1. |
Born In A Blizzard
03:07
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I was born in a blizzard man baptised in the mighty river Humber man
Had my share of love and troubles mind and that old black dog is never far behind
He comes and he goes and he gives what he’s got his shadow running fast across my soul
But I turn me around and I smile in his face I was born in a blizzard don’t you know
I was living like a dog in a doorway so long always picking up the scraps with the strays
And I have been a lucky man held a treasure in my hand to only watch it slip away
They tumble and roll and they spin but it don’t matter any way I win
Cos the first thing I saw was the wind and the hail I was born and the blizzard howled and wailed
I have wondered at so many scenes but poisoned oceans haunt my dreams
So I rage and I wonder why the blind lead the blind for a poke in the eye
They come and they go all those crooked kings on broken thrones they’re jokers and they’re ghouls
But I’ve reached for the light ever since the day I was born in a blizzard with the blues
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2. |
Dead End Road Signs
04:04
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I drive an ’83 pick-up, shoot a 45, target practice on the dead end road sign
I’m a real loose cannon but I’m a real nice guy I’ve lived around here all my life
So did my dad and his papa too but the coal got them both when I was in my youth
I’d go into the mountains for weeks at a time I’ve lived around here all my life
I’d find arrowheads out on the high plain, howl to the night and dance in the rain
I could name constellations, I could see the light I was ready for war but I lost the fight
The greatest foe of all is time gone by I’ve lived around here all my life
Yeah, it’s real nice round here you can see for miles
But there’s nothing to do since they closed down the mine
So I’m killing time shooting dead end road signs
Well you see that bar over the street, I ain’t been in there now for over two weeks
I’m breaking the cycle, I’m weary and tired I’ve known all those folks a long time
We’ve lived around here all our lives
We’d find arrowheads out on the high plain howl to the night and pray to be sane
They were days full of magic under the sun, there was no situation when we would run
The greatest gift of all is time to come, then it’s gone like a bullet from a gun
So I’ll drink my likker from an old tin can, I don’t need no woman I’m a mean old man
I’ll have a good old time shooting dead end road signs
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3. |
Red Brick Ballads
03:47
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Take a walk down any street, there’s a never-ending melody
In major and the minor keys songs of hope and dreams
Wishes in the windows woes behind the doors, there’s a million stories to be told
You can hear those red brick ballads play
They echo through the alleyways like stories on the wind you’ve heard before
Lovers and the lonely ones hold on tight and sing along
And those red brick ballads whisper in the walls
It’s the music of the maisonettes, bedsits and the basements
Behind the walls of terraced streets there’s medicine and celebration
Everywhere, everyday, on and on that old refrain
Round the streets and houses you can hear all those red brick ballads play
I wrote a sad song yesterday so I wrote this one to celebrate
A melody to ease the pain, this melancholy I can’t shake
I sing that old familiar song, a crooked tune but life goes on
So I’ll write another one to stop the rain
And those red brick ballads keep on playing
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4. |
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Rolling and pitching and riding the waves, nerves like white lightning we’re hauling away
We’re the wild lads who bring in the catch and we’ll give a good blast when we come
And it’s one to the other you’ll hear them say “here come Jack with his three months pay”
Them Humber girls they’ll leave you poor, they’ll spend all your money in a week onshore
And the blackbird sang unto the crow, it’s time for us to roll and go
So drink your fill and pack your sack and say goodbye to your Grimsby lass
Them girls up the river know what it’s about
They’re wicked and willing and we’re bold and we’re stout
See us singing a shanty and acting the goat and we’ll give a good blast when we come
And it’s one to the other you’ll hear them say “here come Jack with his three months pay”
Them Humber girls they’ll leave you poor, they’ll spend all your money in a week onshore
And the blackbird sang unto the crow, it’s time for us to roll and go
So drink your fill and pack your sack and say goodbye to your Grimsby lass
In some other town there’s a wife or a lover and she waits for her man to come home
Ah but them lads up the river they’ll put it about
And they’ll give a good blast when they come
And it’s one to the other you’ll hear them say “here come Jack with his three months pay”
Them Humber girls they’ll leave you poor, they’ll spend all your money in a week onshore
And the blackbird sang unto the crow, it’s time for us to roll and go
So drink your fill and pack your sack and say goodbye to your Grimsby lass
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5. |
JJ Ride That Horse
04:21
