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. |
The Sea
04:24
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We used to be nomads
We travelled the land
Watching our herd with fur cap in hand
Our nights they were starless
We slept in the caves
Away from the sky –
But in sight of the waves
But soldiers they came
With short sword and shield
Cutting us down
In the dust, in the field
Those who were left
Were sent riding forth
Towards rain, towards rock
To watch over the North
The Empire it crumbles
And we freeze in the rain
These mountains, these rivers will always remain
Now we are leaving with hopes to be free
South-East to our homes
The warmth and
The Sea!
Upon rock and with rock
We built our new homes
Four hundred leagues, left our families alone
We’ve garrisoned the mountain
We’ve garrisoned the cold
We think how our wives
and our children grow old
We came here with horses
Five hundred strong
South of the wall the journey was long
In heather and bracken
We’ve looked to the pass
Winter is coming –
And we are the last
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2. |
Summer Fires
04:22
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Look to the hills behind the field
Beyond the corn, our coming yield
And see between the windswept briars
The dancing flames of Summer Fires
You jump high,
But I’ll jump higher
We’ll dance tonight
Across the fire
We’ll lead the ox up the winding track
Until we see the outline black
Of the village church its tall, dark spire
We’ll walk that beast around the fire
We’ll tie the ox to the hawthorn tree
And hitch our clothes up to our knee
As the flames they move in spritely dance
We’ll hold back Winter’s slow advance
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3. |
Knightwood
04:06
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In Winter I stumbled through the snow
Up to the place where we used to go
In warmer days to find the shade
Offered by these boughs, within this glade
Each passing day they take these trees
To put more men upon the seas
In Spring I trod the vibrant green
Up to that spot where once we’d seen
Those orchids blossom bright and rare
And you placed flowers in my hair
Each passing day they take these trees
To put more men upon the seas
In Summer I came to feel the breeze
That was fresh and sweet
through sun-drenched leaves
I sat my back against this bark
And dream’t of you on seas so dark
Each passing day they take these trees
To put more men upon the seas
Our memories ripped from this place
But I swear I’ll not forget your face
In Autumn I wade the shrouded ground
While boughs above sway with the sound
That conjures up the ocean, cold
That bears you brave and bold!
Each passing day they take these trees
To put more men upon the seas
Our memories ripped from this place
But I swear I’ll not forget your face
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4. |
Seige
03:19
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My Lady’s gown is midnight black
On hearth and hall she turns her back
With her servants and soldiers five
She watches as those distant lights arrive
No-one’s coming when you call
You stand alone upon the wall
No-one’s coming when you cry
You stand as one
Or all will die
Those torches wind across the heath
And stop before the gate beneath
They demand our cannon, our walls unmanned
Or face our deaths here we stand
As starless night begins to fall
She stands beside us on the wall
She commands us “Fire!” upon the foe
They’ll scatter from the gate below
So we’ll ram the powder, charge and ball
We’ll throw hot embers from the wall
We’ll place the slow match in the quill
Give fire and blow them all to hell!
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5. |
The Weeds
03:51
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I look over this land and recall in my mind
How we planted those fields in happier times
Sowing gold corn and barley
at the start of the Spring
As we tilled earth together
And dream’t what our harvest would bring
But I was foolish and weak and I cast you aside
Now our fields they have withered,
my spirit has died
Now the wind whistles through
the old mortar and stone
And I sit here and watch
as The Weeds lay their claim to our home
And they grow, grow, grow
They plot to overthrow
I’ve boarded the windows and given the deeds
To the brambles, the creepers, The Weeds.
By the Green Poison Ivy
my house has been ‘sacked
Faces of my three children
hang crooked and cracked
And the Pink Rhododendron
has salted the earth
So that nothing can grow here –
‘Least nothing of any great worth
I look over this house as I sit here alone
It’s your love – not my family –
that made it a home
If I’d only looked better
at the start of the Spring
We’d still have our fields
And the hope of what Autumn would bring
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6. |
Birdsong
03:15
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When the harvest all was gathered
In the sunny Autumn weather
To the green wood blithe and merry
We went foraging together
And through the woods we wandered long
So deep and dark and green
We heard a sweet voice calling us
Though no-one could be seen
The wild things of the woodland
Scarce seemed of us afraid
The blue jay flashed before us
And the squirrel near us played
We ate our fruit and rested
On a fallen tree, moss-grown
And still a voice was calling
In the softest, tend’rest tone
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7. |
Shadows
01:24
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As the shadows of the evening creep
Edging slowly ‘cross the hillside
Stars wake gently as the Sun sinks deep
Dying embers of the eventide
Hear the whispers of the coming of the night
Feel the tender wind is blowing
Fears are fleeing with the fading of the light
Peace inside my empty heart is growing
The Sun will ever bring another day
‘Til this broken world is ended
But, for now, beneath the stars I lay
To sleep ‘til my weary soul is mended
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8. |
Mother
04:14
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The Mayday sun began to set
Behind the barrows evening met the day
It washed the hues from blossom’d trees
And with it brought a chill upon the breeze
…Mother!
