1. |
Northland
03:55
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Oh, I’d love to go a-roamin'
When the sun is coming up
Over fields and boglands
Where the turf is lyin' cut
And just to see the sunrise
Over Cushendun
Or to feel the teeth of winter
On Church Island
Frozen to the sun
Well, I'd like to walk on Rathlin
See the north wind in your hair
Or watch the boatman ferry island people to the fair
Or take the river pathway
And fishermen in wait
As night falls upon the meadows
Of the plateau
Climbing through the gate
Oh, Oh, Northland
Oh, Oh, Northland
Oh, I'd love to see the children
As they're playing by the door
And that special kind of welcome
As she shows you 'cross the floor
And the tea and soda farls
As they're laid out for you there
And you tell them of your travels
Nodding over
Slowly in the chair
Oh, I'd love to go a-roamin'
In the morning time
And see the neighbour woman
Hanging washing on the line
And talk of hay and cattle
To the glensmen in the bar
And idle half the day away
With Cathleen, now I wonder
How you are
Oh, Oh, Northland
Oh, Oh, Northland
Oh, Oh, Northland
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2. |
Mountain Road
03:59
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By a rough mountain road
There's just me and the sky
And a bird going by
That’s all that I want
And there's a horse going down
His fine shape blocks the sun
And he breaks to a run
That’s all that I need
And that’s all that I want
And that’s all that I need
Just open ground
As far as eyes can see
There's a girl running too
I can just hear her call
She wears a dark shawl
And that's all I can see
And she's bringing her steed
And she's calling to him
She turns in the wind
And that's all I can hear
And she rides him so well
Oh, and they break to a run
They're moving as one
And they never return
By a rough mountain road
There's just me and the sky
And a bird going by
And that’s all that I want
That’s all that I want
That’s all that I need
Just open ground
As far as eyes can see
By a rough mountain road
There's just me and the sky
And a bird going by
And that’s all that I want
That’s all that I want
That’s all that I need
Just open ground
As far as eyes can see
Just open ground
As far as eyes can see
Just open ground
As far as eyes can see
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3. |
Rebecca
03:16
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I hear you're living now on Laker Street
And you're living with a friend
Your aspirations now are all fulfilled
Your broken heart is on the mend
Oh Rebecca
I still have your books and pens
And the ring you gave to me
Oh Rebecca
I still love you just the same
Though you're a million miles from me
I know you're going in the straightest line
And your purpose crystal clear
He'll give you something that I never could
You know I'll always hold you near
Oh Rebecca
I still have your books and pens
And the ring you gave to me
Oh Rebecca
I still love you just the same
Though you're a million miles from me
I walk the roadway in the midnight hour
And when the sun is coming up
And that horizon that I never reached
It changed completely since you left
I know you're flying in the softest air
And there's springtime in your step
It's raining now against my window pane
I wish you all the best and yet
Oh Rebecca
I still have your books and pens
And the ring you gave to me
Oh Rebecca
I still love you just the same
Though you're a million miles from me
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4. |
Morning Star
04:13
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You're the Morning Star
The spark that’s in the darkest night
The south breeze that blows in
You're the window with the light
You're the river deep
That took me to the sea
You're the Morning Star to me, to me
And you’re the corner stone
There after all is said and done
The kiss that woke me up
And you made the long night gone
You're the open door
And the room that sheltered me
You're the Morning Star to me, to me
You're the one I need beside me
And you're the one I need to guide me
You're the Morning Star to me, to me
You're the smiling child
And you're the one that rang the bell
The sun that strikes the glass
And the wish that fills the well
You're the beacon light
Guiding me across the sea
You're the Morning Star to me, to me
Oh, you're the vital touch
Your finger holds the string in place
The bedrock in the ground
Terra firma dressed in lace
You're my fiddle first
That only you can be
You're the Morning Star to me, to me
You're the one I need beside me
And you're the one I need to guide me
You're the Morning Star to me, to me
You're the Morning Star
The one that sits there in the sky
And gives me confidence
Makes the grey clouds roll on by
You're the river deep
That took me to the sea
You're the Morning Star to me, to me, to me, to me
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5. |
Shortcut
03:57
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You leave the town, let lovers sleep
Down the alley, up the street
Cross the footpath where the wine ran out
Let stray dogs dream
You leave the concrete road behind
You take the path that might be kind
Vagabonds on the park bench sleep
And the milkman's song
Sunrise catching shades of green
Morning breaking over lane and stream
White mist clears as the sun comes up
It's morning time
Lush grass growing cannot wait
Wet feet climbing up the railway gate
Cross the river with the dragon fly
Now all the sun you take a shortcut home
And somebody says in a ween o'miles
I'm going to Larne and then Carlisle
Down to Dover and on to France
Do you want a lift by any chance
You say "Aye! Aye, OK! It's a nice day!"
