Folk Songs written and sung in North Yorkshire
From the CD "Afterwards" 2003
Dancing on Sinking Sand
I watch the sunrise
Burning on the ocean,
The dolphin curve of the waves.
I watch your face
Staring out of the window,
And I am dancing, dancing, dancing
On sinking sand.
How can you expect,
Long hours not to change us?
How do you know
What the next day will bring?
With lashing rain,
And radiant sunshine,
I’m dancing, dancing, dancing
On sinking sand.
How can you think,
That minutes are worth nothing?
How can you tell what the
Right time will be.
When storms are raging in torrents about us
I’m dancing, dancing, dancing
On sinking sand.
2003
Listen to me
Hey you,
Just right now,
I’m not going to give you,
Any consideration.
Hey you,
Here and now,
It’s me and my life,
Taking precedent.
‘Cos I’ve given you my love,
And I’ve given you my heart,
'Cos I've spent my time,
Finding you out.
‘Cos I’ve given you my faith,
And you’ve consumed all my strength,
‘Cos I’ve lost my joy -
Finding you out.
Hey you,
Listen to me,
I’m not going to waste,
One more minute of my time.
Hey you,
Fascinating as it is,
You’re problems don’t count,
Anymore, anymore.
‘Cos I’ve given you my love…
Hey you,
It’s my turn to talk,
I’m not going to say this,
More than once.
Hey you,
Are you listening to me now,
Your last chance has gone,
You’re going right now.
‘Cos I’ve given you my love...
2003
Throw Away
Thought I saw your reflection
In a window yesterday.
Turned around, but you had gone,
Wondered if you’d run away.
Glimpsed a back that looked like yours
And a head turned to the side.
Talking, laughing with a silhouette
Of a woman by your side.
Eyes meet eyes and
Life meets life.
Just to throw away.
Time and time
It’s passing shows.
Just to throw away.
Thought I saw you in her arms
But I didn’t like to stare.
Eyes were locked,
Your lips were close,
Fingers playing in her hair.
Smashed up hearts
All torn apart,
Say that life has just begun.
Fallen angel,
Damaged star,
And a hope far fetched, far flung.
Eyes meet eyes and
Life meets life.
Just to throw away.
Time and time
It’s passing shows.
Just to throw away
2003
Flames on the Water
Flames on the water,
Fire in the sand,
A bonfire’s burning in
No man’s land.
Light on the hilltop,
And rain in my hand,
Fear is raging –
And the night is all you find.
Fine - you left me,
Blown by the wind.
Icy cold fingers,
Chilled to the skin.
No understanding
of what you have done.
But I know,
That the fire has just begun.
Can you see
The flames inside me?
Can you feel
The heat that I feel?
Can you breathe
The fire that I breathe?
Can you give me
The warmth that I need?
A face in the water,
Staring at me.
My own reflection,
Floating free.
I am a stranger
In my own skin.
And the ebbing tide,
And the spirit’s wearing thin.
Perfect in beauty and
Empty in love.
I’d give my life
For one look from you.
So right, and so wrong,
Can you see, can you see, can you see…
Flames on the water,
Fire in the sand,
A bonfire’s burning in
No man’s land.
Light on the hilltop,
And rain in my hand,
Fear is raging –
And the night is all you find.
Can you see
The flames inside me?
Can you feel
The heat that I feel?
Can you breathe
The fire that I breathe?
Can you give me
The warmth that I need?
Flames on the water,
Fire in the sand,
A bonfire’s burning in
No man’s land.
Light on the hilltop,
And rain in my hand,
Fear is raging –
And the night is all you find
2003
I watch o’er the Ocean
I watch o’er the ocean,
My true love’s ship to sea,
He’s been gone a year now,
And I’ve heard naught from him.
The waves of the ocean,
Roll grey and deathly cold,
He will not return now,
And grief fills my soul.
He’s gone to the fighting,
To battle on some far shore,
Where men fight with honour,
And return no more.
Oh dark is the sky now,
The gulls scream overhead,
The clouds bring the dread news,
That my love is dead.
I watch o’er the ocean,
My true love’s ship to sea,
He’s been gone a year now,
And I’ve heard naught from him.
But away on the horizon,
As far as the eye can sea,
The sails of a small ship,
Bring new hope for me.
2001
(Set to the music "Queen Jane" )
Come the Wind
Come the wind may never again blow,
As now it blows for us
The stars, may never shine again,
As now they shine for us.
And you must crush the love,
The love that’s in your heart,
And I must crush the love
The love that’s in mine.
This October we will see
Ambition rule o'er love,
Face to face our families stand
Forgetting the earth that bore them.
Come the wind may never again blow…
Next October we will see
Dread not death because the hand
That brings it may be mine.
Come the wind may never again blow…
2001 Adapted from a poem by Emily Bronte
Cerridwen’s Lullaby
(Written for the 2009 Mystery Play performed at Thornborough Henges by the Sacred Brigantia Players)
The Story: Cerridwen is the mother of three children. One is wonderfully fair, one is extremely handsome and one is ugly and very very stupid. She brews a cauldron of magic broth for a year and a day to enable her stupid ugly son to become wise. However, Gwidion Bach who is stirring the broth is splattered with three drops of broth and as he sucks off the liquid gains all the wisdom meant for the stupid ugly son. Cerridwen chases Gwidion Bach, he turns shapeshifts through various guises - animals, fish, birds and eventually becomes a grain of wheat that Cerridwen (also shapeshifting) devours in her hen-state. Nine months later she gives birth, to the most beautiful and wise baby boy. However, she is torn - she hates him, yet she admires his beauty and wisdom. She cannot kill him (as planned) nor can she nurture him. She flings him in the river, where he floats out to sea, to be fished out by a fisherman, and brought up safe and sound, renamed Taliesin.
Lullay, lullay, sail away, sail away
Lullay, lullay, my baby, born today
Lullay, lullay, floating upon the sea
Sweet child born to me.
Lullay, lullay, you made me so angry
Lullay, lullay , in wisdom you fled from me
Lullay, lullay the grain I ate was thee
You grew inside my body.
Lullay, lullay, nine moons I carried thee
Lullay, lullay, bitter hate rose in me
Lullay, lullay, thought I’d destroy thee,
Such a fair baby.
Lullay, lullay, I cannot kill thee
Lullay, lullay, nor can I live with thee
Lullay, lullay, float away quickly
My beautiful baby.