A young girl played upon the grass
The eventide toward her sweeping fast
Concealed red ribbons and daisy chains
And drew the colour from her gentle frame
…Mother!
Her mother’s voice rang through the cold
As the final shafts of burnished gold were gone
And with the light, so too the girl
Her tinkling bells now high up on the hill
…Mother!
Walk up to the mound
Lay thorns upon the ground
The fair full moon it turns
While the blackthorn burns
Her mother searched the garden still
Felt in her heart the aching chill of fear
And found near where her child had stood
A lifelike figure carved of wood
…Mother!
Walk up to the mound
Lay thorns upon the ground
The fair full moon it turns
While the blackthorn burns
…Mother!
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9. |
Hawkhurst
03:03
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If you see them in the night
Turn away, avert your sight
‘Cos thinkin’ on their necks to save
Cloaked Men will dig your shallow grave!
Thirty hundredweight in leaves
Ploughing through September seas
Stood upon a shadowed shore
Cloaked Men wait for gin, and more
The Revenue Ship attacks and then
Three Brothers lost but not the men
Stood on cliffs with saddled steeds
The Cloaked Men ponder darker deeds…
Through sunken roads they mount the raids
Those thirty men through forest glade
If you see them on their midnight race
Remember not a single face
Tonight!
They regroup on the evening tide
Low on contraband and pride
At the inn they catch their breath
The Cloaked Men talk revenge – and death
Those brazen men ride through the Shire
Armed with guns and lit by fire
Full of ale and riding South
The Cloaked Men raid the Customs House
Chorus
If you see them in the night
Turn away, avert your sight
‘Cos thinkin’ on their necks to save
Cloaked Men will dig your shallow grave!
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10. |
She Walks on Alone
03:36
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The old tunes won’t do any more;
A constant reminder of the times that she saw
The new tunes bring her no joy;
The sad ones depress and
the happy ones lie
She stays home and waits for a sign
She’s working her evenings with a bottle of wine
The phone rings – she thinks that it’s him
Just another salesman with commission to win
The phone keeps on ringing,
she knows it’s not him
She’s spending her time pulling roots from the Earth
Waiting for someone to restore her self-worth
Oh and he told her he loved her today!
But in spite of his feelings
he might throw her away
And the doubt in his mind may still win
She walk on alone and the forest stays dim
The phone keeps on ringing,
she knows it’s not him
She’s spending her time pulling roots from the Earth
Waiting for someone to restore her self-worth
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11. |
Winter King
05:07
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The wren below my window
Has just begun to sing
He woke me from my slumber
He should be on the wing
With the flowering of the snowdrops
The Winter King must fly
For the boys they are a-hunting
Beneath this leaden sky
Your time is up, my Winter Lord
You’ve reigned these six months past
But now it’s time to leave this place
Traitors near us fast!
With the flowering of the snowdrops
The Winter King must fly
For the boys they are a-hunting
Beneath this leaden sky
Flee your woodland kingdom
Here I shall remain
I’ll look for you on St. John’s Day
When you’ll take your throne again
With the flowering of the snowdrops
The Winter King must fly
For the boys they are a-hunting
Beneath this leaden sky
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12. |
Bold Sir Rylas
03:56
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Oh Bold Sir Rylas a-hunting went
All along and down-a-lea
Oh Bold Sir Rylas a-hunting went
Down by the river side
Oh Bold Sir Rylas a-hunting went
To catch some game was his intent
Down in the grove,
Where the wild flowers grow,
And the green leaves fall around.
He spied a wild woman sitting in a tree
Good Lord! What brings you here? said she
There’s a wild boar in the wood,
He’ll eat your flesh and he’ll drink your blood
So he put his horn up to his mouth
And he blew it East, North, West and South
The wild boar came out of his den
Bringing his children, nine or ten of ‘em
So Bold Sir Rylas the wild boar fell on
Oh, Bold Sir Rylas the wild boar fell on
He fought him three hours, all the day
‘Til that boar would’ve run away
Oh now you’ve killed my spotted pig
Oh now you’ve killed my spotted pig
Now there’s three things I’d have of thee
Your horse and your hound and your fair lady
Oh yes I’ve killed your spotted pig
Oh yes I’ve killed your spotted pig
But there’s not three things you’ll have of me
My horse, nor my hound, nor may fair lady!
So Bold Sir Rylas the Wild Woman fell on
Oh, Bold Sir Rylas the Wild Woman fell on
And he split her head down to her chin
You should’ve seen her kick and grin!
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