1. |
Oxford Town
05:33
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Oxford Town (Summertime in England)
I’m on fire feeling good feeling free
Breezing through this May country
To the sound of the cuckoo echoing across the green
And the sunlight dancing off the water and the trees
And it’s bringing back those boyhood memories
And it’s Summertime in England if you know what I mean
I’m going down,
I’m going down
I’m going down to Oxford Town
My consciousness flows through the locks and the streams
Washed with the fragments of last nights dreams
Floating through the ether, catching colours and it seems
To be taking me back to similar summer scenes
Feel the sense of wonder at these endless summer nights
When the day’s not over and the new morning’s in sight
And we’re smoking in the clearing with mugs of ruby wine
Swaying by the fire with the willow trees in time
Breaking up, breaking down, on our hands and our knees
But then I’ve no recollection, no more memories
And I apologise in case I’m not the man I might have been
But it’s summertime in England if you know what I mean
Oxford Town Oxford Town,
No need here for heads bowed down
The sun is up high, it’s way up off the ground
This is a different time this is a different town
No guns no clubs no tear gas bombs
Just take a look around, you’d think there’s nothing wrong
But that doesn’t mean that there isn’t another side
The times are always changing and things always hide
But this isn’t the place and this isn’t the time
‘Cos it’s summertime in England if you know what I mean
The boys of summer are out and back in the frame
The May blossom’s gleaming in the hedges and the lanes
The sun’s set fire to the red kite’s wing
It makes you want to smile, makes you want to sing
And you grab it in your hand and you feel it in your heart
You just breathe it in deep and then breathe it out
And there’s no need to wonder why because it just is
It’s summertime in England if you know what I mean
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2. |
Coming Home
05:45
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Coming Home
I walk down the rain washed streets
City lights shimmer at my feet
And it reminds me of the moonlight on the river
And I’m drowning in the sound
Of the sirens, the cars and the crowds
And I realise it’s time to reconsider
I think of home and my family
Of the fells, the dales, the north country
I see it all now as clear as can be and I’m thinking – I should be going home
She’ll be there at the kitchen table
Spreading the cloth for their tea
Her hands as brown and fragile as last year’s leaves
He’ll be looking the lambs by the wall
His body as bent as the thorn
That’s twisted by the wind on Malham Moor
And I know that they’ll be thinking of me
In the fells, the dales, the north country
And I know that they would like to believe that one day I’ll be- coming home
The barn owl glides to the night
On wings as silent as snow
Drifting over the walls and the meadows
The heron stands still in the stream
As if carved from the rock and it seems
To wait as patiently as any gravestone
It’s all there in my mind’s eye you see
The fells, the dales and the north country
And I can hear it calling out and telling me – I should be going home
I can see my home and my family
The fells and the dales and the wild country
It’s the only place for me and one day I’ll be –
Coming home - coming home - coming home
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3. |
Watching Wildlife
06:23
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Watching Wildlife
We wander down the river, with our fishing rods and bags
We watch the peat stained water, looking for a fish rise
We cast the runs with Snipe and Purple and an old March Brown
Goosanders take off flying south now, spraying gold and
silver on the sky
We watch the wildlife, but what’s the wildlife
There’s only one life, our life is our own
We live our life, with the wild life
We and the wildlife share this life as one
I miss a grayling on a Greenwell, and a trout on an Olive Dun
Ingleborough floats high beyond us, shimmering in the haze
Pigeons sound softly in the woodlands, a heron unfolds it’s canvas wings
A kingfisher sparks blue lightening across the darkness beneath the trees
We stroll slowly back upstream, way back up towards Cow Bridge
We pick wild mushrooms, mint and blackberries and make up a flood wood fire
Ollie runs wild across the grassland throwing paper planes to the sun
Later we walk back home on Flatts Lane, and it stones me just like Van
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4. |
Our Time
02:59
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Our Time
I’m on the dark side where the night moves out slowly
Where the shadows of sleep hide the sun from the day
Where the smell of dreams lingers and the wicks burn down quickly
And the night creeps away dragging the morning behind
You’re on the bright side where the morning moves fleetfoot
Sweeping the night from the side of the dale
Where you wake and you yawn and you stretch yourself gently
And wrap yourself tight in the warmth of the new day
Our time will be when the sun shines down equal
When the wild wind is stilled and our hearts beat as one
When we stroll through the hills and the miles of morning sunlight
Our time will be the best of times to come
Then I’ll dance in your eyes, bright as any woodcock’s wing
I’ll swim in your smile, as deep as any sea
And we’ll laugh and we’ll run through the meadows and the moorland
And then we’ll lie side by side and that’s when our time will be
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5. |
The Weather And The Tide
04:36
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The Weather and the Tide
She’s over on the other side
I’m waiting for the rising tide
I’m thinking that it won’t be long
Before I can set sail
My boat is moored up in the port
Ready for me to climb on board
To swing her round into the wind
And turn her bows to the distant shore
And I know she’ll be there for me
Looking out over the sea
Her hand raised to shield her eyes
To watch the Terns and Fulmers fly
And I’ll be sailing through the spray
I know it has to be this way
For just like the sea birds as they fly
We’re ruled by the weather and the tide
We pull my boat up out of reach
Of the tide racing up the beach
We sit and watch the otters play
And make love to the sea
There’s that heart stopping moment when
We join together and jump in
We take the sea unto ourselves
And gasp in ecstasy
We throw our hearts up to the wind
And grab this moment whilst we can
I watch for the ebbing tide and know
That soon it’ll be time for me to go
We understand this has to be
We’re separated by land and sea
Destined to live out our lives
Ruled by the weather and the tide.
