1. |
The Banks of the Dee
02:55
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Last Saturday night by the banks of the Dee
I met an old man in distress I could see
I sat down beside him and to me he did say
"I can't get employment cause my hair is turned grey"
I am an old miner aged fifty and six
If I could get lots I'd raffle me picks
I'd raffle them, I'd sell em, I'd hoy them away
I can't get employment cause my hair is turned grey
When I was a young lad I was just like the rest
Each day in the pit, I'd do my very best
If I got good cavil, I'd be hewing all day
Now at fifty and six, my hair is turned grey
Last Wednesday night, to the reckoning I went
To the colliery office I went straight forenenst
I got me pay note, I was walking away
When they gave me my notice, cause my hair is turned grey
Now all you young fellas, it's you that's to blame
If you got good prices you'd do just the same
If you got good places, you'd hoy them away
But you're bound to regret it when your hair is turned grey
I am an old miner aged fifty and six
If I could get lots I'd raffle me picks
I'd raffle them, I'd sell em, I'd hoy them away
I can't get employment cause my hair is turned grey
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2. |
Middle Manager's Lament
04:07
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I found myself in a bloodless coup
These people never had a clue, and that's my cue to call
this whole thing to ground
To heed the herd and meet the friends at their feeling
Admit at last that I had found my ceiling
In a city of ruin and doubt
In a seizure dream, a stream of consciousness and cloud
I lost myself to a parlour game
Of lovers and jewellers and mobs and miners in solitary stares
waiting for a chance to fall
To call the cards and crave the sweetness of meaning
Begin again and brave the crudest of healings
In a chorus of rhythm and trade
In a fever state, we'll steer it from our godless rage
I sold my strength to a minor king
A fraud of vision, of crass decision
A blight among the stars, hoping for an easy end
The final fall, a sign of greatness receding
The porous heart, the brute the brain and the breeding
In a kingdom of pity and plague
In a scarlet haze, the sovereign finds his resting rate
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3. |
The Midas Putsch
04:18
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Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain
The heart of a man in the shell of a god
Frail hands leave a trail of gold
or rubble depending on your vantage
Our present preachers were dyed in the wool
Wide-eyed and idle and wildly dull
Such a staggering flaw from a maddening bore
I won't ask you again
My fingers peel
The skin reveals
A knowing dust
A well-worn velvet rust
We left our comforts in the hands of a king
Bordered and brazen and calloused within
Bought for a price, in thrall to the dice
A diamond chancer
Our present preachers were dyed in the wool
Wide-eyed and idle and wildly dull
Such a staggering flaw from a maddening bore
I won't ask you again
Not a fraud per sé
Just a boy out of his depth
All things to all men
But nothing at all to me
Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain
The heart of a man in the shell of a god
Frail hands leave a trail of gold
or rubble depending on your vantage
The man the myth
The ledger will show
He was not afraid of heights
But the fall forgave him none
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4. |
Pastorale Spectre
02:55
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5. |
Willie O Winsbury
05:20
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The king has been a prisoner
And a prisoner long in Spain
Willie of the Winsbury
Has lain long with his daughter Jane
"What ails you, what ails you, my daughter Jane?
Why you look so pale an wan?
Oh have you had any ill sickness
Or yet been sleeping with a man?"
"I have not had any ill sickness
Nor yet been sleeping with a man
It is for you my father dear
For biding so long in Spain"
"Cast off, cast off your robe and gown
Stand naked upon the stone
That I may know you by your shape<
If you be maiden or none"
She's casted off her robe and gown
Stood naked upon the stone
Her apron was wide and her waist was round
Her face was pale and wan
"Was it with a lord or a gentleman
Or a man of wealth and fame?
Or was it with one of my serving men
While I was so long in Spain?"
"No it wasn't with a lord or a gentleman?
Or a man of wealth and fame
It was with Willie of Winsbury
I could bide no longer alone"
And the king has called his serving men
By one, by two and by three
Willie should have been the first of them
But the last of them was he
And when he came before the kind
All dressed up in red silk
His hair was like the strands of gold
His skin was white as milk
"No wonder, no wonder" the king he said
"That my daughter's love you did win
If I were a woman, as I am a man
My bedfellow you would have been"
"Oh will you marry my daughter Jane
By the faith of your right hand
I'll make you the lord of my serving men
I'll make you the heir to my land"
"Oh yes, I'll marry your daughter Jane
By the faith of my right hand
But I'll not be the lord of any man
No I'll not be the heir to your land, my brave king
I'll not be the heir to your land"
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6. |
To Be Taller
04:18
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I slept on the sofa last night
Couching my language in a chorus of myth
Missing the riff by a couple of beats
Beating the harms by the means of misnomer
Among ornament silhouettes, I made my choice
To be taller
What a tiring ride
On a rising tide
I was trying hard
To keep the peace
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7. |
The Unfortunate Lass
03:17
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As I was out walking on fine summer's morning
As I was out walking one midsummer's day
I met a young female all dressed in white linen
All dressed in white linen and cold as the clay
Oh mother, dear mother, come sit down beside me
Come sit down beside me and hear my sad case
For I've loved a soldier who's lately deserted
And he's gone and left me in shame and disgrace
Oh daughter, dear daughter, why didn't you tell me?