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JJ ride that horse over range and meadow
Sleep tonight ‘neath the starry light, no need to lock the door
JJ with your three good dogs, keep the coyotes running
Getting by on nickels and dimes
She gets up when the sun is still asleep behind Black Mountain
You know round here there’s always jobs to do
Puts the coffee on the stove and looks out of the window
Pulls her boots and grabs her hat and jacket at the door
Says a bright good morning to the rooster in the yard
Sometimes the living here is hard, this landscape could tear you apart
JJ ride that horse over range and meadow
Sleep tonight by the campfire light, dream among the Columbine
JJ with your three good dogs, keep the coyotes running
Hear them cry in the canyon tonight
Every now and then she takes some folks to see the country
Ride the vale and sleep out on the trail
It goes to pay for living on the range, she likes it when they come and go away
So take your fly and reel and leave a note that you’ve gone fishing
River’s running good and you know just where to go
But you know it won’t be long till the fall has come and gone
Then it will be twenty-two below
JJ ride that horse over range and meadow
Sleep tonight ‘neath the starry light with the snow piled at your door
JJ stoke that fire and keep the boiler running
It’s ten feet deep down by the creek
JJ ride that horse over range and meadow
Sleep tonight ‘neath the starry light, no need to lock the door
JJ with your three good dogs, keep the coyotes running
Getting by on nickels and dimes
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6. |
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Come where the willows are weeping so green on the banks of the Don
Come where the moonbeams are sleeping, in beauty its bosom upon
For that is the spot for the lover to seek with the girl of his heart
Ere youth’s fairy daydreams are over and butterfly pleasures depart
Let those who have ceased plucking roses proclaim it a dangerous play
But what were the worth of the posies if each little thorn were away
‘Tis pain gives its value to pleasure, the absent are ever the dear
And even love’s smile is a treasure, most valued when seen through a tear
The sunset of summer’s delicious and precious the moon’s silver light
But sweeter the hour and more precious when two kindred spirits unite
And sweet is the tender confession of love though it be but a breath
But sweetest of all the possession of hearts only parted by death
Let those who have ceased plucking roses proclaim it a dangerous play
But what were the worth of the posies if each little thorn were away
‘Tis pain gives its value to pleasure, the absent are ever the dear
And even love’s smile is a treasure, most valued when seen through a tear
Then come where the willows are weeping so green on the banks of the Don
Come where the moonbeams are sleeping, in beauty its bosom upon
For that is the spot for the lover to seek with the girl of his heart
Ere youth’s fairy daydreams are over and butterfly pleasures depart
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7. |
Over & Over
04:03
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Over and over and over again you’re blowing my mind like a fly on the wind
Love is a thorn that’s buried so deep, how can it be so easy
This is a feeling that only we know, coming together under the rose
You fell from the stars into my soul taking my love so easy
I can see you can you see me burn
You’re the one who makes my whole world turn
She is dark she is free she is heavy to me, as high as a mountain as deep as the sea
Riding a mustang of platinum mane taking my love so easy
I can see her can she see me burn
She’s the one who makes my whole world turn
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8. |
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Walk with me in the moonlight love in the glooming and the gloam
All the jewels in the diamond sky I would give to you my love
I would give the moon to you, so bright tonight it shines
Walk with me in the moonlight love and tell me that you’re mine
Take my hand in the moonlight bright, let us pause a while
Celestial glow so mellow love, illuminates your smile
I can see the heavens reflected in your eyes
Walk with me in the moonlight love and tell me that you’re mine
Hold me close in the moonlight love in the quiet and the calm
A night and love as clear as this, your soft embrace, your tender kiss
I could dream the Milky Way away with you my love this night
Walk with me in the moonlight love and tell me that you’re mine
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9. |
Baltimore
05:48
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‘Twas the twentieth of June 1631
The summer sun lay soft on Carbery’s isles
The day was long and children’s song sweetly rose and fell on Irish tides
The sun went down behind my harbour town
The teardrop of Ireland never more would again we see or ever be free
For was that night the sack of Baltimore
The pirates came lead by Murat Rais by sabre took us all as slaves from Cork
“Allah” they yelled and in galley’s Hell we were chained and sailed from Baltimore
We were bound for Algiers and Hell’s own heat in the service of the cruel souks
The women for to lay with sultans and deys, the boys to bear the sheiks’ chibouk
Now some saw out their days chained to the oars as galley’s slaves
