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1. |
Small Gold Ring
04:39
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The wind has come, catching the line
The tide is turning white
White as our bed, the day you set sail
And the mainsail when you died
Your father’s ship was laid with gold
And jewels from Mandalay
And all these riches held you down
And wrecked you in the bay
The sun was torn by falling mast
And turned the sea to flame
And I looked out for rescue boats
Boats that never came
And in my dreams the gold’s cast free
And lost, your life to save
But oh my love, those rubies made
A pretty kind of grave
The young men come, with dreams of gold
Their eyes are bright with plans
But all I seek Is one small gold ring
In the absence of your hand
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2. |
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My young love said to me:
“My mother won’t mind,
and my father won’t slight you
For your lack of kine”
And she went away from me
And this she did say:
It will not be long, love
Til our wedding day
She went away from me
And moved through the fair
And fondly I watched her
Move here, and move there
Then she went away homeward
With star awake
As the swan the evening
Moves over the lake
The people were saying
No two were e’er wed
But one had a sorrow
That never was said
And I smiled as she passed
with her goods and her gear
And that was the last
That I saw of my dear
Last night she came to me
My dead love came in
So softly she came that
Her feet made no din
And she laid her hand on me
And this she did say
It will not be long, love
Til our wedding day
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3. |
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Her family rolled in in ’79
(They’ve seen her walking on the river bed)
Lily-white girl from the Black Country
(Waters part to let her through)
And it don’t take much hindsight to see
(Behind the stream is running red)
Just what was on his mind
Part the earth to let him down
Throw down the stone to keep him under
Even so I shouldn’t wonder
If death is not the end
He caught her ‘neath the willow tree
(They’ve seen her walking in the pale moonlight)
Witnessed by the birds and the rolling tide
(Gates swing back to let her through)
Her last words preying on his mind
(God and the Devil on her side)
Nothing comes for free
Part the earth to let him down
Throw down the stone to keep him under
Even so I shouldn’t wonder
If death is not the end
Found him in the morning light
Secrets lost in hollow eyes
Just her footprints on the floor
And her perfume in the air…
Part the earth to let him down
Throw down the stone to keep him under
Even so I shouldn’t wonder
If death is not the end
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4. |
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When I was no but sweet sixteen
With beauty just a blooming-oh
It’s little, little did I think
At nineteen I’d been greeting-oh
Oh the ploughboy lads, they’re gay braw lads
But they’re false and they’re deceiving-oh
They’ll take your all, and gang awa
And leave their lasses grieving-oh
Oh I was fond of company
And gave the ploughboys freedom-oh
To kiss and clap me in the dark
When all my friends were sleeping-oh
Oh the ploughboy lads, they’re gay braw lads
But they’re false and they’re deceiving-oh
They’ll take your all, and gang awa
And leave their lasses grieving-oh
But if I had kent, what I now ken
And taken my mother’s bidding-oh
I wouldn’t be sitting by our fireside
Crying hush-a-bye my bairnie-oh
Oh the ploughboy lads, they’re gay braw lads
But they’re false and they’re deceiving-oh
They’ll take your all, and gang awa
And leave their lasses grieving-oh
So it’s hush-a-ba, for I’m your ma
But the Lord knows who’s your daddy-oh
So girls take care, and you beware
Of the ploughboys in the gloaming-oh
Oh the ploughboy lads, they’re gay braw lads
But they’re false and they’re deceiving-oh
They’ll take your all, and gang awa
And leave their lasses grieving-oh
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5. |
Brookmill Park
05:25
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He rises into life, breathing out, breathing in
Another soul been left behind, in Brookmill Park Fountain
He shakes the algae from his hair, feels the green against his skin
They can watch but they can’t know all the things he’s seen
He doesn’t know the way out
Doesn’t remember the way in
And one day they’ll find him floating
And trace the footsteps back in snow
There are perhaps worse ways to live
There are perhaps worse ways to go
The heron stands unmoved, as ruined shoes sink deeper in
While other men may pan for gold, in Brookmill Park he wades for tin
The signs talk proudly of renewal, while the leaves turn brown from green
And here beside the Ravensbourne, the trolley catch is wearing thin
“Council can’t leave things alone!”
Seems the last exception’s him
And one day they’ll find him floating
And trace the footsteps back in snow
There are perhaps worse ways to live
There are perhaps worse ways to go
The winter steals in slow, leaving just the cold and him
He sees the river flow below, wonders what it’s like within
His shelter rises from the bank, cardboard walls and wire and pins
Brighter scales flash and glow, beneath the ice, beneath the wind
He sends his prayer into the deep
Oh God, grant me fins
And so he goes
The water rises to meet him
And so he goes
The fishes welcome him home
All the things he never had
He won’t need them again
And one day they’ll find him floating
And trace the footsteps back in snow
There are perhaps worse ways to live
There are perhaps worse ways to go
And one day they’ll find him floating…
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6. |
Fear a Bhata
04:16
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Théid mé suas ar an chnoc is airde
Féach an bhfeic mé fear an bháta
An dtig thú anocht, nó an dtig thú amárach?
