Category: songs

Ewan MacColl 1966

 

Written for BBC documentary about construction of the Victoria Underground Line

Hares run free on the Wicklow mountains, Wild geese fly and foxes play; Sporting Wicklow boys are working, They’re driving a tunnel through the London clay. Chorus Up with the shields and jack it! Ram it! Driving a tunnel through the London clay. Lough Derg trout grow fat and lazy, Salmon sport in Cushla bay; Fishermen of Connemara Are driving a tunnel through the London clay. Below Armagh the wild ducks breeding, Wild fowl gather ’round Loch Rea, Sporting boys of Longford County Are driving a tunnel through the London clay. The curragh rots on the Achill Island, Tourists walk on the Newport quay; Mayo boys have all gone roving, They’re driving a tunnel through the London clay. Carlow girls are fine and handsome, All decked out so neat and gay; Carlow boys don’t come to court ’em Because, did you hear, I said they all were gay Down in the dark are the tunnel tigers Far from the sun and the light of day; Down in the land that the sea once buried, They’re driving a tunnel through the London clay.

 

 

Rosie Hodgson 2021

 

The Wilderness Yet: https://thewildernessyet.bandcamp.com/track/turn-the-year-round-2

https://thewildernessyet.bandcamp.com/track/turn-the-year-round-2

Chorus: Turn the year round, turn the year round, The old king is dead, a new king is crowned In ivy, in holly, in mistletoe berry and bough, The jewels of the greenwood through cruel winter abound, To turn the year, turn the year round! In comes I a flash and a glance, For if I must die I shall lead them a dance, When be you so merry men, As when you’re hunting the wren to… In comes I to brighten the dark, The thrush calling nigh from your sorrows depart What cannot be weathered When we sing together and start to… ? In comes I a song bright and bold, With red breasted coat for to keep out the cold Leave of your grieving The robin’s receiving old souls to…

 

 

Stan Rogers 1978

 

Stan Rogers: Turnaround

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-S5NWcSW1M

Bits and pieces, you offered of your life I didn’t think they meant a lot or said much for you And all the chances to follow didn’t make a lot of sense When stacked against the choices you made Chorus 1: For yours was the open road. The bitter song, the heavy load That I couldn’t share, though the offer was there. Every time you turned around Now it’s not like you made out to hang around Although? you know, I made some sounds to show that I cared. And when it looked like you heard the call, I didn’t say a lot although I could have said much more had I dared. And if I had followed a little ways because were friends You would have made me welcome out there. But we both know its just as well, ’cause some can go, But some are meant to stay behind, and its always that way. Chorus 2: And yours is the open road. The bitter song, the heavy load That I’ll never share, tho’ the offer’s still there Every time you turn around.

 

 

Dougie MacLean 

 

Dougie MacLean: Turning Away

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XG-Gxpa2tvA

Chorus: In darkness we do what we can In daylight we’re oblivion Our hearts so raw and clear Are turning away, turning away from here On the water we have walked like the fearless child What was fastened we’ve unlocked revealing wondrous wild And in search of confirmation we have jumped into the fire And scrambled with our burning feet through uncontrolled desire There’s a well upon the hill from our ancient past Where an age is standing still holding strong and fast And there’s those that try to tame it and to carve it into stone Ah but words cannot extinguish it however hard they’re thrown On Loch Etive they have worked with their Highland dreams By Kilcrennan they have nourished in the mountain streams And in searching for acceptance they had given it away Only the children of their children know the price they have to pay

 

 

Gordon Bok 1975

 

Bok writes: “One of the things that provoked this song was a letter last November from a friend who had had a very difficult year and was looking for the courage to keep on plowing into it. Those times, you lift your eyes unto the hills, as they say, but the hills of Northern New England in November can be about as much comfort as a cold crowbar. You have to look ahead a bit, then, and realize that all the hills and trees and flowers will still be there come Spring, usually more permanent that your troubles. And, if your courage occasionally fails, that’s ok too: nobody expects you to be as strong (or as old) as the land.”

When the deer has bedded down And the bear has gone to ground, And the Northern goose has wondered off To warmer bay and sound, It’s so easy in the cold to feel The darkness of the year And the heart is growing lonely For the morning. Chorus: Oh, my Joanie, don’t you know That the stars are swinging slow, And the seas are rolling easy As they did so long ago? If I had a thing to give you, I would tell you one more time That the world is always turning Toward the morning. Now October’s growing thin And November’s coming home; You’ll be thinking of the season And the sad things that you’ve see, And you hear that old wind walking, Hear him singing high and thin, You could swear he’s out there singing Of your sorrow. When the darkness falls around you And the Northwind comes to blow, And you hear him call your name out As he walks the brittle snow: That old wind don’t mean you trouble, He don’t care or even know, He’s just walking down the darkness Toward the morning. It’s a pity you don’t know What the little flowers know. They can’t face the cold November, They can’t take the wind and snow: They put their glories all behind them, Bow their heads and let it go, But you know they’ll be there shining In the morning. Now, my Joanie don’t you know That the days are rolling slow, And the winter’s walking easy, As he did so long ago? And, if that wind should come and ask you, “Why’s my Joanie weeping so?” Won’t you tell him that you’re weeping For the morning?

 

 

trad 

 

Archie Fisher recorded in 1976 on The Man With a Rhyme, where he wrote “Part of a longer and rather flowery song about the flight to Skye of Bonnie Prince Charlie after the Jacobite defeat at Culloden, when, disguised as an old woman, the Young Pretender and Flora MacDonald deceived the redcoat sentries. The air is also known as Planxty George Brabazon.”

