3.5. The Cutter And The Clan (1987 Ridge Records) 3.5.1. Alba - Scotland |
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3.5.1. Alba - Scotland
Air sgiath a' seoladh nan neoil
'S an domhain liath
Mar dhealbh a' tighinn beo tro na
sgothan
'S mi a' tilleadh gu tir
Alba nam beanntan ard
Nan acraichean lom
Thairis air na lochan mointich
Nan coilltean 's nan gleann
Alba
Alba
Ach 'se sealladh leointe is gann
Tha an seo aig ceann thall an linn
Talamh alainn nan daoine
Fhathast an lamhan duine no dithis
Cuibhlean stolda mu dheas
Na fasaichean a tuath
An taigh-mor falamh an Dun-Eideann
Gun chumhachd gun ghuth
Alba
Alba
Sibhse chuir achadh ri achadh
Taigh ri taigh
Gus nach bi ait anns an tir
An gabh sibh comhnaidh air leth
Ach 's math dhomh bhith seo an drasd
A cur failt air a' bhlas
'San tir a tha cho ur dhomh an diugh
Is a bha i nuair bha mi 'nam phaisd
Alba
Alba
This flight is sailing through the clouds
And the blue heavens
The homeland appears like a developing
photograph
Through the mists as I return to land
I see Scotland of the high mountains
And the empty acres
Flying low across the moorland lochs
The forests and the glens
Scotland
Scotland
But it's a wounding and a hollow sight
Here as we reach the end of the century
The beautiful soil of the people
Still in the hands of the few
I see the wheels of industry at a standstill
And the northern lands wasted
And the empty house in Edinburgh
Without authority or voice
Scotland
Scotland
You that have laid field upon field
House upon house
Till there be nowhere for you to be placed
alone
In the midst of all the earth
But it is good for me to be here now
As I welcome the warmth
In this land that's as exciting for me today
As it was the day I was born
Scotland
Scotland
3-65
3.5.2. The Cutter
When you arrived in Canada you walked the streets
Out of work out of money, prospects bleak
Now the plane comes down from the morning sky
and you touch the land where the fire won't die
Johnny, you're home, man
It's a long road
you drove us down
It's only a moment
Since the diesels turned
Now the blade cuts clean through the island soil
The years roll back and the world grows small
You stand on the banks in the wind and the rain
And all of your money can't hide this pain
Johnny, you're home, man
It's a long road
you drove us down
It's only a moment
Since the diesels turned
The heath flame is burning bright
burning every night
It's winter in Ontario
The wheels that turned us village kids
Still carry through the heaths
They no longer turn for you
So you hold your mother and you bless the air
With the tears of the emigrant, tongue of the Gael
And the plane takes off in a clear blue sky
Life's a long lost list of last goodbyes
Johnny, you're home, man
It's a long road
you drove us down
It's only a moment
Since the diesels turned
3-66
3.5.3. Hearts of Olden Glory
There's thunder clouds
Round the hometown bay
As I walk out
In the rain
Through the sepia showers
And the photoflood days
I caught a fleeting glimpse
Of life
And though the water's
Black as night
The colours of Scotland
Leave you young inside
There must be a place
Under the sun
Where hearts of olden glory
Grow young
There's a vision
Coming soon
Through the faith
That cleans your wound
Hearts of olden glory
Will be renewed
Down the glens
Where the headlands stand
I feel a healing
Through this land
A cross for a people
Like wind through your hands
(Chorus)
(Chorus)
3-67
3.5.4. Pride of the Summer
I still hear the snares in the square
Colours ablaze in the evening
The air was still
Down the stormy hill
It's good to be young and daring
Beat the drum
Beat the drum
Like a heartbeat
Lonely and strong
Beat the drum
I still see the blood on the knees
The camans swing without warning
The lads in white
At the speed of light
It's good to be young and daring
(Chorus)
Across the bay I still hear the strains
The two step loud and Blairing
We walked hand in hand
To the accordion band
It's good to be young and daring
(Chorus)
She was the pride of the summer that year
She was my sweetheart, my lady
We walked the black rock
And we stopped by the loch
It's good to be young and daring
(Chorus)
3-68
3.5.5. Worker for the Wind
Since I was young I've faced this pill
I've worked this land and I always will
Through life and death I've learnt the hill
A worker for the wind
I fake my sheep and cattle days
The endless storm, the months of rain
But this land holds me ball and chain
A worker for the wind
Mary, I'll wait for you
Mary, I'll wait for you
You need heart, you need dreams
Laughter, joy, you need beliefs
But without love you sow an empty field
A worker for the wind
In the night the light grows thinner
The lust for love cuts like shiver
I need to hold you through the winter
A worker for the wind
Mary, I'll wait for you
Mary, I'll wait for you
3-69
3.5.6. Rocket to the Moon
Here hangs an open landscape
A wild and huge frontier
From a harsh and a barren wasteland
Through the grave to the promised field
You came, you trapped, you charted
You laid the railroads and the schemes
And you tamed this land by enterprise
And by the power of your dreams
But you made this Clan great
And you made this nation bloom
