(trad)

Morning’s come and Mariah’s gone

Morning’s come and Mariah’s gone

Morning’s come and Mariah’s gone

And it’s early in the morning.

1.Oh she’s gone and I can’t go….

2.Never did I know her mind….

3.Trouble, trouble is my name…

(trad, new words M. Carthy & J. Fagan)

1.Lay by your pleading, law lies a-bleeding

Burn all your studies down, and throw away your reading

Small power the word has, and can afford us

Not half so much privilege as the sword does

2.It’ll the foster the master, plaster disaster

This’ll make a servant quickly greater than the master

Ventures, enters, seeks and it centres

Ever the upper hand, never the dissenter

3.Kruger, Krugerrand-a, whither do you wander?

Gone to the suborning of Hastings Banda

Kruger Krugerrand-a, tear you all asunder

Beira to Luanda, Gaborone to Nyanga

4.Talks of small things, it sets up all things

This’ll master money, though money masters all things

It is not season to talk of reason

Never call it loyal when the sword says treason

5.Balm for the whaler, balm for the the furrier

This’ll get the measure of an eco warrior

Incognito, come and sink a Rainbow

President will never know, I should bloody coco

6.Build a drone, fly it, governments will buy it

Devils in the desert sand give us a chance to try it

Don’t need their ident, propaganda strident

Blow them up remotely with a Hellfire or a Trident.

7.Subtle deceiver turns calm to fever

See the pilgrim flay the unbeliever

It’ll make a lay man preach and to pray man

It’ll make a Lord of him that was but a drayman

8.Conquers the crown too, grave and the gown too

Set you up a province but it’ll pull it down too

No gospel can guide it, no law decide it

In church or state, till the sword sanctified it

9.Take books, rent ’em, who can invent ’em?

When that the sword says there’ll be no argumentum

Blood that is spilt, sir, has gained all the guilt, sir

Thus have you seen me run my sword up to the hilt, sir

(N. Kerr)

Hand me down some changing rhyme

Some embraces never bind

Oh hand me down your dancing line

Then I’ll know I’m home

Then I’ll know I’m home

1.When I arrived in this old town

Hand me down oh hand me down

When I arrived in this old town

Some forty voices they gathered round

And I was coming home

I was coming home

2.Some go ahead, some stay behind

Hand me down oh hand me down

Some go ahead, some stay behind

We navigate by the souls we find

And I am coming home

I am coming home

3.I’m navigating by one more star

Hand me down oh hand me down

I’m navigating by one more star

It’s shining bright to show I’ve come this far

And I am coming home

I am coming home

(trad)

1.Nightmares, Mother had, of navvies in the cellar

And dark eyes looking through the window outside

How we used to vex her, how we used to taunt her

How we would laugh and chant to her dismay

‘Ware out Mother there’s a navvy in the cellar

and two more looking through the window outside

2.Mother heard there was to be a river builded

Just a stone’s throw away from the window outside

How we hugged each other, as we told our mother

“It’s a canal, there’ll be navigators too.”

3.We told Mother there’d be barges full of jewels

And wondrous things past the window outside

But where’s this river from? we said it flows from China

“Woah” thought Mom, “there’ll be alligators too.”

4.One night Jimmy led the navvies into town

and they looked like beggars through the window outside

There were navvies in the ale house, arguments and street fights,

Mother was delicate, she stayed in bed all week

5.One night Jimmy had a gentle way with words

and more pairs of hands than was decent, alright.

“Will you come along, me saucy little Susie,

Just let me put a few arms around your waist.”

6.Soon our mother saw the navvy with her daughter

and she locked her up in the cellar downstairs

“Do you come along, me naughty filthy hussy,

Else I’ll put this stick about your back.”

7.Jim gave a wink, or it might have been a blink,

and he organised a tunnel ‘neath the window outside

Not a body saw them, then they struck foundations

“Right” thought Jim, “I shall blow little hole.”

8.Muffled bang, and there was dust and rubble everywhere

And Jim was in the cellar of his Susie once more

How they hugged each other, yet no-one told our mother

She still has her dreams, yet she’s never learnt the truth.