Nó muna dtig thú, idir is trua atá mé
A fhir an bháta, is na hóró eile
A fhir an bháta, is na hóró eile
A fhir an bháta, is na hóró eile
Mo shoraidh slán leat gach áit a dtéid thú
Tá mo chroíse briste, brúite,
Is tric na deoir a rith bho mo shúilean
An dtig thú inniú nó am bidh mé dúil leat
Nó an druid mé an doras le osna thuirseach?
A fhir an bháta, is na hóró eile
A fhir an bháta, is na hóró eile
A fhir an bháta, is na hóró eile
Mo shoraidh slán leat gach áit a dtéid thú
Thug mé gaol dhuit is chan fhéad mé athrú
Cha gaol bliana, is cha gaol ráithe
Acht gaol ó thoiseacht, nuair bhá mé mo pháiste
’s nach seasc a choíche mé gus chloigh an bás mé
A fhir an bháta, is na hóró eile
A fhir an bháta, is na hóró eile
A fhir an bháta, is na hóró eile
Mo shoraidh slán leat gach áit a dtéid thú
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7. |
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She heard him call from mortal shore
A place where they had met before
And in his eyes she plainly saw a luckless soul
She asked what deed must you perform
Or what is it you run from
Oh, Danilo
“The Prince will have an Easter coat,
sable fine and braided gold
And dead am I, for needlework I do not know
She took him in her snow white wings
And thought men died for such small things
Oh, Danilo
“I will sew your sable fur
With stitches fine as maidenhair
And all this if you’ll only swear to keep your word:
I ask you do not boast of me
And pique men’s curiosity”
Oh, Danilo
He gladly took her coat’s reward
To taverns where the vodka flowed
And washed away her every word like melting snow
He spoke of wings and golden thread
He spoke of feathers on the bed
Oh, Danilo
And every word grew wings and flew
And every hour the story grew
’Til every man believed he knew her to the bone
She woke at dawn and rose to find
A hundred men sitting outside
Oh, Danilo
She found him in the morning dew
And said “I asked one thing of you.
Even though I always knew we’d end alone”
Spread her wings and left behind
A luckless man beneath the sky
Oh, Danilo
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8. |
Down In Yon Forest
02:30
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Down in yon forest there stands a hall
The bells of paradise, I heard them ring
It’s covered all over with purple and pall
And I love my Lord Jesus, above anything
And in that hall there stands a bed
The bells of paradise, I heard them ring
Scarlet the coverlet over it spread
And I love my Lord Jesus, above anything
At the foot of that bed there grows a thorn
The bells of paradise, I heard them ring
It blooms, ere it blossoms the day he was born
And I love my Lord Jesus, above anything
And under that bed there runs a flood
The bells of paradise, I heard them ring
The half it runs water, the other runs blood
And I love my Lord Jesus, above anything
And over that hall the moon shines bright
The bells of paradise, I heard them ring
Denoting our saviour was born that night
And I love my Lord Jesus, above anything
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9. |
The Lagan Love
04:38
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Where Lagan stream sings lullaby
There blows a lily fair
The twilight gleam is in her eye
The night is on her hair
And like a lovesick leannan-sidhe
She has my heart in thrall
No life have I, nor liberty
For love is lord of all
And often when the beetle’s horn
Have lulled the eve to sleep
I steal unto her shieling lorn
And through the dooring peep
There on the cricket’s singing stone
She spreads the bog wood fire
And hums in sad soft undertone
The song of heart’s desire
Her welcome, like her love for me
Is from the heart within
Her warm kiss is felicity
That knows no shame or sin
And when I stir my foot to go
’Tis leaving love and light
To feel the wind of longing blow
From out the dark of night
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10. |
The Parting Glass
03:50
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Of all the money that e’er I had
I’ve spent it in good company
And all the harm that e’er I’ve done
Alas! It was to none but me
And all I’ve done for want of wit
To memory now, I can’t recall
So fill to me the Parting Glass
Goodnight and joy be with you all
Of all the comrades that e’er I had
They’re sorry for my going away
And all the sweethearts that e’er I had
They’d wish me one more day to stay
But since it falls unto my lot
That I should rise and you should not
I’ll gently rise, and I’ll softly call
Goodnight and joy be with you all
And man may drink and not be drunk
And a man may fight and not be slain
And a man may court a pretty girl
And perhaps be welcome back again
But since it has so ordered been
By a time to rise and a time to fall
Come fill to me the Parting Glass
Goodnight and joy be with you all
Come fill to me the Parting Glass
Goodnight and joy be with you all
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Lily Bentley London, UK
Folk singer, songwriter and Crystal Palatian
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