Get all 4 Ninebarrow releases available on Bandcamp and save 15%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of The Waters and the Wild (Digital Edition) | 2018, Releasing The Leaves (Digital Edition) | 2016, While The Blackthorn Burns (Digital Edition), and Kingdom EP (Digital Edition) | 2013.
1. |
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Oh the afternoon both calm and still
The hedgerow bare beneath the hill
Above the oak tree’s lofty frame
Heavy clouds that threaten rain
But below that lonely darksome gloom
The early daffodils in bloom
From the holly bush above the throng
He greets them with his vernal song
From the other trees across the dell
A choir of voices starts to swell
And banish now the thought of rain
And hail the robin, King again!
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2. |
Halsewell
05:28
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Strangely calm on an ocean black
Frozen sails are hanging slack
Deck half covered in ice and snow
Sudden gale begins to blow
Billowing sails are the only view
Left hanging by a lazy crew
Unfurled they will see us drown
Six ton o’ pine comes crashing down
Sailor lad, your days are done
You’re never gonna see an other rising sun
Brave or craven, fool or wise
Water and rock are gonna have your lives!
With a rudder no use and listing fast
Axes topple the second mast
Ink black water in the hold
Five lost in the icy cold
Top mast snaps and breaks apart
Ice inside our beating hearts
Canvas sail is ripped to shreds
Hope fades, panic spreads
Sailor lad, your days are done…
Flinty rocks are looming high
Grey beneath the midnight sky
Battered ship is cleft in half
Men leap from the ensign staff
Hundreds in the roaring waves
Most sink to a watery grave
Some few reach the rocky wall
Away from death begin to crawl
Sailor lad, your days are done…
From above fall hempen rope
Tears of joy and tears of hope
Eighty-eight are helped to flee
Eight score lost to the raging sea
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3. |
Overthrown
05:15
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Passing clouds, thin veil unbroken
Drifting on the ocean
Beneath the standing stones
Fleeting day unravels, unfolds
The sun reveals with gold
A fortress overthrown
Henge and hillfort
Mound and tower
Overthrown by grass and flower
Shadows shift through chalk stream and vale
Orchids trim the ancient trail
To crumbling spire
Henge and hillfort
Mound and tower
Overthrown by grass and flower
Wild fields grow in rough hues of brown
Patchwork drapes the barrow downs
A quilt bestowed on time
Henge and hillfort
Mound and tower
Overthrown by grass and flower
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4. |
Prickle-eye Bush
04:56
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Oh, the prickle-eye bush
It pricks my heart full sore
Oh and if ever I get
out of this prickle-eye bush
Then I never will get in it any more!
Oh hangman stay your hand
Oh stay it for a while
For I think I see my [mother]…
[1—mother, 2—sister, 3—true love ]
...Coming over yonder stile
Oh [mother] have you brought me gold
Or silver to set me free
For to save my body
from the cold, cold ground
And my neck from the gallows tree?
Oh no I haven’t brought you gold
Or silver to set you free
For to save your body
from the cold, cold ground
Or my neck from the gallows tree
Chorus
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5. |
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My dog and me went out one night
For to learn some education
Up jumped a hare and away she ran
Right into some large plantation
She had not gone so very far
Before something stopped her running
Oh and oh! She loudly cried
“Stop a minute your uncle’s coming”
So I took out my little pen knife
And quickly I did paunch her
She turned out one of the female kind
How glad am I, I caught her!
I picks her up and I smooths her down
And I puts her in me keeping
I says to me dog it’s time to be going
While the gamekeepers lie a-sleeping
Away me and my dog did go
Back in to the town
We took that hare to a labouring man
And we sold it for a crown
We went in to some public house
And there we got quite mellow
We spent that crown and another one too
Don’t you think I’m a good-hearted fellow?
Oh I’ve got a dog and a good dog too...
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6. |
Hwome
03:40
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As clouds did ride wi' heästy flight.
An' woods did swäy upon the height,
An' bleädes o' grass did sheäke, below
The hedge-row bremble's swingèn bow,
I come back hwome where winds did zwell,
In whirls along the woody gleädes,
On primrwose beds, in windy sheädes,
To Burnley's dark-tree'd dell.
There hills do screen the timber's bough,
The trees do screen the leäze's brow,
The timber-sheäded leäze do bear
A beäten path that we do wear.
The path do stripe the leäze's zide,
To willows at the river's edge.
Where hufflèn winds did sheäke the zedge
An' sparklèn weäves did glide.
