As recorded by Vin Garbutt on "The Vin Garbutt Songbook, Vol. 1" (2003)

WHEN THE TIDE TURNS
(Vin Garbutt)

When Columbus set sail, sophisticated men wailed,
Calling him a fool saying, "You'll topple over."
The top brains of his day said, "That can't be the way.
You know the world is flat. Think on that, foolish rover."

Now we gaze to the stars knowing they're not so far
As America was to Mr Columbus,
But the brains of today tell us that's not the way.
They say to concentrate on reducing our numbers.

CHORUS: {But/And} when the tide turns, a black priest will come.
When the tide turns to England, {our/my} home;
When the tide turns, a new rising sun
Like a bright flame will burn, when the tide turns.

Sophistication can't kill nations quite as much as starvation.
See it in the eyes; hear the cries of the West's depressed.
For the weak we've no room. Now the womb is a tomb.
Tomorrow's world must die if the mighty say it's for best.

Oh, there once was a time. Oh, there once was a time
When these people of mine coexisted, one with the fauna and fields,
Where Mother Nature gives breath to the soil with each death.
Her simple symbiosis produces her yield.

Human life like the grass in one season does pass.
Fall and feed the soil as our seeds feed tomorrow.
Every man, every beast host and share the same feast,
Giving back the earth quite as much as we borrow.

But as man's chart unfurled, his materialist world
Has turned away from Nature's advice and God's wonder,
And with our hands in Earth's till, starving millions we kill,
Naively denying our part in the plunder.

But the brains of today, they shall not have their way.
Tomorrow's world belongs to the weak and the needing,
For the meek still give birth and inherit this earth
While we, now used to greed, overfeed and cease breeding.

These are the words to "When the tide turns" to see when listening to the above clip

Yes Vin could be difficult to follow, but his playing and singing are brilliant ~ a really star entertainer and honest thinking man and folk singer of distinction

Ray