1. |
The Drovers' Trail
03:49
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THE DROVERS' TRAIL
Woken to a frosted dawn
Mist in the valley then the mist is gone
Swirling dust and baking sun
Tightened skin as the day is done
Seems so near. Seems so near.
Still down the trail
With the wind and the hail
Moment’s rest in a tree’s embrace
Clattering hooves through a broken gate
Tired of mind. Tired of limb
Pray to the Lord then curse on Him
Seems so near. Seems so near.
Still down the trail
With the wind and the hail
Sun sets low and rain sets in
Heather moor, the howling wind,
Blanket with a purple hue
Autumn greets the winter’s cue
Seems so near. Seems so near.
Still down the trail
With the wind and the hail
Past the cairn at the crown of the hill
The final stretch. The final thrill
Speeding up and heading down
Stock to the market, bless this town
Seems so near. Seems so near.
Still down the trail
With the wind and the hail
Way down the trail
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2. |
Watergrove Farm
05:10
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WATERGROVE FARM
The world beneath is not seen now
Where cattle grazed and farmers ploughed,
The sweat and the labour of the weaving mills
The Church and the Orchard at the foot of the hills
These days it takes a drought to see
The lives once lived, the deserted streets
And the ghosts of workers, arm in arm
As they made for the fields at Watergrove Farm
“God Be With You Till We Meet Again”
Was the last rendition by the Wesleyans
Two hundred villagers were sent abroad
As the sluice gates opened for the valley to flood
The rising warm air from the coast
Darkens rainclouds from the west
That hurl their venom on the higher peaks
To gather in gullies, channels and creeks
And Higher Slack and Wardle streams
Pool their force for the water wheels
And to feed the land as the village sleeps
And cut their valleys deep
And Ramsden Road
And Bowers Row
Sheltered and sunk
Beneath the overflow
“God Be With You Till We Meet Again”
Was the last rendition by the Wesleyans
Two hundred villagers were sent abroad
As the sluice gates opened for the valley to flood
Mirror clouds on waters still
The sluices metering the spill
The pumping station hums its tune
Till sunset and the rising moon
These days it takes a drought to see
The lives once lived, the deserted streets
And the ghosts of workers, arm in arm
As they made for the fields at Watergrove Farm
“God Be With You Till We Meet Again”
Was the last rendition by the Wesleyans
Two hundred villagers were sent abroad
And the sluice gates opened for the valley to flood
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3. |
The Cart
03:03
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THE CART
Heard across the valley,
Echoes through the town
The rattle of his wheel rims
Drown the belfry down
Old grey mare with iron shoes
Blinkered in her view
Sixteen hands in quiet cruise
With her mullen bit to chew
Beside the brook and through the dell
Down the scarp, and up the hill
Through the ford and swollen ghyll
To take his load up to the mill
Crushing weight on every spoke
From heavy blocks of stone
Held by rein and wooden brake
As the grey mare drives along
Beside the brook and through the dell
Down the scarp, and up the hill
Through the ford and swollen ghyll
To take his load up to the mill
INSTRUMENTAL
Beside the brook and through the dell
Down the scarp, and up the hill
Through the ford and swollen ghyll
To take his load up to the mill
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4. |
Standing Stones
04:50
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STANDING STONES
Standing tall in winter’s chill
On the track from hill to hill
Breaking through the silent snow
Ever present, ever still
Softened by the rains of spring
Sentries’ stand for man and king
Watching over all we do
Everyone and everything
Beyond the Stones
That cast their shadows long
Where the sun may guide us
On a path that we may roam
Beyond the standing stones
Summer days and summer haze
Life goes on beneath their gaze
A timeless store of memories
Secure within their frames
Beyond the Stones
That cast their shadows long
Where the sun may guide us
On a path that we may roam
Beyond the standing stones
Towering the Autumn leaves
Sheltering heathers from the breeze
A brace between the land and sky
Marking time of centuries
Beyond the Stones
That cast their shadows long
Where the sun may guide us
On a path that we may roam
Beyond the standing stones
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5. |
Peat
03:19
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PEAT
The peaks and hollows of the blanket bog
Stratified above the High Peak rock
A source of fuel, a source of warmth
A source of solace, dusk to dawn
Those without a turbary
Risked ‘offence against the vert’
Those who paid for cutting rights
Found sunshine in the dirt.