You spend a year in Amsterdam
Playing whistle in a four-piece band
You meet a girl with Spanish eyes
She says she's yours
She held your eyes while you're keeping time
Until your worlds fell outta rhyme
You hitched a lift down to Ostend
Then England bound
You long for the craic as you read the map
In the all night cafe at the Watford Gap
As the morning dawns it's Gretna Green
And then the boat back
And somebody says now "Where you been?
Your face for a while I haven't seen"
And as I throw my bag in the back of his van
He reaches out and takes my hand
I say "Aye. I was just out, I was just out for a loaf of bread!”
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6. |
Lost to the World
03:29
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I walk Glentaisie, up Knocklayde
And lay in the shadows of the clouds
That moved across the hill
Lost in lark-song for miles and miles
And I watch the farmer in the field
And time suspended by the stream
And lay among the trees
In the wood of Coolaveely
Lost to the world
Lost to the world
Lost to the world
Lost to the world
And I took it easy with my love
Down the back roads to the bay
There we lay and watched
The ocean blue against the sand
Lost to the world
Lost to the world
I walk Glentaisie, up Knocklayde
Lay in the shadows of the clouds
That moved across the hill
Lost in lark-song for miles and miles
Lost to the world
Lost to the world
Lost to the world
Lost to the world
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7. |
Leave Me Here in Peace
01:48
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The Plough is at it's lowest in the North
Evening birds they scavage
Stubble fields beside a house
Inside there is a woman baking bread
The smell it drifts around the yard
And I've been a farmer
Most days of my life
On thirty acres of red soil
Here in below my feet
Just bury me out there below the tree
And leave me in this place in peace
Too soon the night-bird
Spreads its wings to fly
Where once I ran like silver water
Laughing down on stone
And turned the topsoil with an easy hand
And walked this laneway by the moon
And The Plough is at it's lowest in the North
Evening birds they scavage
Stubble fields beside a house
Inside there is a woman baking bread
The smell it drifts around the yard
Just leave me in this place in peace
Just leave me in this place in peace
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8. |
Serendipity
03:48
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Sweet serendipity
Sweet serendipity
It's in the tears of sunset
And it's in the morning rain
And it's in the conversation
With the child man up the lane
And it's coming off the humming
Of the lorry with the load
And it's dripping off the leaves
As they spatter on the road
Sweet serendipity
Sweet serendipity
It's in the waking moments
When you stretch your head from sleep
When you touch the stony circle
And the clay falls off your feet
And the bird that hits the window
When your heart is filled with pain
And it's caught between the door jamb
And the wave that hits the pier
And it’s sweet serendipity
Sweet serendipity
It’s caught between your daddy's shirt
And a Mahler symphony
And it could be when you lift a stone
And skim it on the sea
And it could be when you hear the grass
Growing after rain
When a chrysalis is opening
And you hear that song again
Sweet serendipity
Sweet serendipity
Sweet serendipity
Sweet serendipity
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9. |
Jody
03:59
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You close your windows to the sun
You say you don't need anyone
You don't want anything from me
And if I'd walk out you'd let me
Jody need your love so bad
Jody need your love so bad
Now all the morning magic's gone
I may as well be on my own
The coffee cups are filled apart
The day begins and falls apart
Jody need your love so bad
Jody need your love so bad
I pace the floor
When you are gone away
Stare the darkness ’til the light
I hear your footsteps
In the Autumn leaves
Hunger for your love each night
You close your windows to the sun
You say you don't need anyone
You don't want anything from me
And if I'd walk out you'd let me
Jody need your love so bad
Jody need your love so bad
Jody need your love so bad
Jody need your love so bad
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10. |
Ballyclose
03:18
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Now the shades of night are falling
And the Autumn leaves are cast
And the darkness of the long nights
Are approaching very fast
Soon the snows and winds of Winter
Will be blowin' through the trees
Soon the nights of tales and stories
While outside the barrels freeze
And another season comes and goes in Ballyclose
Through the spring-light of the morning
Trampin' as he sows the seeds
Following ’til shades of evening
Resting in the grass and reeds
From the first remembered Summer
Of the sleeping, buzzing warm
Lazy smells of hay from meadows
Drifting through the twilight farms
And another season comes and goes in Ballyclose
Now the shades of night are falling
And the Autumn leaves are cast
And the darkness of the long nights
Are approaching very fast
And another season comes and goes in Ballyclose
And another season comes and goes in Ballyclose
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11. |
Angeli
04:38
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When the midnight tolls it's hour away
And the darkness brings another day
I walk the dirty streets
Tryin’ to find some kind of peace
Tryin’ to get fortune to look my way
Oh, oh Angeli
Why are you always following me
Down every lonely avenue
It's you Angeli
Oh, it’s you Angeli
When the nightbird folds it's tender wings
The first light that the morning brings
I think of the music bright
That used to fill my every night
Now only blues songs in the rain
Oh, oh Angeli
Why are you always following me
Down every lonely avenue
It's you Angeli
Oh, it’s you Angeli
In my daylight hours alone
A lonely heart without a home
I walk the dirty streets
Tryin’ to find some kind of peace
Tryin' to get fortune to look my way
Oh, oh Angeli
Why are you always following me
Down every lonely avenue
It's you Angeli
Oh, it’s you Angeli
Oh, it’s you Angeli
Oh, it’s you Angeli
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12. |
Clare Song
03:20
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Will you come away with me?
