LYRICS
DUCKS AND DRAKES
If you would find a sheltered reach that you could call your own
If all your ghosts are exorcised and every fear has flown
You go skimming on the water
Ducks and drakes across the stream
I was born in Wolverhampton back in nineteen-fifty-nine
The foundries took our fathers but they won’t touch me and mine
I go skimming on the water
Ducks and drakes across the stream
I saw the Berlin Wall go up, I watched it hammered down
I’ve seen the same injustices go round --- and round --- and round
So I’m skimming on the water
Ducks and drakes across the stream
I heard The Beatles growing up, I heard the King was dead
But music sold like muesli is not the music in my head
When I’m skimming on the water
Ducks and drakes across the stream
The time was, when a livelihood could come from honest toil
Now the crofters’ blood cries out to me from concrete-covered soil:
“You’re just skimming ducks and drakes across the stream”
So if you would find a sheltered reach that you could call your own
If all your ghosts are exorcised and every fear has flown
You go skimming on the water
Ducks and drakes across the stream.
~~~
Music :- traditional
Lyrics :- Cromford
ONLY SMILE
Only smile at the sound of my name
You can laugh, play me down
I’m still here, still unsure of the game
More than halfway underground
Looking back to the start of my trail
I was scared by so much
But no fear takes the wind from my sail
Like this living out of touch
Good things come to those who can wait
With their speeches pat
Standing too soon at the gate
Happy dreams visit you as you sleep
Wrapped up warm, speeding on
Skies have shrunk and the seas grow less deep
All I know is: this is The One
Good things come to those who can wait
With their speeches pat
Waiting too soon at the gate
Share a joke with the blokes from the ‘plane
Grab your case by and by
Only smile at the sound of your name
And remember: we won’t cry.
Yes, remember.
EACH DAY I TELL YOU
Each day I tell you -- in my own head --
The thoughts I should show you in sweet words instead
Each day I miss you, I lose a year
In worrying about you, my dear
Each day I tell you how we could be
If I were sure of you being sure about me
Each day I see you in my mind’s eye
And feel one more part of my old self die
Each night I get a little respite
But each night I wonder what you’re going through
And each day I tell you -- inside my mind --
That you are the grace I thought I’d never find
Each day I wish you everything good;
If you don’t know happiness, no-one should
Each night I get a little respite
But sleep tight is something I no longer do
'Cause each day I tell you, I’m breaking free
‘Cause I’ll tear my house down and step clear, you’ll see
Each day I love you, each day it grows
But how this will all work out, no-one knows;
How you and I will make out, heaven knows.
MORE LIKE CLAY (Doldrum No.1)
When the alarm-clock rang and found me waiting
I never felt more like clay.
Again I’ve walked through a shock of empty shouting;
It’s been another dead-weight day.
Sometimes the decades heap upon my temples;
I never felt more like clay.
What makes me think that I followed bad examples?
It’s been another dead-weight day;
I never felt more like clay.
My bridge is far behind your flow of water;
I never felt more like clay.
A shorter route linking places that don’t matter;
It’s been another dead-weight day.
Maybe my blood was stilled and I was buried;
I never felt more like clay.
Just as, compared to the memories I’ve carried
It’s been another dead-weight day;
I never felt more like clay.
I never felt more like clay.
LOW SUNDAY
Crouching in the darkness round the back of your house
I know you’re not at home, and you’ll miss me now;
It’s Low Sunday, and the joke’s worn thin
It seemed a strange arrangement, to be drinking your wine
When I don’t know your name and you never heard mine;
It’s Low Sunday, and the joke’s worn thin
Saturday’s an open-hearted pilgrim
Starry-eyed ‘til heavens disappear;
Low Sunday’s here.
They told me you’re the easiest good time to be found
But I just count the holes in your eiderdown;
It’s Low Sunday, and the joke’s worn thin
The more I came to look for you, the less you were there
And incense hides the absence of good clean air;
It’s Low Sunday, and the joke’s worn thin
Saturday’s an open-hearted pilgrim
Starry-eyed ‘til heavens disappear;
Low Sunday’s here.
The bird will have its seed, the dog has his bone
But it’s a cock-and-bull tale, your cover is blown;
It’s Low Sunday, and the joke’s worn thin
So I’m crouching in the darkness round the back of your house
I know you’re not at home, and you’ll lose me now
You’ll lose me now
Lose me now.
JACKDAW
Jack, you suit a sky of raincloud
Jackdaw, you make a stark stony upland look like home; you do the heartland proud
Jack, are you the envy of your kin?
Jackdaw, you’re just as dark but your blue-eyed soul cajoles the angels off their pin
Jack, there may be gold in these hills
Jackdaw, or does the sparkling river keep you thirsty as the bed it fills?
Hey Jack, bear in mind your reputation
Hey Jack, people are not always patient
Hey Jack, don’t you stoop to their temptation
By Jesu, if they seize you, you won’t be all right, Jack.
Jack, I’ve felt you on my shoulder
Jackdaw, don’t see the mark on my forehead and I’ll shade my eyes to meet your stare
Hey Jack, bear in mind your reputation
Hey Jack, people are not always patient
Hey Jack, don’t you stoop to their temptation
By Jesu, if they seize you, you won’t be all right, Jack.
