1. |
Angus and the Hare
02:59
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The day was clear for Angus and his brother in the field.
They scythed the corn and speculated on a wholesome yield.
The scythe came down upon a frightened hare that leapt and squealed
and bounded bloody off. A sullen spirit was revealed.
It sat and glowered at them from behind a patch of gorse.
“I hear to wound such innocence can bring a ruinous curse.”
“See how it stares now at us. Our fate could not be worse.”
“Only now our grave misfortune will slake it’s vengeful thirst.”
The cow began to give sour milk, the well ran quickly dry.
The house stayed mockit no matter how Angus’s wife did try.
Dark clouds gathered up above and formed a threatening sky.
“Our crops will fail beneath such rain and ruin us!” they cried.
To wise old Mary in a cave by Moray Firth he did run.
To seek her counsel and to do what she said must be done.
“You have to slay whatever spirit’s taken that hare’s form
before it harms you in revenge. Then fortune shall return.”
Angus searched both far and near. He roamed from east to west
to find that hare and kill it so his life could be at rest.
If finding it had been Lord’s trial he failed that stupid test
and went back home to swing his scythe with anger in his chest.
He slipped and fell upon the blade. His leg cut open wide.
A flash of fur, a scurry and a fleeing hare he spied.
He roared a curse at that damned hare and all it’s furry kind.
The hare looked back, shook it’s tail and left the scene behind.
The cow, the well, the house improved. The dark clouds left the air.
Old Angus walks now with a limp and struggles on the stair.
So treat all creatures with respect, with them this world we share.
And that’s the lesson to be took from Angus and the hare.
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2. |
Second Sight
05:47
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I saw you first down at the shore,
standing by the sea.
Time, it was turning in your e’e.
The sun shone down on waters clear,
I longed to be afloat.
I hoisted up the anchor on my boat.
“Go home, go home” I heard you say.
Your voice clear in my head.
So I stayed on land and I fixed my nets instead.
The sky grew dark and rain began.
From fierce wind clouds did run.
My soul would surely have perished in that storm.
Like love, hope and beauty,
science can’t understand it.
There’s those who see the world we know
and those who see beyond it.
I saw you next a decade on.
I woke. You stood by me
on the Prince of Wales in the Southern China Sea.
On this ship so strong I felt secure.
No battle could be lost.
But God, at such an awful human cost.
“Go home, go home” you warned again.
So I took at once to shore.
I swore that I’d never fire those murdering guns no more.
I watched from land a rain of bombs
the Prince of Wales destroy,
killing every man and every boy.
Like death and hate and cruelty,
science can’t understand it.
There’s those who see the world we know
And those who see beyond it.
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3. |
The Seal Maiden
04:41
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My lady’s looking out to sea.
Wondering if that’s where she ought to be.
Voices are calling from far, far away
Will she go back to them or stay?
My lady’s looking back to land.
Wondering if that’s where to make a stand.
Her true love is waiting, wanting to know
Will she return to him or go.
Now that she’s found her skin
She can start up again
Choose where she’s wanting to begin.
I found her naked and afraid.
I barely understood a word that she said.
I fed her and tended her till one day she smiled.
I was already beguiled.
She grew to love me, I’m sure.
I gave my life freely to her.
I hoped that she would forget where she was from.
I always knew this day would come.
Now that she’s found her skin
She can start up again
Choose where she’s wanting to begin.
My lady’s looking out to sea.
My lady’s looking out to sea.
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4. |
The Ringing Stone
04:46
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Let the stone ring across the land.
Let its voice sing out to the sea.
If you e’er need a helping hand
let the stone bring that help to thee.
My grandfather told me once,
by the fireside on his knee,
about the fabled ringing stone
that’s hidden in Tiree.
He told me in his darkest hour,
when lost and all forlorn,
how his life had turned around
when he found the ringing stone.
I sought it once in desperate times
and found it in a glade
with circles etched upon its side
no human hands had made.
I struck it hard like grandad said.
Out rang a bell-like tone
That rode the breeze down to the sea.
It was the call of the ringing stone.
Let the stone ring across the land.
Let its voice sing out to the sea.
If you e’er need a helping hand
let the stone bring that help to thee.
The waves of sound and sea took form
and came to where I stood.
I wept to tell how my bairns would die
from cold and lack of food.
“I see you need help” it replied.
“Return now to your home
and take back with you in your heart
help and love from the ringing stone.”
And so with vigour in my chest
that wasn’t there before
I gazed on kin with strength reborn
and hope forevermore.