And we'll go rovin'
In Clare the time is passing slowly
And down in Doolin
There's a fiddle playing
And will you come away with me?
Lying by the shore or stony mountain
With the great Atlantic swell
A heart is beating
There's people talking
Like there's no tomorrow
Will you come away with me?
And will you come away with me?
And we'll go rovin'
In Clare the time is passing slowly
Down in Doolin
There's a fiddle playing
Will you come away with me?
In Quilty or Kilkee there is no season
Nor a reason that you could not follow
No road's the right road
No way the true way
If you'll come to Clare with me
Will you come away with me?
And we'll go rovin’
In Clare the time is passing slowly
And down in Doolin
There's a fiddle playing
Will you come away with me?
And will you come away with me?
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13. |
Billy McCoy
05:14
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Billy McCoy was born to the land
Wasn't very much and it wasn't very grand
Shack on a hill with a few old sheds
And a stream that divided him
From his cousin Ben
From the time he could crawl
He worked every day
Just to survive was the only way
His hands grew hard
But his heart was kind
And they said that his face knew only
How to smile
And they said that he was straight as a die
Was Billy McCoy
In a few short years seen the old folks gone
Each young man had to walk alone
They say that Ben stayed in bed each day
While Billy, he was out there late
Just working away
When he walked down the street
Girls turned around
He was growing up to a handsome man
But cousin Ben, he carried a chip
And he was full of jealousy
For this relationship
And they said that he was mean and cruel
To Billy McCoy
So things went on for seven years
One man prospered and the other one failed
On the night of the fire Billy was found
But was it an accident?
Or maybe something else
Now people may talk and people may shout
And some might wonder
What the fuss is about
After all this time just let things lie
And there's nothing can be gained
From talking this way
And they said that he was straight as a die
Was Billy McCoy
Billy McCoy was born to the land
Wasn't very much and it wasn't very grand
Shack on a hill with a few old sheds
And a stream that divided him
From his cousin Ben
And they said that he was straight as a die
Was Billy McCoy
And they said all the young girls cried
For Billy McCoy
Just listen to all the young girls cry
For Billy McCoy
Just listen to all the young girls cry
For Billy McCoy
Just listen to all the young girls cry
For Billy McCoy
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14. |
Now the Waltz is Over
03:30
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Now I need to think things over
Now you're getting close to me
If I could lie, I'd try to do it
Just believe in me
Things like this are never easy
And we danced in perfect time
And now the waltz is over
Are you still a friend of mine?
And if you call to me I'll be there
And if you're ever feeling low
And if you're stuck with some old problem
Then I'll try to make it go
And I hope you'll understand this thing
It's the words I can't get right
Now the waltz is over
I'll just have to say goodnight
And if you're wondering why I'm leaving
And if you think there's someone else
Ah, there's nothing like that going on
I'm leaving with myself
And I wish there was something I could do
To make you laugh instead of cry
But now the waltz is over
And all that’s left to say goodbye
And now the waltz is over
And the music man is gone
The dance floor now is empty
And I'm standing here alone
And now the waltz is over
Are you still a friend of mine?
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Bob Speers Northern Ireland, UK
Bob Speers is a former recipient of the Northern Lights Award. This honour was for his contribution to artistic life in his beloved Co. Antrim. His crafts his songs with lyrics which have a deceptive simplicity. The resulting music is profound as well as poetic. ... more
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