rich explorer named Pawe? Strzelecki in 1840, and if not for the convicts and his Koori guide Charlie Tarra he would have died. They were later pardoned, likely with his assistance. Nancy Kerr & James Fagan: https://kerrfagan.bandcamp.com/track/andersons-coast and John Roberts John Roberts – Anderson’s Coast, 3/25/12 have slightly different harmonies on the “return to thee” line of the chorus but both are good.

Old Bass Strait roars like a great mill race And where are you, my Annie? And the same moon shines on this distant place As shone that night on my Annie’s face. Chorus And Annie dear, don’t wait for me, I fear I’ll never return to thee. There’s naught to do but endure my fate And watch the moon, the lonely moon, Light the breakers of wild Bass Strait. We stole a vessel and all her gearÿ And from Van Diemen’s north did steer Till Bass Strait’s wild waves, they wrecked us here. A mile inland as our path was laid We found a government stockade, Long, long deserted, but stoutly made. And somewhere’s west port Melbourne lies Through swamps infested with snakes and flies And the fool who walks there, the fool he dies. We hail no ships, though time it drags, For our chain gang roll and government rags, They mark us out as Van Diemen’s lags. We fled the lash and the chafing chain, We fled starvation and brutal pain, But here we are, and here remain.

 

 

Leon Rosselson 1974

 

Nancy Kerr: https://nancykerr.bandcamp.com/track/the-ant-and-the-grasshopper

https://nancykerr.bandcamp.com/track/the-ant-and-the-grasshopper

The ant and the grasshopper, everyone knows how the story goes, How the ant was diligent, never spent Anything lightly, laboured wisely, And gathered his store for tomorrow. As for the grasshopper, clad in the summer sunshine, Light as the wind on the broken water, His song he gave to the summer days, Singing, “Where the dance leads I’ll follow.” Then came a hard winter, nothing grew, and the cold wind blew, But the ant was safe and sound, underground. Carefully counting his pile around him, Dividing his time until tomorrow. Now see the grasshopper, blown by the north wind’s fury, Hungering for the easy summer, Comes to the ant and says, “My brother, give me bread, Now’s the dance that I must follow.” “Why did you waste the summer, summers don’t last forever, You’re just an idle beggar, you must pay the price, sacrifice. You wouldn’t need me, you took life easy – Take the punishment that follows.” Now see the grasshopper reel like a dry leaf falling, Weaving a dance that will last forever, Back goes the ant to his nest to work, to feed, to rest, For him there will always be tomorrow.

 

 

Jess Arrowsmith 2023

 

“The post-feminist trap for the woman who thinks she has to do everything. Self therapy via song writing perhaps?”

Melrose Quartet: https://melrosequartet.bandcamp.com/track/anthem-of-a-working-mum

https://melrosequartet.bandcamp.com/track/anthem-of-a-working-mum

When I was a little girl I knew that I could do it all Now that I’m a woman grown, I just want some time at home All my life is hurrying, worrying All my life is busy ’cause I just can’t let go When I was young and in my prime I’d read to while away the time Now the books stay on the shelf, the laundry doesn’t do itself I once had freedom every day to choose when I would rest and play Now my time’s not mine alone, a mother’s work is never done Stress and headaches sometimes hit, knock me back a little bit I’ve got to change before I break or kill myself with too much cake

 

 

Alex Sturbaum 2026

 

Alex Sturbaum: Anti-Compliance Anthem

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hpxhyza6tbQ

If you’re a clerk, lose that paper If it takes one day, take two If they ask you on the street about a person you meet That’s a person that you never knew If you’re a cook, burn that sandwich And if they call you, let it ring If they count on your work, it’s your duty to shirk And don’t help them with a single damn thing If they want it done fast do it slowly If they need it done slow, do it now Remember every hour they spend in your power They can’t spend on the streets of your town Well I know we take pride in our labor And we try to do our jobs the right way But I’m telling you true, the best work you can do Is wasting a fascist’s whole day If there’s any cause for a hold-up Any action you can take to take time Make OSHA compliance an act of defiance Read the rules and bring up every line Get lost on your way to the job site Get confused when instructions are clear Find excuses and ways, ’cause when it comes to delays Sometimes a day can be as good as a year Well I know that the fash are imposing They got the money and the courts and the guns But I can tell you, I’ve seen that the whole big machine Needs the likes of us to make it run So get out of your job in a hurry Overcome your despair and your fear Fellow workers unite, use your skills for the fight And start putting some sand in the gears

 

 

trad 

 

Nowell Sing We Clear: “The Watersons recorded Apple Tree Wassail in 1975 on For Pence and Spicy Ale. This blessing of fruit-bearing trees was common in the English counties of Devon and Somerset, firing gunpowder among the branches and putting a piece of toast on the roots, sometime around the New Year or Epiphany. Peter Kennedy notes that in many places in Somerset it took place on “old style” Epiphany, January 17.” Watersons: “A luck charm for the Devon and Somerset cider country. To be sung either at the orchardman’s door or in front of his trees. Epiphany (12 days after Christmas) was reckoned a good time for the ceremony. “Lilywhite pin” means “silver-bright pin”, again a reference to the finery thought proper for ceremonial occasions.”

Watersons: The Watersons – Apple Tree Wassail

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vh7JbVKwJjk

O lily-white lily, O lily-white pin Please to come down and let us come in Lily-white lily, O lily-white smock Please to come down and pull back the lock ÿChorus: ÿFor it’s our wassail, and a jolly wassail! ÿJoy come to our jolly wassail! ÿHow well they may bloom, how well they may bear ÿSo we may have apples and cider next year O master and mistress, O are you within? Please to come down and pull back the pin O master and mistress, it is our desire A good loaf and cheese, and a toast by the fire 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 Bridge: For the ringles and the jingles and the tenor of the song goes – merrily The ringles and the jingles and the tenor of the song goes – merrily Merrily, merrily The tenor of the song goes merrily ÿSpoken: ÿHatfuls, capfuls, three-bushel bagfuls, ÿLittle heaps under the stairs. ÿHip hip hip, hooray!