The Weird Lyrics Post, because I know there are people who are just this anal ;)

Jun 07, 2007 21:34

...I know, because I'm one of them.

These are lyrics to the songs briefly mentioned in the hds_beltane fic Volunteers. If the links have expired, send me an e-mail at

fugazzianna@yahoo.ca

Please don't leave a comment on this post; half the time lj doesn't send me my comments, and the other half the time I can't access the stuff lj does send. I check lj-comments regularly on my fic posts, but notsomuch on pages like this.

Yes, I know, the songs are mostly by Canadian composers and Draco's choir is Irish. If the cognitive dissonance is too much, tell yourself that Draco's director is an expatriot Canadian who got homesick and thought "I know! A concert with a maritime theme! Dublin's a seaside city; they're sure to go for that!" Then she slipped in as many Canadian composers as she could ;)

EDIT: I've been asked to update the links to the soundfiles a number of times now. I'm thrilled that people care enough to let me know when they want the songs, and quite willing to keep cheerfully re-uploading as many times as y'all want, but I've grown tired of bopping around three pages. So I'm going to put all three pages here, colour-coded so y'all can tell which chapter's music you're looking up. Chapter 1 is black, Chapter 2 is blue, Chapter 3 is green.


Lyrics and files for Chapter 1
Tiny Fish for Japan, by Stan Rogers
(Liner notes) This song is not intended as a slur of any kind on the countries who import food products that our government won't let us eat. It is Stan's sadly ironic way of describing exactly the status of the Inland Fisheries as seen through the eyes of many a fisherman out of a job. There IS a Norfolk Hotel - Stan played there years ago. The village was dying then. Now they have one of the best Summer Theatre houses in Ontario, but that's little consolation to the men with the boats.

Where Patterson Creek's muddy waters run down
Past the penny arcades, by the harbour downtown,
All the old Turtlebacks rust in the rain
Like they never will leave there again.

But leave there they will in the hours before dawn,
Slip out in the darkness without word or song;
A few more years yet they will work while they can
And catch tiny fish for Japan.

No whitefish or trout here, we leave them alone.
The inspectors raise hell if we take any home.
What kind of fisherman can't eat his catch
Or call what he's taken his own?

But the plant works three shifts now. There's plenty of pay.
We ship seventeen tons of this garbage each day.
If we want to eat fish, then we'll open a can,
And catch tiny fish for Japan.

In the Norfolk Hotel over far too much beer,
The old guys remember when the water ran clear.
No poisons with names that we can't understand
And no tiny fish for Japan...

So the days run together. Each one is the same,
And it's good that the smelt have no lovelier name.
It's all just a job now, we'll work while we can,
To catch tiny fish for Japan.

And we'll catch tiny fish for Japan.

Download Tiny Fish For Japan
****
All Too Soon, Stephen Hatfield
(All) No one's in doubt that the children singing
All too soon shall be women and men
And the bonny new land
That we shaped with our hand
It'll roll to the ocean again.
...
No one's in doubt that tale we're bringing
Can't turn Time back to where he was then
For the old ways they change
But the new is so strange
Will it ever be simple again?
...
No one's in doubt that the children singing
All too soon shall be women and men
And the canny old land
That we never could command
It'll roll to the ocean again.
...
(spoken) One two three!
...
(Men) Grampa was in the War
And when he came back to Nova Scotia,
He had a bride in tow
Who had no English but Yes and No, sir
...
(Women) What made her leave her home(Men) What would make her
To be with someone she hardly knew?Leave her home?
How she must have hated to feel aloneI would hate to feel
She must have cried when the day was throughSo alone.
When the day was through
...
(Men) This was a part of earth,
Where you could hold on to one another
This was a line of work
A-where the whole town was like your brother
...
(Women) Ah but now it's getting hard to stay,(Men) Now the children
The children move to a bigger cityMove away
And there is really nothing you can sayThere is really nothing
But what a shame, and what a terrible pityThat you can say, but
...
(Altos) Haven't got a notion(Sopranos & Men) Roll
How to stop the motionon
Rolling to the oceandown the
That's the magic potionbay
...
(Altos & Tenors) Haven't got a notion
How to stop the motion(Sopranos and Basses) Fundy
Rolling to the oceanto Biscay
Such a commotion when
...
(All) They say
The world is getting smaller every day
But to make it pay(Sopranos) Oh every day
Well everybody has to move away
So very far away
...
(Altos) Haven't got a notion(Sopranos & Men) Roll
How to stop the motionon
Rolling to the oceandown the
That's the magic potionbay
...
(Altos & Tenors) Haven't got a notion
How to stop the motion(Sopranos and Basses) Fundy
Rolling to the oceanto Biscay
Such a commotion when
...
(All) You know
How much a Maritimer hates to go
We know what we owe(Sopranos) And isn't it so, just how much we owe
We love the land that watched our parents growTo the land that watched our parents grow
When life could travel slowWhen life was oh
So deep and slow
(Men) Slow, and hard, but deep and proud
(All) Was the life we once were allowed
We knew our souls never could be bowed
...
(Altos and Basses) Dealing with the ocean
When you're Nova Scotian
Turns into a sign of(Sopranos and Tenors) You deal with what you know
Family devotion
...
(Women and Men separately) Dealing with the ocean
When you're Nova Scotian
Turns into a sign of
(Altos and Tenors) Family devotion
...
(Sopranos and Basses) Grampa was in the War
(All) And when he came back to Nova Scotia,
He had a bride in tow
Who had no English but Yes and No, sir
...
(Men) What made her leave her home(Women) Don't cast me off
To be with someone she hardly knew?Discourteously,
How she must have hated to feel aloneFor I have loved
She must have cried when the day was throughYou so long…
...
(All) No one's in doubt that the children singing
All too soon shall be women and men
And the canny old land
That we never could command,
It'll roll to the ocean again.