Archie Fisher: Twa Bonnie Maidens

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPhttX1mV4w

There were twa bonnie maidens and three bonnie maidens Come over the Minch and come over the main Wi’ the wind for their way and the corrie for their hame They are dearly welcome to Skye again Chorus: Come along, come along, wi’ yer boatie and your song To my hi, bonnie maidens, my twa bonnie maids The nicht it is dark and the redcoat is gone And you’re dearly welcome to Skye again There is Flora, my honey, so neat and so bonnie And ane that is tall and handsome withall Put one for my queen and the other for my king And they’re dearly welcome to Skye again There’s a wind in the tree and a ship on the sea To my hi bonnie maidens, my twa bonnie maids By the sea mullet’s nest I will watch o’er the main And you’re dearly welcome to Skye again

 

 

trad 

 

The Watersons: Twanky-dillo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPIOS-Ehr-M

The life of a shepherd is a life of great care But my crook and dog Whitefoot I shall drive away fear Chorus Twanky dillo twanky dillo, twanky dillo, dillo, dillo, dillo And he played on his merry bagpipes made from the green willow Green willow, green willow, green willow, willow, willow, willow And he played on his merry bagpipes made from the green willow Well if ever my sheep go astray on the plain Why my little dog Whitefoot it’ll fetch em again Well if ever I meet with the old shepherd’s horse I shall cut off his tail clean up to his harness And if ever I meet with the old shepherd’s daughter I shall block up the hole where she do draw water

 

 

trad 

 

Archie Fisher recorded in 1976 on The Man With a Rhyme, where he wrote: “A song that puts very succinctly the penalties and shame incurred from the sowing of wild oats. Most versions, including this one, are from the Herd manuscripts.”

Archie Fisher: Upstairs and Downstairs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWs72LO9K-o

As I cam’ in by Fisherrow, Musselburgh was near me. I threw off my mussel pyock and courted wi’ my dearie. Chorus: Upstairs, downstairs, timmer stairs fears me; I thocht it wrang tae lie my lane when I’m sae near my dearie. Nao, had her apron bidden doon the kirk would ne’er a-ken’t it, But now the news gaes through the toon; I fear I canna mend it. And she maun tak’ the cutty stool, and I maun hae the pillar’, And that’s the way the poor folks dae, because they hae nae siller.

 

 

Alex Sturbaum 2017

 

Alex Sturbaum: https://alexsturbaum.bandcamp.com/track/union-pacific

https://alexsturbaum.bandcamp.com/track/union-pacific

When first unto this country I was twenty years of age Seeking for adventure and for glory I crossed the broad Atlantic, and upon the landing stage I vowed that there would be a life here for me Now I knew no life but farming and the shovel and the plow I did intend to leave so far behind me For my blood had poured on down into that hard and stony ground And I vowed no more that in the fields you’d find me In New York town the work was scarce and every door was barred And more poured through the harbor every morning My back was strong, my shoulders broad, my hands were rough and hard But tighter grew my belt with each new dawning So with my last Yankee dollar I took passage on a train And lit out west in search of better times I landed in Wyoming, where it’s first I heard the name Of Durant and the Union Pacific railroad line Chorus: And it’s bad luck to the barons and the bosses on the line ÿFor they’ll break a workman’s body and they’ll rob him of his time ÿThey’ll say the pay is decent, but I tell you boys, it’s true ÿYou can only break so many stones before the stones break you ÿYou can only break so many stones before the stones break youÿ Now the Union Pacific was to be a grand affair And stretch from California to Missouri There were hands aplenty needed, and they said the pay was fair And of it they spun such a lovely story Mr. Durant had a plan, they said, to build a great railway That would stretch from sea to sea across this land I hired on that morning and they sent me out that day With crowbar, pick, and shovel in my hands We drove the spikes and laid the rails and leveled out the ground With pick and hammer, dynamite, and all We slept in tents where cold winds blew with high and mournful sound And woke at dawn to hear the foreman’s call And then, one fateful morning when our payday came again Not a man received his thirty or his five There’s none of us will work for free among the railroad men And the word that spread all up and down the rails was “organize”ÿ We held a meeting in the camp and spoke of our demands Better wages, better hours, and the like We swore Durant would listen if together we could stand And if he didn’t, we would call a strike Next day we called the foreman and we told him then and there We would not work until we saw our pay The foreman he turned scarlet and began to curse and swear Then turned upon his heels and marched away That night we woke to thunder all around our canvas walls And all around were screams and rifle fire We saw the men in masks take aim and saw our workmates fall And screamed and ran as bodies piled higher We had built a railroad bridge a week or so before That stretched full fifty feet into the air Back to the bridge the leaders of our little strike they bore And without a trial hung the union organizers there We woke up in the morning to a sun of bloody red And counted six good men who’d rise no longer We cursed the name of Durant as we tended to our dead And buried them before the light grew stronger The foreman came back to us as the gloaming turned to day Said “boys, you’d best get back to work this time” We’d nowhere else to go and we would starve without our pay And with heavy hearts we went back on the lineÿ Now the years have passed with blood and sweat and I am nearly free For the golden spike tomorrow will be driven I’ll leave this cruel country and its farce of liberty And for my labor may I be forgiven For liberty and freedom they are notions grand and fine But many men who went out west to find them Lie buried underneath the Union Pacific line For no crime but speaking out against the tyrants who would bind themÿ

 

 

Jim Boyes 1993

 

Coope, Boyes, and Simpson: Coope Boyes & Simpson.”Unison in Harmony”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uoJyPBKHsU

Soaring skywards, leaping sideways Do or die words cleave the air Joy and laughter morning after Raise the rafters we don’t care If the roof’s beyond repair Sisters brothers to all others Let that be our guiding star Hearts on fire but no Messiah Hear the music from afar What we say is what we are Over hills and over valleys Over mountains over seas Nations shouting unto nations Until nations cease to be Unison in harmony