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1. |
Oh Beautiful Heart
02:44
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Oh beautiful heart
Still as a whisper moored to the shoreline
Oh beautiful heart
Washed in sun that clings to the treeline
Oh beautiful heart
When you were young
Did you run through the fields in the summer?
Oh song that you’ve sung
Floats like a leaf to the mouth of a river
Oh beautiful heart
Go now where we will not reach you
Oh beautiful heart
Go now to the sea
Oh beautiful heart
Far far from me
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2. |
Submarines
03:37
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This was the house that we built
Strong to the wind
White in the harbour sun
Our steps touched this ground
Where weeds now grow
And small staccato veins of raindrops run
So long ago
Arms on the wall
We stood and turned our faces to the foam
Out beneath the waves
Boundless blue
A million metal messengers alone
When do you think they’ll come up for some air
Take a look around and see if someone’s there
When do you think they’ll come up for some air
And lift their heads from their submarines?
Tides took a toll
Stone turned to sand
Plans became moments left behind
Out beneath the waves
Dull heavy grey
You battened down the hatches of your mind
This was the house that you lost
Cut by salt
Storms overdue still came too soon
This was the rail that you held
Gun-metal stairs
Called you down into the gloom
Don’t forget to come up for some air
Take a look around and see if someone’s there
Don’t forget to come up for some air
You can’t live your life in a submarine
There was a house that you built
Strong to the wind
White in the harbour sun
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3. |
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I was born under a northern light
Peering through rooflights at the sun-lines at midnight
Straining my ears to hear the distant horns of ships at night
I was born under a northern light
Come on boys you know you’ve got them on the hop
Remember to stand tall when we send you over the top
Walk slow put out your chest, better the bullets to stop
For you were born under a northern light
You may think me below your high philosophy
Born to be ruled over by those born to rule over me
But when I stare at the horizon you do not see what I can see
For you were not born under a northern light
My feet they will seek the coldest winds when I’m awoken
My eyes they will prefer to see the beauty in the broken
My tongue it will prefer to speak with words that are unspoken
For I was born under a northern light
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4. |
Sailboats
04:08
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Water at sunrise, cliffs gave a view
My father beside me, in silence we knew
How foolish to curse some god who’s not there
For crosses we never decided to bear
No choice but to stand, two shapes on the sand,
As the strength left his hand and he fell to the spray
And drifted away
Another sailboat on the bay
Sit not by my grave, son, gaze not to the sea
My father will live in the man you will be
And your sorrow will not profit me
What more then to say?
We all must one day
Make our own way
Another sailboat on the bay
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5. |
Tall Ships
04:00
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Do you remember how the sun beat from the sky
And how we ran there - who was faster you or I?
We jumped the sea wall, we couldn’t wait to be the one
To make the first call and point the way to everyone
Did we stumble, did we fall onto our hands
Running circles round the statues in the sand
Blue horizon, through the furnace of the light
Sails came shining, our hearts exploded at the sight
Here come the tall ships
See the main sails make the driving wind their friend
Bows won’t fail, gleaming sheets that have no end
No-one to tame us, every wave is cut to foam
No-one can claim us, this whole wide ocean is our home
We ran like the tall ships
Na na na na na na
Na na na na na
Na na
Here we stand looking up at the same sky
Tricked by time, who’s more foolish you or I?
We can’t return, there’ll be no parting of the sea
What have we learned from all these driftwood memories
Of the
Where are you now? Somewhere on this spinning world
Let your eyelids down, let the warm breeze in your hair
Feel the calm, see the white lines of the shore
Reach out your palm and run with me once more
Won’t you run with me once more
Won’t you run with me once more?