There's, like, extensive composer's notes on this piece, talking about the many links between Nova Scotia and Brittany, Celtic musical influences, and a side note about how Kerry and Cork, Ireland champion the polka (?). The main point, though, is this: the text is (mostly) by Stephen Hatfield, a Canadian composer, and celebrates the link between Canadian Maritimers and the sea, though it laments the loss of the Maritime way of life. The tunes are all borrowed, from the Irish folk melody "What Will We Do?", two mazurkas from Bretagne, and Greensleeves.

Download All Too Soon

****

Navy Hymn
Eternal Father, strong to save
Whose arm hath bound the restless wave
Who bidd'st the mighty ocean deep
Its own appointed limits keep:
O hear us when we cry to Thee
For those in peril on the sea.

O Saviour, Whose almighty word,
The winds and waves have ever heard
Who walkedst on the foaming deep
And calm amid its gray ships sleep:
O hear us when we cry to Thee
For those in peril on the sea.

O Trinity of love and power
Our brethren shield in danger's hour.
From rock and tempest, fire and foe
Protect them wheresoe'er they go:
O hear us when we cry to Thee
For those in peril on the sea.

This is a recording of the men's section of my choir.

Download Navy Hymn
****

Fogarty's Cove, Stan Rogers 1976
We just lost sight of the Queensport light
Down the bay before us
And the wind has blown some cold today
With just a wee touch of snow
Along the shore from Lazy Head
Hard abeam Half Island
Tonight we'll let the anchor go
Down in Fogarty's Cove

My Sally's like the ravens wing
Her hair is like her mothers'
With hands that make quick work of a chore
And eyes like the top of a stove
Come suppertime she'll walk the beach
Wrapped in my old duffle
With her eyes upon the masthead reach
Down in Fogarty's Cove

Chorus:
She will walk the sandy shore so plain
Watch the combers roll in
'Till I come to Wild Rose Chance again
Down in Fogarty's Cove
She'll walk the sandy shore so plain
Watch the combers roll in
'Till I come to Wild Rose Chance again
Down in Fogarty's Cove

She cries when I'm away to sea
Nags me when I'm with her
She'd rather I'd a Government job
Or maybe go on the dole.
But I love the waves as I put about,
Nose into the channel
My Sally keeps the supper and a bed for me
Down in Fogarty's Cove.

Dowload Fogarty's Cove


Lyrics and files for Chapter 2
Here are more lyrics to the songs mentioned at the end of chapter 2b of the hds_beltane fic Volunteers. Once again, if the links have expired, send me an e-mail at

fugazzianna@yahoo.ca

I didn't put a link to the Navy Hymn, mentioned by Alec and Draco, because it was mentioned in the last chapter as being part of the "sea-songs" concert. Here it's part of a general-sacred-music concert. My choir reuses songs whenever possible; I figured Draco's choir would too :)


Abide With Me, lyrics by Henry Francis Lyte, melody by William Henry Monk

Abide with me; fast falls the eventide;
The darkness deepens; Lord with me abide.
When other helpers fail and comforts flee,
Help of the helpless, O abide with me.

Swift to its close ebbs out life's little day;
Earth's joys grow dim; its glories pass away;
Change and decay in all around I see;
O Lord who changest not, abide with me.

Hold now Your words before my closing eyes;
Shine through the gloom and point me to the skies.
Heaven's morning breaks, and earth's vain shadows flee;
In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me.

