Tracks:
The Water is Wide
Rolling Hills Of The Border
Both Sides The Tweed
White Squall
Caledonia
Rigs O' Rye
Lily Of The West
Jeanne C.
The Mary Ellen Carter
Forty-Five Years
No Mans Land
Credits:
Alex Beaton – vocals, guitar
Eric Rigler – highland pipes, uillean pipes
Bob Gothat – guitar
Bart Samolis – bass
Alasdair Fraser - fiddle
The water is wide I can’t cross o’er
And neither have I wings to flyBuild me a boat that can carry two
And both shall row my love and I
For love is gentle and love is kind
Just like a flower when first it’s new
But love grows old and waxes cold
And fades away like morning dew
There is a ship and she sails the sea
She’s loaded deep as deep can be
But not as deep as the love I’m in
I know not if I sink or swim
I leaned my back up against an oak
Thinking it was a trusted tree
But first it bent and then it broke
And so did love prove false to me
Chorus:
When I die bury me low
Where I can hear the Bonnie Tweed flow
A sweeter place I never did know
Than the rolling hills of the border
I have traveled far and wide
seen the Hudson and the Clyde
I’ve courted by Loch Lomond’s side
But I dearly love the border
Chorus
It’s well that I can mind the day
With my lass I stroll by the Tay
But all its beauty fades away
Among the hills of the border
Chorus
There’s a certain peace of mind
Bonnie lassies there you’ll find
The men are hard but still so kind
Among the hills of the border
Chorus
What’s the spring breathing jasmine and rose
What’s the summer with all its gay train
What’s the splendor of autumn to thoseWho’ve bartered their freedom for gain
Chorus
Let the love of our land’s sacred rights
To the love of our people succeed
Let friendship and honour unite
And flourish on both sides the Tweed
No sweetness there senses can cheer
Which corruption and bribery bind
No brightness the sun can e’er clear
For honours the sum of the mind
Chorus
Let virtue distinguish the brave
Place riches in lowest degree
Think them poorest who can be a slave
Them richest who dare to be free
Chorus
Now it’s just my luck to have the watch,
With nothing left to do
But watch the deadly waters glide
As we roll north to the Soo
And wonder when they’ll turn again
And pitch us to the rail
And whirl off one more youngster in the gale
The kid was so damned eager
It was all so big and new
You never had to tell him twice
or find him work to do
And evenings on the mess deck
He was always first to sing
And show us pictures of the girl he’d wed in spring
Chorus
But I told that kid a hundred times,
Don’t take the lakes for granted
They go from calm to a hundred knots
So fast they seem enchanted
But tonight some red-eyed Wiarton girl
Lies staring at the wall
And her lovers gone into a white squall
Now it’s a thing that us old timers know
In a sultry summer calm
There comes a blow from nowhere
And it goes off like a bomb
And a fifteen thousand tonner
Can be thrown upon her beam
While the gale takes all before it with a scream
The kid was on the hatches,
Lying staring at the sky
From where I stood I swear I could see tears fall from his eyes
So I hadn’t the heart to tell him
That he should be on a line
Even on a night so warm and fine
Chorus
When it struck, he sat up with a start,
I roared to him get down
But for all that he could hear
I could as well not made a sound
So I clung there to the stanchions
And I felt my face go pale
As he crawled hand over hand along the rail
I could feel her heeling over
With the fury of the blow
I watched the rail go under
Then so terrible and slow
Then like some great dog,
She shook herself and roared upright again
Far over side, I heard him call my name
Chorus
So it’s just my luck to have the watch
With nothing left to do
But watch the deadly waters glide
As we roll north to the Soo
And wonder when they’ll turn again
And pitch us to the rail
And whirl off one more youngster in the gale
Chorus
I don’t know if you can see the changes that have come over me
These last few days I’ve been afraid that I might drift away
I’ve been telling old stories and singing old songs
That make me think of where I come from
And that’s the reason why I seem so far away today
Chorus
Let me tell you that I love you and I think about you all the time
Caledonia you’re calling me, I’m coming home
And if I should become a stranger