But a century and fifty one
Of smog that churned from chimney stacks
In Northern towns of blackened stone
Choking under acrid fumes
That carried on the open breeze,
To fall as sulphurous rain
That bled into the blanket bogs
As it settled on the high terrain.
What is seen is understood
Is there for all to view
To feast their eyes and feed their ears
To bless their very souls
But what of eyes that fail to see
Of ears that fail to hear
What of hands that fail to touch
And the voice that fails to tell?
And so the scene seems not to change
Yet the land is starved of breath
As ecosystems run to fail
As soil breaks down and water fouls,
The fight for life intensifies
With every shower of rain,
And the suffering that lies beneath
Is out of sight and out of mind
Chorus
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6. |
Clouds
03:28
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CLOUDS
A place for sadness
A place for anxiety
A place for fear
A place for grief
Under a black sky
A place for great
A place for small
A place for nothing
A place for all
Under a grey sky
A place for angels
A place for peace
A place for spirit
A place for release
Under a white sky
A place for colour
A place for light
A place for day
A place for night
Under a pale sky
A place for calm
A place for truth
A place for me
A place for you
Under a Blue Sky
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7. |
Intermission
01:22
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Instrumental
© Lyrics and music to all songs copyright John Reed 2016. All Rights Reserved
All recordings © and ℗ ND4PRM 2016
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8. |
Guns
02:56
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GUNS
On a barren moor
In the wilderness
Where rolling land
Greets its guests
Men from cities, men from afar
Barbour coats and 4x4s
With their big guns
With their big guns
Marlborough made
Eton broke
Stalking caps
Beating coats
Glorious Twelfth, on a shooting stick
Bag a brace or two for the sport of the rich
With their big guns
With their big guns
We won’t walk
In peace again
On Otterburn Moor
Or Salisbury Plain
Red flags fly, and sirens sound
Serving up fodder for foreign lands
With their big guns
With their big guns
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9. |
The Denied
04:21
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THE DENIED
The wild wind blows where trees once grew
Swooping down across the land
Dry stone boundaries divide and rule
For the ruin of many, and the benefit of few
War and commerce, need and greed
Food to grow and mouths to feed
Swathes of inhospitable earth
Turned to pasture for what its worth
Walls and dykes and pales plough through
Lynchetts, narrow rig and furrow
Trees cleared, saplings chewed,
Grazing stock on land accrued.
A right of way, a right of man
The right to graze on common land
A way of life that’s now passed on
From penniless man to penniless son
A legacy of bitterness
Of community divide
Of those who have, and those who strive
And those who’ve been denied
The poor and landless, marginalized
Driven from villages, stigmatised
Survive on waste and border land
To make a life, to fall or stand
Common fields erased by law
Assart strips beside the moor
A piecemeal patchwork on the edge
Its yield to fail, there left to beg
Factory workers built their homes
Cottages of rocks and stones
After a day of labour in the cotton mill
To till the soil as the shadows turn
A right of way, a right of man
The right to graze on common land
A way of life that’s now passed on
From penniless man to penniless son
A legacy of bitterness
Of community divide
Of those who have, and those who strive
And those who’ve been denied
And those who’ve been denied
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10. |
Blizzard
04:02
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BLIZZARD
Dark, oppressive, loaded skies
Life, goes to ground and hides
Quiet, before the howling winds
Shape, and batter everything
Trees, bent in violent twist
Stripped, of bark and torn of twigs
Branches, beckon to their lee
Fixed, through the shallow scree
Snow, with flakes the size of hands
Speed, on past in desperate flight
Gales, whistle, howl and moan
Stumps, of trees and walls of stone
Man, and livestock battle on
Ghosts, against a troubled sky
Seeking, refuge clinging on
One, side white and one side dry
Tracks, erased by deepening drifts
Shelter, in a distant hollow
Muted, sound from walls of snow
Drenched, with several miles to go
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11. |
Moorscape
07:25
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MOORSCAPE
Beyond the valley, beyond the fell
Sights to see but not to speak of…now
Beneath the clouds, beneath the sky
Sights to see but not to speak of…now
Shaped by folds of rock and time
Constant martyr to mankind
Now it’s for us to decide
Where its future lies
Fires burn, buzzards fly
Sights to see but not to speak of…now
Bitter cold, bracing wind
Sights to see but not to speak of…now
Shaped by folds of rock and time
Constant martyr to mankind
Now it’s for us to decide
Where its future lies
Distant storm clouds gathering
Sights to see but not to speak of…now
Weather systems whistle in
Sights to see but not to speak of…now
Shaped by folds of rock and time
Constant martyr to mankind
Now it’s for us to decide
Where its future lies
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12. |
Dim Blue Light
04:33
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DIM BLUE LIGHT
On a cold bleak day in a moorland gale
The maidservant ran to fetch the pail
The mistress of the house had sent the maid for the water
But the maid she was weak, and like a lamb to the slaughter
She dutifully made in the rain for the well
For a minute or an hour, the tale doesn’t tell
But for as long as the patience of the mistress on the day
Nobody knew. Nobody dared say.