Download Abide With Me
****

Pie Jesu, by James Wright

Pie Jesu Domine,Gentle Lord Jesus,
Dona eis requiem,Grant them rest,
Requiem aeternam.Eternal rest.
...
Et lux perpetua luceat eis.And may light eternal shine upon them.
Exaudi orationem nostram.Hear our prayer.
...
Pie Jesu Domine,Gentle Lord Jesus,
Dona eis requiem,Grant them rest,
Requiem aeternam.Eternal rest.
...
Dona eis pacem,Give them peace,
Dona eis requiem.Give them rest.
Requiem.Rest.

This recording is actually my choir in performance. We sang this at a Rememberance Day performance, the same day that I had my mother's ashes transferred to the cemetery. I invited the family and friends who were at the inurnment to that night's concert, and when my choir sang this song, I sang it for her.

Download Pie Jesu
****

Hallelujah, by Leonard Cohen

I've heard there was a secret chord
That David played, and it pleased the Lord
But you don't really care for music, do you?
It goes like this:
The fourth, the fifth
The minor fall, the major lift
The baffled king composing Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

You say I took the name in vain
Well I don't even know the name
But if I did, well really, what's it to you?
There's a blaze of light
In every word
It doesn't matter what you heard
The holy or the broken Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

I did my best, it wasn't much
I couldn't feel, so I tried to touch
I've told the truth, I didn't come to fool you
And even though
It all went wrong
I'll stand before the Lord of Song
With nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

This recording is also my choir in performance. It's a bit raggedy, because we had only received the music right before the performance. We sang it as a surprise wedding present for one of our altos, whose favourite song it was and who was getting married that week. The recording doesn't do justice to the real thing, as usual. It was at the end of a concert on a very grey day, with a fairly small audience lost in a very large church. It came out sounding just glorious and our tiny audience was thrilled. As was our alto bride-to-be :)

Download Hallelujah


Lyrics and files for Chapter 3

Here are lyrics to songs mentioned at the end of chapter 3 of the hds_beltane fic Volunteers. Once again, if the links have expired, send me an e-mail at

fugazzianna@yahoo.ca


The Mummer's Dance, Loreena McKennitt

When in the springtime of the year
When the trees are crowned with leaves
When the ash and oak, and the birch and yew
Are dressed in ribbons fair

When owls call the breathless moon
In the blue veil of the night
The shadows of the trees appear
Amidst the lantern light

Chorus
We've been rambling all the night
And some time of this day
Now returning back again
We bring a garland gay

Who will go down to those shady groves
And summon the shadows there
And tie a ribbon on those sheltering arms
In the springtime of the year

The songs of birds seem to fill the wood
That when the fiddler plays
All their voices can be heard
Long past their woodland days

Chorus

And so they linked their hands and danced
Round in circles and in rows
And so the journey of the night descends
When all the shades are gone

"A garland gay we bring you here
And at your door we stand
It is a sprout well budded out
The work of our lord's hand"

Chorus

Download The Mummer's Dance

****

Freedom Trilogy, by Paul Halley

(Missa de Angelis, 16th century)Translation
Kyrie eleison
Christe eleisonLord have mercy
Christ have mercy

...
(South African)
Haleluya! Pelotsa rona,
di thabile kaofela
Halleluia we sing your praises
All our hearts are filled with gladness
Ke Morena Jeso:
ya redumeletseng,
ya redumeletseng,
ho tsamaisa evangedi
Christ the Lord to us said:
I am wine, I am bread,
I am wine, I am bread,
Give to all who thirst and hunger
We are marching in the light of god
Siyahamb' ekukhanyen' kwenkosWe are marching in the light of god
...
(John Newton)
Amazing grace
How sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me
I once was lost
But now am found
Was blind but now I see

Download Freedom Trilogy

****

Greenman, XTC

Please to bend down for the one called the greenman
He wants to make you his bride
Please to bend down for the one called the greenman
Forever to him you're tied

And you know for a million years he has been your lover
He'll be a million more
And you know for a million years he has been your lover
Down through the skin to the core

Heed the greenman
Heed the greenman

Please to dance round for the one called the greenman
He wants to make you his child
Please to dance round for the one called the greenman
Dressed in the fruits of the wild

And you know for a million years he has been your father
He'll be a million more
And you know for a million years he has been your father
Run to his arms at the door

Lay your head, lay your head, lay your head, lay your head on the greenman
Lay your head, lay your head with mine
Lay your head, lay your head, lay your head, lay your head on the greenman
Build a bed out of oak and pine

See the greenman blow his kiss from high church wall
An unknowing church will amplify his call

Download Greenman

music, volunteers, fic

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