You know that would make me more than sad
Caledonia you’ve been everything I’ve ever had
I have roved and kept on moving, proved the point that I needed proving
Lost the friends that I needed losin’, found others on the way
I’ve kissed the ladies, left them crying, stolen dreams, there’s no denying
I have traveled hard with my conscience flying somewhere in the wind
Chorus
Now I’m sitting here before the fire, the empty room and the forest choir
The flames that couldn’t get any higher,
Well they’re withered now, they’re gone
But I’m steady thinkin’ my way is clear, and I know what I’ll do tomorrow
My hands are shaking and the kisses flow,
But I will disappear
Chorus
‘Twas in the month of sweet July
Before the sun had pierced the sky
I sat between twa rigs o’ rye
And I heard twa lovers talking
Noo the lad says lassie I must away
For I have no longer time to stay
But I’ve a word or two to say
If you’ve the time to tarry
Yer faither o’ you he takes guid care
Yer mother combs down yer yellow hair
Yer sister say that ye’ll get nae share
If you gang wi me a stranger
Let my faither fret and my mother frown
My sisters words I do disown
If they were dead and below the ground
I would gang wi you a stranger
O lassie lassie yer fortunes sma’
And maybe it will be none at a’
O I’m no match for you of a’
Go lay yer love on another
Now this lassies courage it began to fail
Her rosy cheeks they grew wan and pale
The tears came tricklin’ doon like hail
Or a heavy shower in the summer
He’s taken his handkerchief o’ linen fine
He’s dried her cheeks and he’s kissed her eyen
Saying lassie lassie ye shall be mine
For I said it a’ tae try ye
This couple they are married noo
And they’ve got bairnies one and two
They live in Brechin the winter through
Aye and in Montrose in the summer
When first I came to Ireland
Some pleasure for to find
It’s there I spied a damsel fair
Most pleasing to my mind
Her rosy cheeks and sparkling eyes
Like arrows pierced my breast
And they called her lovely Molly O,
The Lily of the West
One day as I was walking
Down by a shady grove
I spied a lord of high degree
Conversing with my love
And she sang a song delightfully
While I was sore oppressed
Saying I bid adieu to Molly 0
The Lily of the West
I stepped up with my rapier
And my dagger in my hand
And I dragged him from my false love
And boldly did bid him stand
But being mad with desperation
I swore I’d pierce his breast
I was then deceived by Molly O
The Lily of the West
I then did stand my trial
And boldly I did plea
A flaw was in my indictment found
And that soon had me free
That beauty bright I did adore
The judge did her address
Now go you faithless Molly 0
The Lily of the West
Now that I’ve gained my liberty,
A rovin’ I will go
I’ll ramble through old Ireland
And travel Scotland o’er
Though she thought to swear my life away,
She still disturbs my rest
Oh I still must style her Molly O
The Lily of the West
Come all ye lads draw near by me
That I be not forsaken
This day was lost the Jeannie C.
And my living has been taken
I’ll go to sea no more
We set out this day in the bright sunrise
The same as any other
My son and I and old John Price
In the boat named for my mother
I’ll go to sea no more
Now it’s well you know what the fishing has been
It’s been scarce and hard and cruel
But this day, by God, we sure caught cod
And we sang and we laughed like fools
I’ll go to sea no more
I’ll never know what it was we struck
But strike we did like thunder
John Price gave a cry and pitched over side
Now it’s forever he’s gone under
I’ll go to sea no more
A leak we’ve sprang let there be no delay
If the Jeannie C. we’re saving
John Price is drowned and slipped way
So I’ll patch the hole while you’re bailing
I’ll go to sea no more
But no leak I found from bow to hold
No rock it was that got her
But what I found made me heart stop cold
For every seam poured water
I’ll go to sea no more
My God I cried as she went down
That boat was like no other
My father built her when I was nine
And he named her for my mother
I’ll go to sea no more
And sure I could have another made
In the boat shop down in Dover
But I would not love the keel they laid
Like the one the waves roll over
I’ll go to sea no more
So come all ye lads draw near to me
That I be not forsaken
This day was lost the Jeannie C.