They lived and died in the belly of Hell
And some in caravans were lead to God’s own land
No mercy did they find in Mecca’s dells
Me, I laboured long for I was young and strong
And when that lash cut me sore I would think of Baltimore
Now old I am and a broken man often though I’ll think of those green fields
But the sun or the sword will bring death to my door I know I’ll end my days in old Algiers
But at my time of dying I will see those emerald shores
And these chains of a slave will fall away and I’ll return again to Baltimore
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10. |
White Owl Black Crow
03:06
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White owl black crow tapping on my window, he knows where the thunder rolls
The thistle and the sundown, pricked my finger on a Blackthorn
Never going home
Elemental feelings grow now I roam where no one knows but the white owl and the black crow
Black night white bones north star, new dawn
Fell in love with the siren’s song
I was a dead man walking with no love in my heart nor home
Now I hear my heartbeat and they follow me wherever I go
That white owl black crow
White owl black crow tapping on my window
White owl black crow
Now I’m wild and I’m wind blown with the devils and the angels in my soul
White ash and woad down the end of a dirt road and I’m lost in the deep and tangled rose
And the white owl and the black crow keep tapping on my window
They know where the thunder rolls
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11. |
London Pride
06:02
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It was mid afternoon last Thursday, with me gear I boarded at Broadway
I headed north on the line, twenty-one stops up to Archway
I bumped into Finbarr on Holloway Road, in the offy he were buying the beers
We walked round the corner to his house, in the kitchen I set up me gear
There was Oliver Mulligan already there so we joined him round at the table
We talked of the good and the bad times and people we’ve known on the way
Well one bottle it followed another and they got round to singing some songs
Oliver sang three beautiful airs and Finbarr sang two sweet and longing
Oh that London Pride was flowing, stories and songs they were too
And if ever I go back to Archway you know I’ll come drunk home to you
Well that ale it tasted like nectar and those melodies lifted me high
They made me think of you love and one brought a tear to Fin’s eye
They told of old Irish days as the sun it set over Archway
Then Oliver had to get going and he said he’d see us on Tuesday
So the two of us went to The Landseer, a pub in which Fin is well known
We yarned with a couple of locals about music and accents and football
So we rounded the night off with whisky and rum
And both did agree most definitely that the day without doubt had been splendid
And I slurred I’d see him on Tuesday
Well that whisky kicked in up the Holloway Road and I caught the last tube out of Archway
But somewhere near Bank it’s nowt but a blank, a right state I looked I suppose
Twenty-four stops in me slumber I dreamt I was in California
When I was rudely awoken by Underground staff
“It’s the end of the line, this is Morden”
So I staggered me way out the station and I fell in the back of a taxi
I give him some general directions, next thing I knew I was in Mitcham
And there you were to greet me as I fumbled me key in the door
I danced round the room and fell over, well this I can vaguely remember
And you told me that you loved me as you covered me up on the floor
And this old noggin was spinning and this is the song I was singing
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12. |
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13. |
Colorado Days
05:40
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Rolling out of Leadville the rain was hitting hard
Blinded by the headlights on Highway 24
The road it shone like silver and a song from long ago came to mind
And I sang Heart of Gold
Then the sun it hit the mountain and took my breath away
Shadows in the canyon, the rolling hills and plains
I stopped to write these words down beside the railroad line
And I saw a big bird circle in the blackened sky
Western winds blow me back, back like dust across the range
Miles and miles from anywhere back to Colorado Days
I left you in the morning the pain was hitting hard
Another days’ horizon, another brand new start
The road it rolled like thunder long and far from you
As the memories in the mirror faded out of view
Some places they will pull you, make you never want to leave
Make you push your car into the river and throw away the keys
Fire on the mountain at the ending of the day
Peace in my mind and good old country ways
Western winds blow me back, back like dust across the range
Miles and miles from anywhere back to Colorado Days
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Stuart Forester Scotland, UK
Stuart Forester is an English acoustic roots songwriter in the folk tradition who has quite some stories to tell. Born in Cumbria but raised from a a few months old until the age of three in trailer homes in Canada he grew up in Hull, East Yorkshire and then spent many years in London. He now lives in rural Aberdeenshire, Scotland where his latest album The Good Earth was recorded. ... more
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