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1 Recruited Collier
2 Ned On The Hill
3 Lorry Ride
4 Queen & The Soldier
5 Courting Is A Pleasure
6 Constant Lovers
7 Dark-Eyed Sailor
8 Hunting The Hare
9 Plains Of Waterloo
10 Exile
"What's the matter with you, me lass, and where's your dashing Jimmy?"
"Them soldier boys have picked him up and taken him far from me,
Last payday, he went into town and them red-coated fellows,
Enticed him in and made him drunk, and he'd better gone to the gallows.
The very sight of his cockade, it sets us all a-cryin',
And me I nearly fainted twice--I thought that I was dyin',
Me father said he'd pay the smart and he'd run for the Golden Guinea,
But the sergeant swore he kissed the book, so now they've got young Jimmy.
When Jimmy talks about the wars, it's worse than death to hear him.
I must go out to hide me tears, because I cannot bear him.
A Brigadier or a Grenadier he says they're sure to make him,
So now he jibes and cracks his jokes and bids me not forsake him.
As I walked o'er yon stubbled field--below where runs the seam,
I think on Jimmy hewing there, but it was all a dream.
He hewed the very coils we burn, so when this fire I'm lighten',
To think the lumps was in his hands--it sets me heart a-beating.
So break me heart and then it's o'er, oh break me heart, me dearie,
As I lie in this cold, cold bed, of the single life I'm weary."
Dark is the evening, silent the hour.
Who is the minstrel by yon lonely tower,
Whose harp is so tenderly thrusting with skill?
Oh, who can it be but Ned on the Hill.
Who sings lady love, come to me now,
Come and live merrily under the bow,
And I'll pillow thy head where the fairies tread
If thou wilt but wed to Ned on the Hill.
Ned on the Hill has no castle or hall
No spearman or bowman to come to his call,
But one little archer with exquisite skill
Has shot a bold shaft for Ned on the Hill.
Who sings lady love, come to me now,
Come and live merrily under the bow,
And I'll pillow thy head where the fairies tread
If thou wilt but wed to Ned on the Hill.
It's hard to escape from this fair lady's bower
For high are the windows and guarded the tower,
But there's always a way where there is a will
So Helen is off with Ned on the Hill.
Who sings lady love, come to me now,
Come and live merrily under the bow,
And I'll pillow thy head where the fairies tread
If thou wilt but wed to Ned on the Hill.
Oh my love is a tall and a handsome man, the best you'll see,
And he's gone away to the plantation to pick coffee.
The recruiter says he won't come back, I must no longer bide,
But I'm waiting here until the day of the lorry ride.
'Cos my days are hard, my nights are slow, and I am so alone,
I'll dream a dream that'll never end, 'til he comes home.
The recruiter said the odds are low, the work's so hard,
And he won't get through the long hard night, the hours after dark,
And that in the fields he'll breath the fumes of the death insecticide
And even still he won't survive the lorry ride.
'Cos my days are hard, my nights are slow, and I am so alone,
I'll dream a dream that'll never end, 'til he comes home.
Oh my love he must work a twelve hour day beneath the sun
And he's working there for three long months-that's when he's done.
And he'll sleep beside a dying man who's weeping from the burns.
I fear my love won't be so young when he returns.
'Cos my days are hard, my nights are slow, and I am so alone,
I'll dream a dream that'll never end, 'til he comes home.
'Cos my days are hard, my nights are slow, and I am so alone,
I'll dream a dream that'll never end, 'til he comes home.
A soldier came knocking upon the Queen's door.
He said, "I am not fighting for you anymore."
And the Queen know she'd seen his face some place before
And slowly she led him inside.
He said, "I've watched your palace up here on the hill
And I've wondered who's the woman for whom we all kill,
But I'm leaving tomorrow and you can do what you will,
Only first I am asking you 'Why?'"
Down a long, narrow hall he was led,
Into her room with her tapestries red,
And she never once took the crown from her head,
And she asked him then to sit down.
He said,"I see you now and you are so very young,
But I've seen more battles lost than I've seen battles won
And I've got this intuition says it's all for your fun
So now will you tell me, 'Why?'"