The beating that came was dispatched without caution
And left the maid’s body in twist and contortion
A short time passed and the little maid died
Of murderous intent the mistress denied
See the dim blue light
In the cold of the night
At the foot of the rise
Where the maidservant she lies
She insisted she proved her innocence by ordeal
And was led towards the body to touch and to feel
Any blood from the wounds would indicate her guilt
And the gallows would beckon or the sword would be felt
As the mistress approached she begged water to drink
It was given by the hand of a conspirator we think
The giving of the water cancelled out the superstition
And the murderess was freed under a cloud of suspicion
See the dim blue light
In the cold of the night
At the foot of the rise
Where the maidservant she lies
The only recourse that the judge could entreat
Was for the maid’s restless spirit to visit every night
To trouble the mistress and prevent her from sleeping
To deliver the punishment in spite of her weeping
Deprived of her sleep and in an act of desperation
The mistress had a clergyman perform an exorcism
The little maid’s spirit was finally set to flight
And now appears on the hill as a dim blue light
See the dim blue light
In the cold of the night
At the foot of the rise
Where the maidservant she lies
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13. |
Night
02:59
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NIGHT
The hillside shades the setting sun
Fiery dance ignites the sky
Till shadow light and harvest moon
Twilight in the darkened room.
Silence fractured by a breeze,
Endless rippling of a stream,
Firewood crackling in the fire
A distant owl, an eerie cry.
A cockerel calls the breaking day
And waking larks rise through the grey
Weary bones and tired eyes
Back to work. It’s time to rise.
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14. |
The Farthest Point
05:09
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THE FARTHEST POINT
Sitting on the weathered stones
Cold and damp, chilled to the bone
Watching as a falcon flies
Distant in the sky
There won’t be any shelter here
On the moor throughout the year
Turning back or moving on
Seems better than to stay
So lay down,
Lay down and calm your soul
Slip away
For your story to be told
Sweetest dreams inside your head
A fire, a wash, a well-made bed
A change of clothes, a place of peace
Far from where you lie
The hours pass, you try to stand
A willing mind but your body’s done
Rising up to tumble down
To your final resting place
So lay down,
Lay down and calm your soul
Slip away
For your story to be told
Hours go by through blackened skies
The morning greets a passer by
Who lays your bones across his gig
To carry you back, where you lived
Tears of sadness, tears run dry
Your body lies, your spirit flies
For younger folk to take the reins,
The toil, the sweat, the pain
So lay down,
Lay down and calm your soul
Slip away
For your story to be told
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15. |
Resting Place
03:50
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RESTING PLACE
You will find my heart under a rock by a stile
You will find my spirit on the breeze
You will find my will on the brow of a hill
And you will find my love among the trees
We would meet at the kissing gates
In the shadow of the hill
I'd be gone for a month or two
So there we stood, silent, still
And I'd think of you along the track
Once on my way I daren't look back
To the place where I'd far rather be
With you in hand, beneath the tree
You will find my heart under a rock by a stile
You will find my spirit on the breeze
You will find my will on the brow of a hill
And you will find my love among the trees
And one day it could come to pass
That this hard life will breathe its last
But what we have will always be
From hill to valley, river to sea
You will find my heart under a rock by a stile
You will find my spirit on the breeze
You will find my will on the brow of a hill
And you will find my love among the trees
You will find my love among the trees
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John Reed Berwick Upon Tweed, UK
John is a Blackpool born singer-songwriter and radio show host whose songs cover themes of social injustice, environment,
politics, love, & life
Music is never more important than in difficult times. Therefore, all downloads on this site are provided on a "Pay What You Can Afford" (PWYCA) basis. Merchandise is available at the prices stated.
John is also 1/3 of nightsong.bandcamp.com
... more
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