Now sat by fireside, on my knee
a grandchild of my own.
I hold her tight and tell her all
about the fabled ringing stone.
Let the stone ring across the land.
Let its voice sing out to the sea.
If you e’er need a helping hand
let the stone bring that help to thee.
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5. |
Callum Mor
07:25
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Dark shapes move at the edge of his sight
and merge with the shadows.
What from Hell is out there tonight?
Only the de’il knows.
His fire has been taken. There’s damp on the floor.
He holds that glass of whisky so tight.
Poor Callum Mor, poor Callum Mor.
A howling wind is banging his gate.
He’s going to let it.
His darkest demons are staying up late.
Sleep? He can forget it.
Is that something behind him. He’ll not turn to be sure.
If it comes it’ll come. He’ll just have to wait.
Poor Callum Mor, poor Callum Mor.
A baleful host sits in judgment on him
with malign intention.
He’s revisiting all of his sins.
There’s no hope of redemption.
There have been so many he could be punished for.
A judge would not know where to begin.
Poor Callum Mor, poor Callum Mor.
The dawn, like mist, seeps into his place
through cracks in a window.
Glazed eyes gaze out from a sunken face
propped on an elbow.
From off in the distance, the screech of a craw.
He greets this day with familiar distaste.
Poor Callum Mor, poor Callum Mor
With his coat flaps ragged like abandoned ships sails
he leans into the breach,
where flotsam, kelp and a broken shell trail
are strewn up from the beach
to where someone or something has put fish around his door.
One eye is watching that got snagged on a nail.
Poor Callum Mor, poor Callum Mor.
This cursed gift that came from the deep
must never be taken.
It’s a judgement handed down and it's time now to sleep.
All hope forsaken.
He walks with those fishes down to the shore
and takes them back with a penitent leap.
Poor Callum Mor, poor Callum Mor.
See his door hanging loose on the latch
like when I last came
and tried to give him a piece of my catch.
Then just leave him alane.
He’s never been gone this long before.
I always kent he was from a bad batch.
Poor Callum Mor, poor Callum Mor.
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6. |
Fairy Silver
04:05
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My Bobby was a working man,
from break of day until evenin’.
He was always there when others began
and still working as they were leaving.
When they asked him “Bobby, man,
why on earth are you still there?”
He held his hour docket in his hand
and said “For fairy silver.”
He bought wee Jeanie a pretty dress
for being awfy good.
he said he’d heard that she was the best
from fairies down in the woods.
I said “Bobby you worked so hard
to buy her that. Why not tell her?”
He said “A lassie needna ken ae work.
She just needs fairy silver.“
My Bobby died a year ago
and soon we ran out of money.
How to get work I did not know.
We begun going hungry.
Jeanie started to fade away.
She said to me “We won’t get far
before the angels take us away,
unless we get some fairy silver.”
I got a job up in the big hoose
cleaning floors and doing dishes.
The Lady there gave me dog’s abuse.
Her husband tried to give me kisses.
I got some bread but could buy no jam.
Ne’er was there meat in the larder.
“You work so hard Ma you must deserve
a wee bit fairy silver.”
I got to thinkin’ it wisnae fair
that some are rich and some are not.
So I gathered all the lady’s jewellery
and hid it in a pot.
I said to Jeanie as they came for me
“Go by yourself to the woods where
a scrap of cloth from your pretty dress
marks where you’ll find fairy silver.”
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7. |
The Hungry Wolf
04:46
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This land belongs to me, as do it’s meek inhabitants.
Generations hand me down this clear entitlement.
My strength and speed and teeth and claws confound all argument.
I feast upon your daily toil. No other precedent.
My age puts grey hairs in my coat, I smell the winter coming.
The gap narrows between me and the goats, as to who’s fastest running.
Must I retire and sink beneath the coming
winter’s sting?
A change of tact, a fresh approach might be the very thing.
I’m a wolf. Yes, a wolf am I.
These goats will always be goats.
We say whatever, do whatever it takes for us to get by.
But should our destinies be so surely wrote.
This age of wisdom I now find myself in does make clear
the need to live together so we thrive from year to year.
Our common good is my desire. You’ve nothing now to fear.
From danger I’ll protect you if you only would draw near.
See how they bound now down the slope like to a newfound friend
Those goats they are such tasty fools. I know how this will end.
One’s close enough. A flash of teeth. On his neck I descend.
I dine. They run and soon forget. Till we do this again.
I’m a wolf. Yes a wolf until I die.
These goats will always be goats.