Well the young Queen she fixed him with an arrogant eye,
She said, "You won't understand and you may as well not try"
But her face was a child's and he thought she would cry
And she closed herself up like a fan.
She said, "I have swallowed a secret thread,
It cuts me inside and often I've bled,
And he laid his hands then on the top of her head
And he bowed her down to ground.
"Tell me, how hungry are you, how weak you must feel
As you are living here alone and you are never revealed,
I won't march again on your battlefield
And he took her to the window to see.
Well the sun it was gold thought the sky it was grey.
She wanted more than she ever could say
But she knoew how it frightened her and she turned away
And she would not look at his face again.
He said, "I want to live as an honest man,
To get all I deserve and the give all I can,
And to love a young woman who I don't understand
Your Highness, your ways are very strange."
But the crown it had fallen and she thought she would break
And she stood there, ashamed, of how her heart ached,
And she took him to the doorstep and she asked him to wait,
She would only be a moment inside.
Out in the distance her order was heard
And the soldier was killed still waiting for her word.
While the Queen went on strangling in the solitude she prefered.
The battle continued on.
A soldier came knocking upon the Queen's door.
He said, "I am not fighting for you anymore."
And the Queen know she'd seen his face some place before
And slowly she led him inside.
Oh courting is a pleasure between my love and I.
And down in yon green valley I'll meet her by and by.
It was down in yon green valley she is my heart's delight.
Oh Molly, lovely Molly, I will stay till the broad daylight.
Oh going to church last Sunday my truelove she passed me by.
I knew her mind had altered by the roving of her eye.
I knew her mind had altered by a lad of high degree,
Oh Molly, lovely Molly, your looks have wounded me.
Then come her love, WIlly, with a bottle in his hand,
Saying, "Drink this, lovely Molly, for our love can never stand."
Saying, "Drink this, lovely Molly, for the bottle must go free,
Ten guineas I will wager that married we ne'er shall be.
So never marry a fair young maid with a dark and roving eye,
Just you kiss her and you embrace her, never tell her the reason why.
Just you kiss her and embrace her, till you cause her heart to yield.
For a faint-hearted soldier can never gain the field.
So fair they well Ballymoney, likewise you sweet Manshore,
And fair thee well to the Cusky Braes, will I never see you more?
For America lies far away, that land I must go see.
And may all bad luck attend the one who parted my love and me.
And may all bad luch attend the one who parted my love and me."
A sailor courted a farmer's daughter that lived convenient to the Isle of Man,
And mark good people, what followed after,
A long time courting and nothing done.
A long time courting but still discoursing of things concerning the ocean wide.
He said, "My darling, at our next meeting if you'll be constant
I'll make you my bride."
As for sailors, I don't admire them because they sails in so many parts.
First they love you and then they slight you
And leave you behind with a broken heart.
Don't say so my dearest jewel, I never intended to serve you so.
I have once more to cross the ocean, you know, my darling, that I must go.
The news was carried unto his mother before he set one foot on board,
That he was courting a farmer's daughter whose aged parents could not afford
One penny portion, down to the ocean, like one distracted his mother ran.
If you don't forsake her, your bride not make her,
I will dosown you to be my son.
Mother, Mother, you're in a passion, I'm sorry you have spoke too late.
Don't you remember in your first beginning
My father married you from a servant maid.
Don't you despise her, I mean to rise her,
As my own father to you has done.
And I will take you, my bride I'll make her, you may disown me to be your son.
When his truelove she heard the story, straight to the ocean then she did run.
Saying in a passion, you need not mind her,
We shall have money when they have none.
Money or not, you are my lot.
You have my heart and my free good will,
And I will take you,
Let my scolding mother say what she will.
The sailor married his farmer's daughter, they live contented in the Isle of Man,
And mark good people what followed after, a long time courting and all was done.
A long time courting and still discoursing of things concerning the ocean wide.
He said my darling, my dearest jewel, I love dearly my constant bride,
constant bride, constant bride, my constant bride.
As I roved out sone evening fair,
It being summer to take the air.
I spied a sailor and lady gay,
And I stood to listen, and I stood to listen
To hear what they might say.
He said, "Fair lady, why do you roam?
The day is spent and the night is on."
She heaved a sigh while tears did flow.
