1. |
Affrug
05:08
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Da brakkin water’s rumblin ‘rong’
Like bass strings o a fiddle draan -
Noo dat a still faas oer da land
And I maan go -
Like steady thunder for me mourns
A song o hom
Fae tears an kisses, drams an reels
Da tide dat grips wis by da keel -
Like ebb-stanes dat da affrug rives
Fae solemn shore
An draas dem poorless tae da deep -
Tae sea wance more.
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2. |
Iron and Canvas
04:40
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Back – through cobbled streets and tram lines, tenements and bars
Through the iron doors of the Kingston Shipbuilding Yard
To the wet, windy August of eighteen-ninety-four
And the air roars with hammers on hot steel
The shouts o the foremen and the rumbling of wheels
There’s Clydebridge steel in the stockyard you see on your right
Though supply’s slowed production wi the coal workers’ strike
There’s railcarts of rivets, coils of patent steel wire
There’s red lead crews, caulkin teams
There’s an apprentice who’s been sent to fetch a bucket of steam
Where steel and iron meet with canvas and rope
And the coal furnace kicks out great clouds of black smoke
Where they work like machines by the banks of the Clyde
And a brand new ship launches on every fourth tide.
The four master on the blocks here will soon have her sails
McAllister’s finest, for the fiercest Cape Horn gales
16 miles of rope straight off the Gourock walk
Wi 4,000 tonnes of cargo inside
She’s the latest commission for the Andrew Weir line
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3. |
Hannah Dreams
02:37
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Great masts that tower over harbour walls
Seagulls cry beyond the piers
Crew meet crew with darting gaze, and Hannah dreams
Of blue skies, albatrosses, driving winds
Sacks and sea-chests hauled aboard and stowed
Check sheets and agents and provision carts
Feet that pound on wooden decks, and Hannah and I dream
Of far horizons, inky seas and racing clouds
Of taut canvas, starlit nights and ocean swells
Of singing rigging, swaying trees and distant shores
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4. |
Fly Free
04:41
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I smelt the sand banks drying in the sun
I heard the oystercatcher’s peepin cry
I saw the land scrubbed from our decks
Dark loom of coal dust and grime
I saw a thousand gulls lift and with them my heart - Fly Free
As we passed a river bend
I heard the sounds of the city fade
I saw the shelduck lead her young
Past where the fishing children waved
I saw the line of breakers that divided land from sea - Fly Free
I saw the lamps lit on the coast
As we left their warmth astern
I heard the mast creak, felt the decks tense
I felt the south west wind fill in
I saw the tug let go, and we spread our white wings wide - Fly Free
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5. |
Fair Isle Channel Set
03:16
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6. |
Nerthus
04:19
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Grim blows the north wind when the tern leaves the isles
To face the Atlantic over 8,000 miles
Over fair seas or foul, the contract we share
Is that what is cast she must bear
So come spread out your canvas, I will drive you on
Through grey leaden front lines, to the salt-spray dawn
The palm tree that reaches so high to the sun
On the tropical shore till my summer storms come
Roots ripped from the thin soil, fronds dashed on the beach
Then a whispered sweet zephyr in retreat
So come spread out your canvas, I will drive you free
As flying fish flit across tropical seas
A blast from the south or a breeze fae the north
The cormorant feasts or the cormorant starves
I may rage with abandon or be absent for weeks
Till each parched creature cries for a breeze
So come spread out your canvas, I will drive you on
As the swells start to build from some distant storm. South –
Where it’s winter already, dark, ocean-torn
And a gale fills your topsails, drives you on to Cape Horn
And the waves grow to monsters, south of Cape Horn
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7. |
Cape Horn Set
03:51
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8. |
Not Violent Seas
04:14
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I have heard the raging waters on the darkest nights
Seen balls of lightning hanging in the sky