I’ll say whatever, do whatever it takes to bring you nigh
then sink my teeth in your throat.
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8. |
Fingal's Heroes
02:49
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Fingal and his associates,
heroes one and all.
Trapped between this world and that
by an interrupted call.
Stuck in limbo until they are set free,
until somebody picks up their horn
and finishes summoning them from beyond
so those heroes to this world return.
The scourge of all injustices,
champions of the oppressed.
These men and women once strode over the land
laying all corruption to rest.
Families told to leave their home
for landlord’s pockets to line
might see that landlord come soon bearing them gifts
and telling of his quick change of mind.
Shuggie stopped anyone hurting their horse.
Mary helped the poor stake a claim.
Hector took out that bad man from the mill
who was treating the women with shame.
Mary stopped boys being forced down a pit,
while Eck made tax a fair amount,
and Fingal ne’er tired of confronting power,
holding those who wield it to account.
Kings and nobles grew to fear
the judgment of Fingal on them
and got in the habit of choosing the good
lest they felt Fingal’s wrath again.
I look around this world today
and find I’m thinking of how,
if Fingal’s heroes ever were needed ever
then that time must surely be now.
Donald would stop those bosses
who poison the land and the sea.
And all those in prison for speaking the truth,
our Hamish would set them all free.
Callum would dunt all the ones that spread suffering
while making personal gains.
And Margaret would slap that president
For what he once did to those wains.
So if ever out you are journeying
and you happen upon their horn,
seize it with both hands and press it to your lips
and blow harder than you’ve ever done.
So Fingal and his heroes
at last are set free from beyond
and soon we will see those cold smiles start to flee
from the faces of those who do wrong.
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9. |
The Caoles Road
05:49
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Walk with me along the Caoles Road,
a ruined fort stands by a cave
where it’s said, in darkest chambers
bide the souls of the proud and the brave.
Those who stood and fought in battle,
their wee bit glen to save.
Come with me. We’ll pay tribute to them.
Those who’d die rather than being enslaved.
How I yearn to go among them
Be as one. Feel that I belong.
Their brave deeds survive eternal
Written clear in word and song.
And there’s a line back through the ages
That binds me to them so sure and strong.
I feel their spirit surging through it
Every time I sing one of those songs.
Songs that lead us into battle
then on to dances, stirring love in our hearts
That got us through when we’re despairing
Made us yearn for home whenever we are apart
Sung with friends both old and new ones
Who join with us from near and far
on this road to truth and glory
and raise us up so we can be who we are.
Are we brave as those before us
who have lived on this blessed land?
Who against gun or spiteful prattle
rose as one to take up a stand.
Or have we grown feeble through the ages?
Do we cower ‘neath an oppressing hand?
Walk with me along the Caoles road
And hear that spirit never sounded so grand.
We’ll be singing songs that lead us into battle
then on to dances, stirring love in our hearts
That got us through when we’re despairing
Made us yearn for home whenever we are apart
Sung with friends both old and new ones
Who join with us from near and far
on this road to truth and glory
and raise us up so we can be who we are.
Raise us up so we can be who we are.
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10. |
The White Snake
05:32
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Once there was a king
whose cellars brimmed with plenty.
His subjects toiled the land
their bellies ever empty.
One brave man who dared to question
was forced to bend the knee
and live in servitude.
And there was a snake,
mysterious and hidden,
who’s flesh unlocked the tongue
of beasts to share their wisdom.
“Fetch me now this fabled creature.
I will eat its flesh, gain
dominion supreme.”
Off that broken man
went searching for the serpent.
blindly through the woods
and hills with anguish he went.
Nothing good from King’s new powers
will ever come to me
or those of this land.
He knew not what power
chose his wan direction
through the crushing force
of weakness and dejection
to the place where that snake lay
and gave him strength to stand
and slice off its head.
Weak and close to death
from ravages of hunger.
Without sustenance
he could go on no longer.
The snake’s white flesh quenched his hunger.
A morsel became two
and soon it was gone.
“Rise, oh chosen one”.
declared a voice beside him.
“Listen to our words,
our wisdom and our guidance”
From the woods, creatures emerged
and pledged their loyalty
to unseat the tyrant.
Up sprung the man unbroke
And charged upon a stallion
Back to the palace
Drawing men and beasts around him.
The king did flee into exile.
The man helped build a land
For all the common good.
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Richard Buchanan Scotland, UK
Former bass player with legendary Scottish 90s folk rock under-achievers The Lost Soul Band, Richard now writes, performs and records songs that draw from a wide range of influences.
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