"For me dark-eyed sailor, for me dark-eyed sailor
So young and stout and bold.
Tis seven long years since he left this land.
A ring he took of his lily-white hand.
One half the ring is still here with me,
But the other's rolling, but the other's rolling
At the bottom of the sea."
He said, "Can't you drive him right out of your mind?
Another young man you surely can find.
Love turns aside and cold does grow
Like a winter's morning, like a winter's morning
When the hills are white with snow."
She said, "I will never forsake my dear
Although we're parted this many a year
Gentile he was and no villain like you
To induce a maiden, to induce a maiden
To slight the jacket of blue"
Then half of the ring did young William show,
She ran distracted in grief and woe
Saying, "William, William, I have gold in store
For me dark-eyed sailor, for me dark-eyed sailor
Who's proved his over throw."
There is a cottage by yonder lee,
This couple is married and does agree.
So maids be loyal when your love is away
For a coudy morning, for a cloudy morning
Brings in a sunny day.
Well, all the yelping of hounds a skelping
Along the cover and out through the back.
Oh the galloping, oh the walloping, oh the cry of the Galaway Jack.
Off like a feather, he floats o'er the heather,
And Blackberry calls him a tune in his track.
There's Spot and Spider and Beauty beside her,
Then Red Rake and the rest of the pack.
Well, now they're losing him, now they're finding him,
Now they're winding him round by the stack.
Hark the hunt, to the hind we follow, and whoop and holler and for'ard and back.
Sure there's none brisker who faint cocked a whisker
Nor bustles more brisker than yonder old jack.
One more double across the stubble
And he's in trouble and tossed by the pack.
Then Brayer and Stayer are away to the stable
With jovial huntsmen the table attack.
It's meat we're munching and oats they're crunching
As bales are emptied and bottles are cracked.
Here's to the master none fairer, none faster,
To steady the ready and screw up the slack.
Here's to the hunt with your glasses a jingle,
With joy come mingle and here's to the pack.
Come all you loyal lovers, I pray you to draw near
To listen to verse or two I mean to let you hear.
In the praises of a worthy youth who's honest, fair and true,
Who fought through Spain and Portugal and fell at Waterloo.
The young man that I sing about is proper tall and trim,
His body like the wax work, there's few could equal him.
His cheeks they were a rosy-red, his eyes the deep, dark blue.
With my charming fair, none could compare on the Plains of Waterloo.
When the fight was at its fiercest they fought with hearts and will,
When guns did loudly rattle and shot and shell did kill.
My love he fell a victim 'mongst the thousands that they slew.
Far from his own to hear him moan on the Plains of Waterloo.
My love he lay the whole night long, my love he lay in pain.
When the war was spread, he raised his head, and daylight came again.
When that his comrades found him 'mongst the thousands that they slew
He discoursed, my love, and hour or more, on the Plains of Waterloo.
"Farewell my comrades, likewise my sweetheart."
These were the very words he said and then he did depart.
They dug my love a silent grave, the tears they were not few.
And they laid him in the cold clay on the Plains of Waterloo.
Although he's gone and left me no other will I take.
Through lonesome woods and shady groves I wander for his sake.
Through lonesome woods and shady groves I'll wander through and through,
And I'll mourn for him that's dead upon the Plains of Waterloo.
I feel a shadow passing over me that could stay for ever more.
Like a wave I'm breaking far at sea, there's no-one to hear the roar.
And the days are drifting into seasons, they're the hardest I have known.
A million spaces in the earth to fill, but there's no going home, no going home.
And I can dream before the break of day that I am back with you again.
Then the morning blows it all away and leaves and echo of your name.
Still a thousand miles lies between us and the waking up alone.
What if I could cross a hundred borders-there's no going home, no going home.
When the thunder breaks the empty sky, I shall be there.
No-one to hold you when the storm birds fly, is ther no-one left to care?
I'm searching rumours with my hollow plans, when all I wanted is what's mine.
I'm lost and lonely in this foreign land. I'm left too far behind the lines.
I want to tear down these walls between us and I can't make it alone.
A million spaces in the earth to fill, here's a generation waiting still,
We've got year after year to kill, but there's no going home, no going home.
No going home, no going home, no going home, no going home.