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6. |
Boots
04:31
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Boots
Sir I see from your boots that you’ve walked the high fells
And I think that you’ve walked a long way
Come sit down beside me, I’ll stand you a beer
Come sit down and tell me I pray
Tell me sir where you’ve hiked on the fells
Though your boots could tell their own tale
Of the places they’ve taken you and all you’ve seen
And how things fair up the Dales
Does the saxifrage bloom with the last winter’s snow
Do the peregrines nest on Blue Scar
Do the high peaks light up with the first morning sun
Like lamps at a festival fair
Do the curlews and plovers still wheel and cry
Like kids on a merry go round
Do the larks still sing up high on the wing
Tell me sir all that you’ve found
You are right my friend I’ve been up on the moors
I’ve been walking the hills and the dales
These old boots of mine have covered some miles
They’ve stayed dry, they’ve never failed
Together we’ve climbed high up Shunner Fell
Past Lovely Seat down to Hawes
Then up over Cam, Deepdale and Litton
And the limestone across Malham Moor
The dippers still chatter and bow on the Swale
Like guests at a society ball
The wagtails strut and trot about
The pools below Wainwath Force
Wheatears flit on the old Monks Road
And trout still rise in the tarn
Jacobs Ladder climbs up the Cove
And the yews hang on Goredale Scar
Well I thank you sir for sharing all that
Now we deserve another round
You’ve trodden the paths and tramped the lanes
Your boots have sure covered some ground
I also like to get up in the hills
To revisit old places and friends
To see all the sights that I know so well
To walk in my own Yorkshire Dales
Where the saxifrage blooms with the last winter’s snow
And the peregrines nest on Blue Scar
Where the high peaks light up with the first morning sun
Like lamps at a festival fair
Where the dippers still chatter and bow on the Swale
Like guests at a society ball
And wagtails strut and trot about
the yews hang on Gordale Scar
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7. |
Hefted
04:04
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Hefted (Kirkby Fell)
I see you lying naked, you’re so real there’s just no faking
With your perfumes of the forests and the fields
Your snow white breasts are shining and the winter sun is blinding me
As I’m crawling up your body on my knees
I understand it when they say you’re loved by many men
But just like all the rest, you’re special to me
I love you in the winter snow, when the days are dark and the nights are cold
When the rivers and the blood begins to freeze
When the summer sun it tans you and the earth’s wild patterns brand you
I feel your cooling breathe caressing me
And I sense your springs are flowing down your thighs before exploding
With the rivers as they open to the sea
I understand you now, or I think I do anyhow
I’ve known you for so many years
I love you when the sun is is high, when the evening storms crack up the sky
When rain falls down like a mother’s tears
I can see you when I’m far away, when space and distance come into play
And life conspires to keep us both apart
I think of you when I’m travelling, when I’m tired and life’s unravelling
When all I need is loving and a hearth
I know you’re always there for me, and always will be
Whatever happens in these changing times
And I’ll always come back to you, from where ever chance has taken me to
I’m hefted to you, the choice isn’t mine
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8. |
The Dance
04:29
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The Dance
It’s Saturday night and you’re brushed up and clean
And the old week is all washed away
You’ve ironed your shirt and pulled on your jeans
You’re up for a weekend of play
So you brush up your boots and comb back your hair
Pull your flying jacket off the back of the chair
Your GPO Bantam’s in the yard out there
And you’re ready to ride to the dance – and to..