And you rose
With your people through the new world
Like a rocket to the moon
From the olden coasts of Ireland
From the Hebridean shores
With the forgotten chosen ones
Running from Europe in droves
(Chorus)
There's a town in Manitoba
They say the windows touch the sky
But across the brine the shipyards close
In this garden flowers die
Still the homelands divide us
Like your blood red brothers of the plains
But where they grieve a candle still burns
A prayer from a flicker to a flame
(Chorus)
3-70
3.5.7. The Only Rose
Between the shifting shadows
In the no-man's zone
There's a bar at the end of the street
Some poor country music
One or two sixties songs
This is the place where the night owls sleep
Oh, loneliness
You're a hard earned crust
You're the night at the end of the day
'Cause you pay your dues
On the road you choose
With the price you have to pay
Down the neon aisles
And the twilight miles
Where the world takes comfort in shame
And all I can hear
Is a voice in my ear
And its calling out your name
Still the silence glows
The four winds blow
And a dark moon rising above
To rest by your side
In the heat of the fire
In the sleep of the night of love
When darkness hangs
On the dirty city
Winter falls on a foreign town
And it's all I can do
To be with you
Tonight as the sun goes down
But I would cross
The ocean wide
I'd walk the mighty foam
If I could lie
In your arms tonight
You're the only rose I know
3-71
3.5.8. Protect and Survive
The red hot sun burns up the hill
The winter's bride, the summer's king
I tramp these acres and I feel
Once upon a time
Then it seemed that everything
You saw and touched and felt was real
You turned the tap and you turned the wheel
Breathing free
Once in a lifetime
You live and love
Once in a lifetime
You die
Once in a moment
The sun goes down
Protect and survive
Now you search the open evening skies
Trace the memory in your eyes
For the prophet's hard rain and the deluge
Lie in tears around your door
Once there were trees and livestock here
A mother's love, the warnings clear
But you chose to turn away from fear
Breathing free
(Chorus)
Protect and survive
Protect and survive
Now there's a faceless cross on a distant hill
A wasted voice, a silent scream
Where the lovers love and the dreamers dream
You stand and dream alone
You took your sacrifice to the gods of war
Traded your children's lives for a mess of gold
And you beat your ploughshares into swords
Breathing free
(Chorus)
3-72
3.5.9. Our Earth was once Green
Across the skies the monuments stand
Shrines of wonder, man worshipping man
Computer ethics mock a dying land
Down below like rats in a cage
Success, survival, two needles in hay
It's Romans One facing Satan’s stare
But mountains
Are holy places
And beauty is free
We can still walk
Through the garden
Our earth was once green
Pull down the forests we need more wood
Extend the grazing we need more food
Burning our bridges before the flood
Out on the oceans where it's relatively safe
It's not so easy being big as a whale
We're all in a race on a bigger scale
But mountains
Are holy places
And beauty is free
We can still walk
Through the garden
Our earth was once green
Homosapien, I've had enough
Homosapien, I'm giving up
At best your wisdom's a shot in the dark
So make yourself pretty, make yourself rich
Leopardskin, sealskin, money and sex
Apartheid, genocide, thalidomide, life
It's your choice
But mountains
Are holy places
And beauty is free
We can still walk
Through the garden
Our earth was once green
3-73
3.5.10. An Uhbal as Airde – The Highest Apple
Comhla rium
A tha thu an drasd
Mo shuilean duinte, mo chuimhne dan
Nam sheasamh a' coimhead
Gach cnoc is gach traigh
Is an siol a dh'fhag thu ann a 'fas
Tha an garradh lan
Le craobhan treun
Le meas a' fas dhuinn ann ri bhuain
Ubhlan abaich
Milis geur
Ach tha aon ubhal nach ruig sinn idir air
Seididh gaoth is dearrsaidh grian
Tro mheas nan craobhan lin gu lin
Ach thig an la is thig an t-am
Airson an ubhal as airde
Air a' chraobh a bhuain
Is co 'nar measg
A mhaireas la
Seachad air am is air oidhche fhein
A liuthad uair
A shreap mi suas
Airson an ubhal as airde chur gu beul
Seididh gaoth is dearrsaidh grian
Tro mheas nan craobhan lin gu lin
Ach thig an la is thig an t-am
Airson an ubhal as airde
Air a' chraobh a bhuain
At present
All you were is with me
My eyes closed, my memory confident
Standing here watching
Each hill and shoreline
With the seed you left
Still growing
The garden is well stocked
With mighty trees
With fruit growing for the whole world
Ripe, sweet
And bitter apples
And the one apple
That is beyond reach
The winds will blow
And the sun will shine
From generation to generation
Through the trees of the garden
But the day and the hour
Will surely come
To take the highest apple
From the knowledge tree
Who amongst us
Can exist a single day
Beyond our own time and our own limits
Countless and futile
Are times I've climbed
To reach and taste
The forbidden fruit
The winds will blow
And the sun will shine
From generation to generation
Through the trees of the garden
But the day and the hour
Will surely come
To take the highest apple
From the knowledge tree