An' where the river, bend by bend,
Do dräin our meäd, an' mark its end,
The hangèn leäze do teäke our cows,
An' trees do sheäde em wi' their boughs,
An' I the quicker beät the road,
To zee a-comèn into view,
Still greener vrom the sky-line's blue,
Wold Burnley our abode.
William Barnes
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7. |
Thirteen Turns
05:07
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Some walked miles to seek me out
To take away their ills, their pains
But now they walk to Gallows Hill
To see me hang in wind and rain
That woman with the bright blue eyes
Hate and fear upon her face
I helped to birth her only son
She clutches now in fierce embrace
Take her to the Gallows Hill
The mud and rain and evening chill
Fold the rope with double bight
Thirteen turns now make it tight
Walk her barefoot up the track
Below the storm clouds swelling black
Fold the rope with double bight
Thirteen turns now make it tight!
That boy with the unruly hair
Last month a fever gripped him tight
The willow bark I offered
Kept him safe and saw him through the night
Take her to the Gallows Hill...
That man with weather-beaten face
He visited in early spring
Healed aching limbs with snowdrops dried
But now he comes to watch me swing!
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8. |
The Waters and the Wild
04:19
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Come away, O human child!
To the waters and the wild
With a faery, hand in hand,
For the world’s more full of weeping
Than you can understand
Where dips the rocky highland
Of Sleuth Wood in the lake
There lies a leafy island
Where the flapping heron wakes
Where she’ll never feel the rubble’s kiss
Upon her shoeless feet
Or see the beauty of a winter’s night
While sleeping on the street
Where the wave of moonlight glosses
All the dim grey sands with light
Oh we’ll weave our olden dances
‘Til the moon has taken flight
Where she’ll never feel the tight embrace
Of hunger and of shame
As she queues and waits for handouts
Not a penny to her name
Where the wandering water gushes
From the hills above Glencar
In the pools among the rushes
That scarce could bathe a star
Where she'll never hear the greeting
From the muzzle of a gun
Or see the blossom of explosions
As the dust obscures the sun
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9. |
Row On
03:11
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Clouds are upon the summer sky
There’s thunder in the wind
Pull on, pull on and homeword hie
Ne’er give one look behind
Row on, row on — another day
May shine with brighter light
Ply, ply the oars and pull away
There’s dawn beyond the night
Bear where thou goest the word of love
Say all that words can say
Changeless affection, strength to prove
But speed upon the way
Like yonder river would I glide
To where my heart would be
My bark would soon outsail the tide
That hurries to the sea
But yet a star shines constant still
Through yonder cloudy sky
And hope as bright my bosom fills
From faith that cannot die
Row on, row on, God speed the way
Thou canst not linger here
Storms hang upon the closing day
Tomorrow may be clear
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10. |
Gather It In
04:50
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When the wheat’s ripe
And the harvest begins
Go the fields and gather it in
Leaves on the breeze
And the sun on our skin
Go to the fields and gather it in
When the heather bells ring
and the rowan is red
It’s down through the fields
to the harvest we’ll tread
Past overgrown hedgerows
and fruit-laden boughs
We’ll come to the farm
through an archway of flowers
Yesterday evening
While a harvest moon shined
We worked in its light
And our hooks we did grind
Now scythes to the front
And children behind
Away to the cornfields
to reap and to bind
When our wheat’s in
Oats and barley are bound
Success to the worker
Who ploughs through the ground
And from the last sheaf
A corn dolly we’ll bring
A home for the spirit
Until the next spring
When night comes on
To the farmhouse we’ll steer
We’ll have a good supper
And drink the strong beer
And wishing the farmer
Such blessings in life
In drinking a health
Unto him and his wife
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11. |
Sing a Full Song
05:05
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If only the moon could cry
If only the stars could mourn
If only their tears filled the sky
If they only could hold back the dawn
If the night were a night without end
If the day would not flourish so soon
Then our love would sing its full song
‘Til the end of the very last tune
Oh but I must ride with the sun
And the sun must ride as he please
And the wind which brought me to you
Must carry me over the seas
And the fire which forged love so pure
Will fire the brand of regret
For never such love should endure
But never such love can forget
For with you I should never want more
With you I should never need none
With you our love would be sure
When all other loving be done
And tonight we have seen the moon cry
And tonight we have heard the stars mourn
And tonight have our tears filled the sky
But they never can hold back the dawn.
John Kirkpatrick
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