Jack, you suit a sky of raincloud…
THE SPACE (BETWEEN TWO NOTIONS)
In their contented beds this midnight
Should any stir as I travel by
They’ll nestle deeper into their own heat
And rightly think: “Sooner you than I”
Because I’m flying like the nightjar
On the momentum of a prayer
These eyes are wider with the need to see
The lights of Her home from the air
Well, it’s the space between two notions
And as long as now ‘til doomsday
But it’s the road that takes me home
Because I’m driving like the night-mail
And hills of beacons light my way
I tell the darkness what She means to me
As I could never tell the day
Well, it’s the space between two notions
And as long as now ‘til doomsday
But it’s the road that takes me home
Because I’m riding like your nightmare
I pound the turnpikes into dust
And woe betide you if I ride you down
I’ll leave you trampled if I must
‘Cause it’s the space between two notions
And as long as now ‘til doomsday
But it’s the road that takes me home
Yes, it’s the space between two notions
And as long as now ‘til doomsday
But it’s the road that takes me home
Takes me home…. takes me home….
DEAR ENCHANTRESS
Have you heard the tweeting of the blackbirds in the pie?
Dear Enchantress, tell the old man, do
Crying out like human bairns who’ve never blinked an eye
Let them fly, there’s someone else for you.
Have you heard the whining of the piper at your door?
Dear Enchantress, tell the old man, do
Looking fit to swallow every coin dropped on your floor
Throw him more, there’s someone else for you.
Were you watching Caesar when they carved him like a goose?
Dear Enchantress, tell the old man, do
And when Cleopatra fell, did you try on her shoes?
Kick them loose, there’s someone else for you.
Do you see your tortoiseshell familiar on the prowl?
Dear Enchantress, tell the old man, do
Do you seek to please him, be his mood ever so foul?
Let him scowl, there’s someone else for you.
Do you speak with hedgehogs, visit squirrels in their drey?
Dear Enchantress, tell the old man, do
Do your cantrips foil the hounds and speed the hare away?
Let it play, there’s someone else for you
Wond’ring if enchantment can be worked the other way
And as I say, there’s someone else for you.
HOMEBIRD
You and I have talked a thousand times
With nervous laughter
Making love, we’ve put our world to rights
And I could cry now
Knowing all too well these are but dreams
Since this evil happened to me
And I see seasons pass as you rebuild your life
No glances my way
You believe these window-panes are blind
To your dismay, but
Wait: come near the glass, look for the signs
That this evil paralysed me.
Can’t you see?
I never left; I still live in this house
I never left; I’ve never been away.
I told you that all I have is yours
And that I would let loose
All Hell if it could smash the walls
We build between us;
Now I’d go through fire for you to spend
Just ten seconds gazing at me.
Can’t you see?
I never left; I still live in this house
I never left; I’ve never been away
I never left; I’m still inside this shell
I never left; I’ve never been away.
Please just see; see how I cloud the glass.
YOUR WORLD
There’s an overcast of nimbus
That will hide the lowest hill.
Many hikers are confounded when
Visibility is nil.
Though you might despair of shelter
Or of finding your way clear
Can you see the torch I shine for you?
Then you know your home is near.
Well, I can’t compare with Jesus
And I’d never be so bold
But you would honour me
If I could be the light of your world.
There are chasms in a lifetime
Never gilded by the sun.
Many people lose their way therein
And I guess that you are one.
Though there is a footpath upward
It’s a long and weary climb
But this summer sky will wait for you
And this day will take its time.
Well, I can’t compare with Jesus
And I’d never be so bold
But you would honour me
If I could be the light of your world.
No I can’t compare with Jesus
And I’d never be so bold
But you would honour me
If I could be the light of your world.
You would honour me
If I could be the light of your world.
PALE FORTY-NINER
Forty-niner, swaying by the road
Do you recollect what you are owed?
Gold-rush snowdrifts in your mind
Froze your heart and turned you blind
Forty-niner, where’s your motherlode?
Forty-niner, where’s your motherlode?
Forty-niner, can you use a friend
Now your line of credit nears its end?
Work your golden fillings loose
For to buy your bed and booze;
El Dorado’s just around the bend
El Dorado’s just around the bend.
Pale Forty-niner could find and lose a mountain
Pale Forty-niner
Whose pick was bust
Whose mule went lame
Whose tent was wrecked
Whose map went up in flame.
Forty-niner, looming in the glow
When the camp-fire tale is murmured low
Of your fever and despair;
And ‘though I’d swear I see you there
I believe you died long years ago
I believe you died long years ago.
Pale Forty-niner could find and lose a mountain
Pale Forty-niner
Whose pick was bust
Whose mule went lame
Whose tent was wrecked
Whose map went up in flame.
Forty-niner, swaying by the road…
GO WELL
This time I’ve straightened myself out
This time I know what I want to say
And you won’t need to walk me the rest of the way;
Go well.
I drew a bead on your target
I tried to see what you’re aiming for;
Now, at last, I admit I don’t like what I saw.
Go well.
Piety behind me, money on either side
Whatever’s out there waiting, I mean to enjoy the ride.
Some days I caught a few glimpses
Some days made up for the rest somehow
And they’re all that I want of your memory now;
Go well.
I know you tried to read me; you’re very badly read
But if I try explaining, I lose what’s in my head.
Some days I caught a few glimpses
Some days made up for the rest somehow
And they’re all that I want of your memory now;
Go well.
Go your ways, go in peace, don’t go crazy my friend;
Go well.