Step out onto the floor where there’s always a chance
Of starting a new romance, of a kiss at the end of the dance
And then maybe some more
Now the village Hall it is draughty and cold
Pull the curtain over the door
Crank up the band and stoke up the stove
Scatter the talc on the floor
You try tom look cool as you stand at the side
When the girl with the blond hair catches your eye
You take a deep breathe and give her a smile
This is no time to start to act shy – So you
Now the band has packed up and you’re walking her home
Back through the tunnel of love
It’s dark near the trees and you’re all alone
Whilst the Milky Way glows up above
And you’re arm in arm and you’re only sixteen
And life is full of achievable dreams
You’re already thinking of seeing if she’s keen
To Come out with you the next time – You
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9. |
I Am October
05:10
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I Am October
October ghylls swell, winterfylleth, see the becks turn into rivers
As salmon climb unseen through peat stained pools
October sun comes shyly skimming, glancing the hills with gold and silver
To trick us once again we summer fools
I am October, I can face both ways, I’m Russian red, I’m Slavic gold
I am October, I am the border, I’m winter bare, I’m a summer rose
I steal the sun for summer lingering, yet snap the leaves with icy fingers
To see them float and drift on autumn winds
I live on the memory of sweet honeysuckle, yet hear the ice sheets twist and buckle
Far away to the north where winter begins
Yes, I am the winter and the summer’s beauty, I’m the calm and I’m the fury
I’m lengthening shadows and shortening days
And as my daytime turns to darkening, then my night time sky comes sparkling
And the stars and planets wheel with the Milky Way
I am October, I plough my own way, the earth fresh furrows of autumn days
I am October, I’m russet and golden, I’m the morning fog, I’m the evening haze
I’m the tenth, I’m the sixth, I’m the second knuckle on your second fist
I’m the eighth in the ancient city of Rome
I’m the opal, I am Libra, I’m the balance between summer and winter
I’m the one who makes you think of hearth and home
I am October, I can face both ways, I’m russet red I’m autumn gold
I am October, I plough my own way, I’m the morning fog, I’m the evening haze
I’m winter bare, I’m a late summer rose
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10. |
Castleberg Hill
03:24
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Castlebergh Hill
I want to climb again up Castlebergh Hill
Go back, way back thro’ those summer days until
We’re laughing there on the top
Taking your picture against the rock
And I know that someday I surely will
Climb on Castlebergh Hill
I want to stand again with my back to the sea
With the breakers rolling in up Whitby Beach
Your face flushed with salt sea spray
The wind whipping your hair away
And my sheepskin coat wrapped around your knees
To go again to the sea
I want to learn about the mystery of things
I want to hear the songs the ancients sing
Listen to the future told
Learn the legends and tales of old
I want to lose the wisdom that living brings
Learn the mystery of things
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11. |
I Walked Out
05:33
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I Walked Out
I walked out to the woods this morning
Amongst the trees and the shady clearings
I walked out to the woods this morning
The sun and the leaves were gently dancing
I walked out to the woods this morning
To think on you as you lay sleeping
I walked out to the fields this morning
The grass was silver the dew was sparkling
I walked out to the fields this morning
Spiders nets hung in sunlight shining
I walked out to the fields this morning
To think on you as you lay resting
I walked out to the fells this morning
The wind was high and the sky was screaming
I walked out to the fells this morning
The rooks wheeled by and the clouds were screaming
I walked out to the fells this morning
To think on you as you lay dreaming
I walked out to the moors this morning
The dawn air was full of curlews calling
I walked out to the moors this morning
To the lonely sound of tewits crying
I walked out to the moors this morning
To think on you and of beside you lying
To think on you and of beside you lying
To think on you and of beside you lying
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The Moonbeams Long Preston, UK
The Moonbeams sing their ‘Songs from the Dales’ telling tales of life and loving, and of laughing and enjoying life. Their contemporary folk based music skilfully evokes the beauty of their homeland, carrying you on a lyrical journey through the fells and dales of Yorkshire. Songs of rain, sun, and fells capture that elusive feeling of what it means to escape from the humdrum of everyday life. ... more
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