(J. Arrowsmith)

1.When I was a little girl I knew that I could do it all

Now that I’m a woman grown, I just want some time at home

All my life is hurrying, worrying

All my life is busy ’cause I just can’t let go

2.When I was young and in my prime I’d read to while away the time

Now the books stay on the shelf, the laundry doesn’t do itself

3.I once had freedom every day to choose when I would rest and play

Now my time’s not mine alone, a mother’s work is never done

4.Stress and headaches sometimes hit, knock me back a little bit

I’ve got to change before I break or kill myself with too much cake

(trad)

1.I sowed the seeds of love

It was all in the spring

In April May and in June likewise

While small birds sweetly sing

2.My garden was planted well

With flowers everywhere

But I hadn’t the liberty to choose for myself

The flowers that I loved dear

3.My gardener he stood by

And I asked him to choose for me

He chose me the violet the lily and the pink

But those I refused all three

4.In June there’s a red rose bud

And that’s the flower for me

For often have I plucked at the red rose bud

Til I gained the willow tree

5.Come all you false young men

Don’t leave me to complain

For grass that has often been trampled underfoot

Given time it will rise again

(N. Kerr)

1.What mired Jonah’s creature

To see her rise no more?

What fate conspired to breach her

One hundred miles from shore?

For our children stand in silence

And view her bones in awe

This heart unreal, these ribs of steel

Shall sleep and rise no more

Rise no more oh rise no more

We shall not meet my friend on Canaan’s shore

Where heav’nly arcs our souls restore

So sleep and rise no more

2.Like a drunken man still drowning

Work’s thirst long gone before

The veins within her pounding

Not blood but molten ore

For she drew no dragon’s bonus

To burn all England’s poor

All those who bleed this earth for greed

Go sleep and rise no more

3.The legend of her shining

Dark carols only sing

Of casting ore and grinding

The echoes only ring

Bright tears upon us raining

From steelos gone before

For all that streamed is nought but dream

So sleep and rise no more

(P. Davenport)

1.The Widow Cross had but one son and indeed he was his mother’s pride and joy

So she knitted him a gansey, cable stitched both fine and fancy

and it looked like royal robes upon the boy

How we knew his bright blue eyes

How we knew his golden hair

And the gansey that his mother madewas fine beyond compare

2.Tall and bright was Davy Cross, with a smiling face that never bore a frown

How the lasses smiled and sighed, at his strong and manly stride

On a Friday when the fishing fleet left town

For they…

3.At the dance on Saturday, the lasses fairly swooned to dance with him

How they fluttered at his charms, as he held them in his arms,

And their hearts beat faster at his boyish grin

For they…

4.Then one dark October day, there came a storm which drove us hard to lea

And our fishing fleet was tossed, yet just one single craft was lost

Leaving Widow Cross a gazing out to sea

Well she…

5.When just ten weeks had passed and gone, they finally brought us news about the loss

Seemed a body had been found, of a sailor lost and drowned

And in our hearts we knew ’twas Davy Cross

For we…

But it wasn’t eyes of blue, nor that hair as pale as foam

It was the gansey that his mother made that brought young Davy home

(P. Metsers)

1.It’s one day we’ll go sailing

Just you my love and I

We’ll take us down to the waters

Where fair the waters lie

And then with good intentions

We’ll try our debts to pay

But the sun will swing the seasons

And ever win the day

2.Then one day we’ll go flying

Get closer to the stars

And pray that those in spaceships

will leave them as they are

3.Then one day we’ll start building

We’ll use what comes to hand

We’ll twine what needs entwining

And bind what needs a band

(J. Arrowsmith)

1.Once there was a man and he had no song

He felt his head was empty and his voice was wrong

And though he often tried, his songs were trapped inside

He couldn’t find the place where they belong

But raise your voice with mine

For now’s the perfect time to join the song

2.Once there was a woman and her songs were loud

She sang them in the shower and she sang them proud

But when her friends were near, her voice it shrank with fear

And left her shaking mute before the crowd

But raise…

3.Now if you want to sing but don’t know how or why

Don’t listen to the ones who say you should not try

There’s bound to be a way you’ve not tried before today

To free your voice to soar beneath the sky

So raise…

4.Once there was a singer and he made his choice

To leave his doubts behind him and to find his voice

The journey that he’s on is to learn just one more song

And sing it out and make his friends rejoice

So raise…