And my whole life has been taken
I’ll go to sea no more
She went down last October in a pouring driving rain
The skipper he’d been drinking and the mate he felt no pain
Too close to three mile rock and she was dealt her mortal blow
And the Mary Ellen Carter settled low
There were just us five aboard her when she finally was awash
We worked like hell to save her all heedless of the cost
And the groan she gave as she west down it caused us to proclaim
That the Mary Ellen Carter would rise again
Well the owners wrote her off, not a nickel would they spend
She gave twenty years of service, boys, then met her sorry end
But insurance paid the loss to us, so let her rest below
Then they laughed at us and said we had to go
But we talked of her all winter, some days around the clock
She’s worth a quarter million, afloat and at the dock
And with every jar that hit the bar, we swore we would remain
And make the Mary Ellen Carter rise again
Chorus:
Rise again rise again, that her name not be lost to the knowledge of men
All those who loved her best and were with her ‘til the end
Will make the Mary Ellen Carter rise again
All spring now we’ve been with her on a barge lent by a friend
Three dives a day in a hard hat suit and twice I’ve had the bends
Thank God it’s only sixty feet and the currents here are slow
Or I’d never have the strength to go below
But we’ve patched her rents, stopped her vents, dogged hatch and porthole down
Put cables to her, ‘fore and aft and girded her around
Tomorrow, noon, we hit the air and then take up the strain
And make the Mary Ellen Carter rise again
For we couldn’t leave her there, you see, to crumble into scale
She’d saved our lives so many times, living through the gale
And the laughing, drunken rats who left her to a sorry grave
They won’t be laughing in another day
And you, to whom adversity has dealt the final blow
With smiling bastards, lying to you everywhere you go
Turn to, and put Out all your strength of arm and heart and brain
And, like the Mary Ellen Carter rise again!
Chorus
Where the earth shows its bones of wind broken stone
And the sea and the sky are one
I’m caught out of time, my blood sings with wine
And I’m running naked in the sun
There’s God in the trees, I’m weak in the knees
And the sky is a painful blue
I’d like to look around, but honey, all I see is you
The summer city lights will soften the night
‘Till you’d think that the air is clear
And I’m sitting with friends where forty-five cents
Will buy another glass of beer
He’s got something to say, but I’m so far away
That I don’t know who I’m talking to
‘Cause you just walked in the door, and honey, all I see is you
Chorus
And I just want to hold you closer than I’ve ever held anyone before
You say you’ve been twice the wife and you’re through with life
Ah but honey what the hell’s it for
After twenty-three years you’d think! could find a way
To let you know somehow
That I want to see your smiling face forty-five years from now
So alone in the lights on stage every night
I’ve been reaching out to find a friend
Who knows all the words, sings so she heard
And knows how all the stories end
Maybe after the show she’ll ask me to go
Home with her for a drink or two
Now her smile lights her eyes, but honey, all I see is you
Chorus
Well, how do you do young Private Macbride
Do you mind if I sit here down by your graveside
And rest for awhile ‘neath the warm summer sunI’ve been walking all day and I’m nearly done
I see by your gravestone you were only nineteen
When you joined the Great Fallen is 1916
I hope you died quick and I hope you died clean
Or William Macbride was it slow and obscene
Chorus:
Did they beat the drum slowly, did they play the fife lowly
Did the rifles fire o’er ye as they lowered you down
Did the bugle sound the last post and chorus
Did the pipes play the Flowers of the Forest
Did you leave any wife or a sweetheart behind
In some faithful heart is your memory enshrined
Although you died back there in 1916
In that faithful heart are you forever nineteen
Or are you a stranger without even a name
Enclosed there forever behind some glass pane
In an old photograph torn, tattered and stained
And fading to yellow in a brown leather frame
Chorus
Oh the sun now it shines on the Green Fields of France
There’s a warm summer breeze it makes the Red Poppies dance
And see how the trenches are vanished ‘neath the plow
There’s no gas, no barbed wire, there’re no guns firing now
But here in this graveyard, it’s still no mans land The countless white crosses in mute witness stand
To mans blind indifference to his fellow man
And a whole generation that was butchered and damned
Chorus
Ah young Private Macbride I can’t help wonderin’ why
Do those that lie here know why they died
And did they believe when they answered the call
Did they really believe that this war would end war
Ah the sorrow, the suffering, the glory, the shame
The killing and the dying were all done in vain
For young William Macbride it all happened again
And again and again and again and again
Chorus