Why didn't you tell me of it all in time?
I could have bought salt, iron, pills of white margary
You're a true-hearted girl, cut down in your prime
Oh doctor, dear doctor, come fill up your bottles
Come fill up your bottles and make them quite dry
For my bones they are aching and my heart it is breaking
In shame and disgrace I'm afraid I must die
Have six jolly soldiers to carry my coffin
Have six jolly sailors to sing me a song
Have six bonnie lasses carry bunches of roses
So that you can smell me as we roll along
So play your fife lowly and play the drum slowly
Sing out the dead march as we go along
Take me to the graveyard and throw the sods on me
I'm a true-hearted girl and I've never done wrong
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8. |
The Afternoon Ghost
03:35
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Morning delivers the songs that shiver the dawn
Cemetery, the boys are buried in scores
We took our whole selves out of pawn
We left our homes
For the afternoon ghost is replaced by the phantom of evening
The spectre of speculation, somehow deceiving you now
And I missed the joke and I
miss the folk I should be seeing right now
After all...
Heavenly spaces, the friends in high places come down
Foreign feeling, patiently bleeding the sound
Won't you take it from the top?
Take it from the ceiling tile
Cause I'm coming back for you
And I can only speak to you in semafore
Leading lines and the lights, clear the forest floor
There's no guiding light, in my line of sight
There's no signs of life
But after all...
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9. |
Friend How I Have Tried
03:56
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Silence was his only friend
Until the winds took him far from shore
Into a place where winter stayed way past its bedtime
With wooden floors and canvas doors, they welcomed him with hearts as open
As the sail he stored inside the hold
Free to weep and his to keep
A chemical erosion of his charm
A lowing cry and lazy eye
Leaving but the lowest to disarm him
Jekyll, run and hide
I cannot decide for you
I cannot sit idly by as
Demon drink consumes you
Four months went by, the elders held
A meeting to discuss the man's behaviour
A friend to all until the call
Of gin and juice came sailing past the seal of his lips
With trembling hands and swollen glands
The sailor bringing forth the case to keep him
His plea was heard without a word
Retiring to decide if they should throw him overboard
Friend how I have tried
To bottle up this thing inside
To wear my shame as if its pride but
This goes deeper than me
He took his bag down to the dock
Pushing out his sloop into the ocean
The seas here high and storm a-gale
The sailor vowing now to settle down with his ship
Along the shore the people raced
To catch the man before the water stole him
Among the mist and icy hiss, their voices quiet as a gentle breeze
Brother crawl ashore
There's no need to fight it anymore
Voice of calm or voice of war
The door is always open
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10. |
Yellow Handkerchief
03:45
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Once I had a colour as red as the rose
Now my colour has faded like the lily that grows
Now my colour has faded like the lily do grow
And if it weren't for flash company I should never be so poor
So you take this yellow handkerchief in the memory of me
And you tie it round your neck my love in flash company
Flash company been the ruin of me and the ruin of me quite
If it weren't for flash company I should never be so poor
Now it's singing and dancing sure that's my delight
Flash company been the ruin of me and the ruin of me quite
Flash company been the ruin of me and a great many more
If it weren't for flash company I should never be so poor
So you take this yellow handkerchief in the memory of me
And you tie it round your neck my love in flash company
Flash company been the ruin of me and the ruin of me quite
If it weren't for flash company I should never be so poor
Now it's all you little flash lords take warning by me
And you never put your trust my loves in the top of the tree
For the green leaves will wither and the roots have decayed
And the promise of the dawning will soon fade away
So you take this yellow handkerchief in the memory of me
And you tie it round your neck my love in flash company
Flash company been the ruin of me and the ruin of me quite
If it weren't for flash company I should never be so poor
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Hevelwood Leeds, UK
"Morris men with glowsticks: It's the future" - MOJO
Like an archival image dragged through
an old photocopier, Hevelwood takes folk stories both ancient and new and overlays them with digital fuzz and uncertainty.
A producer working with traditional song, he has released 2 EPs of folk songs a debut LP 'Of Greatness Receding' in Autumn 2023.
... more
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