Where hailstones fall like marbles, and you hold on for your life
As tumbling waves rear breakin close behind
I have looked down from the topsail yard and seen the decks awash
I have seen saltwater freeze hard to the shrouds
I have seen the ship’s head buried in a sea of grey
As the sky rolls dark with angry thunderclouds
It’s not violent seas but cruel disease that tears the life fae William Leslie
coughin, achin, fevered, hurtin,
heavin, pitchin, tossin, turnin,
weakening, dreamin, wastin away
Did you hear the flogging canvas fae your fevered focsle berth
The ‘All Hands’ calls, the sailors’ stamps and yells
Did you dream about your brother on the ‘Jack Snipe’ just last year
Shipwrecked, drowning, in some watery hell
It’s not violent seas but cruel disease that tears the life from William Leslie
The mate reads from his sodden prayer book
As heavy sprays cascade and green seas sweep
Across the plunging deck. The ensign drawn, the body falls
So our shipmate is committed to the deep
It’s not violent seas, but cruel disease that rips the life from William Leslie
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9. |
Into the Pacific
02:41
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10. |
Waters Rising
04:51
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A canvas shroud sinks, links of chain weighted
Winks, descends the deepest blue
The wind like lover’s breath, death-stilled
As wraith of white slips from view
I smelled the burning water, I breathed the aching air,
I felt the thirsting tide engulfing all I ever cared for
Tropic bird flies, cries, echoes stark on blue
To horizons brittle and beyond
And every tongue, dumb through utter drought
Sun’s harsh consuming song
I smelled the burning water, I breathed the aching air
I felt the thirsting tide engulfing all I ever cared for
I saw the sail fleets wither, tattered canvas, rusting hulls
I saw the ditches dug, the world stripped of all light and colour
I smelled the burning water, I breathed the aching air
I felt the thirsting tide engulfing all I ever cared for
I saw the forests toppled, I heard the glaciers fall
I felt the deserts spread, engulfing all engulfing all
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11. |
Bittersweet Landfall
03:53
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The air crackles wi static, da sharp smell o da desert;
A million stars in the darkest of skies
A full press of canvas, da shore lights like fireflies
Da hissin o water runs doon da port side
Dark shapes o islands – Tortuga, San Marcos
Ships lights at anchor, close tae da coast
All crew on deck silent, awaitin
Dan a call – ‘Hard a starboard’ a second – ‘Let Go!’
Sparks fly fae da windlass as chain rips oot, roarin
Da anchor bites in da soft Baja sand
Five thousand tonnes swings like a Newfoundland dory
As we pull up all staandin a mile aff da land.
Blistered hands shakkin write ida logbook
0200 - anchor let go
Officers and crew, aloft tae stow canvas
A Bittersweet Landfall for sure
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12. |
Santa Rosalía Sunrise
02:53
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13. |
On Sails da Barque
04:31
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Fae oot wir crofts we brave da winter raa
Trow beatin hail an lashin gales an aa
An head for lights o hoose, or kirk,or haa
Tae folk weel kent
An tae hear some wird o dem at’s far awa
It gies wis strength
And on sails da barque
And aye we fin a light ati’ da dark
A sombre night, a ship’s Australia boond
Dark an empty ocean aa around
It’s in da dark da brightest stars abound
And if winds are fair
We fin a path ahead lit by da møn
An hope wance mair
And on sails da barque
And aye we fin a light ati’ da dark
Da days o sail are no dat far astern
An still we think on dem at cam afore
Dem at kent da battle roond Cape Horn
Der by wir side,
Da bird at feels da light afore da dawn
Is still wir guide
And on sails da barque
And aye we fin a light ati’ da dark
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Barry Nisbet Scotland, UK
A skilled guitarist, fiddler and songwriter, Shetlander Barry Nisbet is inspired by stories, both historical and
contemporary. Performing in dialect and English, his songs give a sensitive, occasionally humorous take on past and contemporary events.
As likely to be seen at the wheel of a tall ship as on a festival stage, Barry runs the 'Sessions and Sail' musical sailing voyages.
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