We’ll wave to the tall ships
Na na na na na na
Na na na na na
Na na
We’ll wave to the tall ships now
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6. |
Compasses
04:50
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Lost at sea, she gazed
At the stars above, she prayed
To no-one at all, she sighed
Touching the waves
That rolled through the night
“Take my hand, my child”
The old man smiled, “for my god
Has spared your life, and pulled
You up from the flood
That drowned all of your world”
“No, kind sir, I’ll stay
As I am, for your boat, though great and tall
Is blown just like mine, and like me
You will build
Where the wind lets you land"
"And these gales of hail we brave
Are ours to face alone
With our own compasses we hold
In our eyes
To find our own light”
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7. |
Light Will Come
04:31
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I walked upon the orange sands
Sifting grains of copper through my hands
Found a lady standing there
Skin of salt and pearl and charcoal hair
She said “You know that if we take this chance
Some sad embrace, some slow and awkward dance
For fools not lovers let us hang
The shallow song we thought that we could sing
“Look out across these mermaid waves
Upon these lost and lonely sailors’ graves
No matter how the stars align
The sun is always dragged below the line
No matter how we beg or cry
We cannot hold the colour in the sky
No matter to what god we pray
The dark will always cover up the day
“Oh oh oh the night will come
Oh oh oh the night will come”
I looked into her coral eyes
Said: “I do believe you’ve made me realise
I will not cry unto the sun
I will not look for hope from anyone
I will not stand against the night
Or rage against the dying of the light
Upon your words I run aground
At your feet I lay my anchor down
“But when the wind falls from our sails
Our hollow hearts and tired bones have failed
When the moon has withered in the sky
The sun has crawled into a hole to die
When all the stars have breathed their last
And all the planets bleed upon the mast
If then the universe will fold
And every spark will drown in cold
And every circle never turn again
Then damn the dark one dawn to free
Spend the cold night here with me
Beside this black and barren sea
And love will be its own reward you’ll see
“Oh oh oh the light will come
Oh oh oh the light will come”
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8. |
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We set out on the Queen Marie
Full of rum and gold
To do what we’d been told
Bring back pieces of the sun
And with the main sail set on high
The wind blew from the starboard side
We mumbled forth on waters mild
And sailed into the sun
After fifteen months at sea
There was just the cook and me
Counting out the gold
And drinking all the rum
After nineteen months at sea
There was just the ship and me
Counting out my gold
And dreaming of the sun
“Oh have courage!” I did shout
Pointing to the land
In the afternoon
An island made of sun
And with a casket laid with gold
To the shallow shores I rowed
As people gathered in the glow
Shining like the sun
And there they held me to the sky
Carried like the cross of Christ
Burning gold upon my eyes
And raised me to the sun
And as the furnace closed around
All the drowning and the drowned
There the Queen Marie went down
In pieces of the sun
A million souls lit up the night
Golden fireflies in flight
Drifting up and out of sight
And swallowed by the sun
A million years fell by as one
As every father to his son
Gave his heart and returned home
To the caverns of the sun
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9. |
Tides
05:42
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Bright the dawn that breaks our eyes
Wakes us under wondrous skies
Kind the waves that take us to the shore
To walk the paths our fathers walked before
Sweet the sun that warms the land
Sweet the rain that cools our hands
Sweet the sleep that carries us away
Sweet the nights that promise us the day
Strong the wind that filled your sails
Deep your anchor in the gales
True the course you charted through the seas
Good the ground you ploughed and planted seed
Long the walks along the cove
Full the nets your fingers wove
Glad the child who stumbled at your knee
Straight the path you led him through the reeds
By your side
By your side
By your side
By your side
Red the sun that staggers low
Dim the twilight in the glow
Blind the tides that force us to return
And sail over the dark edge of the earth
Cold the waves that sweep the bay
And wash the walls we built away
Far the whispered world where you have gone
To the diamond islands and beyond
Soon the day when we will follow on
Out with the tide
With the tide
Out with the tide
With the tide
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10. |
After the Flood
05:31
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Turn your face unto the sun
Light will die to bring another dawn
Hold on hold on
Pull the stars into your eyes
Raise you up beyond the rising tide
Hold on hold on
Let the waves that break apart
Wash across the oceans of your heart
Hold on hold on
As long as there is life to live
There is love that we can give to you
Hold on hold on
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11. |
On Applecross Ridge
03:51
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There’s a fine white line
Drawn between the ocean and the sky
There’s a fine, fine sign
A sinking sun, the stars roll in behind
On Applecross ridge, I cast ashes to the sea
On Applecross ridge, I set his broken body free
What a thing to share
Paper words, promises of air
What a thing to be
A lifeboat that won’t go into the sea
On Applecross ridge in the setting sun
I do not wait, you do not come
On Applecross ridge in the setting sun
The ghosts are gone, the ghosts are gone
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Ian David Green London, UK
A singer, songwriter and composer from Liverpool, Ian's influences range from folk greats like Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen and
Van Morrison to more contemporary folk / indie / Americana artists such as Damien Jurado, Phosphorescent and Iron & Wine.
With a gift for rich, compelling storytelling and layered lyricism, Ian builds his songs with carefully crafted, evocative and striking language.
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