STRONG WINDS FOR AUTUMN
(Bob McNeill)

Strong winds for Autumn
Better bring those engines up
No sail can carry my love
No words will guide her
The calling voice is silent

And I watched them make turns for ten knots
I went each day to the end of the dock
Till the day my Annie sailed
On the last boat down the weeping loch

When the sickness came
I suffered with my friends
One day I thought the world would end
In the dark I called her name
The others there heard nothing

And I watched them make turns for ten knots
I felt her wake with my feet in the surf
Till even that was calm
And the last boat had gone

Sail away my Annan love
No breeze can catch you now
It's all clear
There's only memories here
This year will know no winter

[Instrumental break]

And I watched them make turns for ten knots
The cries of the gulls filled the air as I watched
The day my Annie sailed
On the last boat down the weeping loch

Chorus (X2)

Strong winds for Autumn
Better bring those engines up

Bob McNeill moved from Glasgow to New Zealand in 1998 and established himself as one the country’s foremost singer-songwriters. He has twice won the Recording Industry of New Zealand’s award for ‘Best Folk Album’. In relation to his best-known song, 'Strong Winds for Autumn' about a community off the coast of Scotland, he noted:

In small coastal communities, there was sometimes a delicate balance between the number of people in the community and the amount of work needed to feed them. If many people died from illness at one time, often this left too few people to get enough food in to enable the community to survive the winter. In the song, a village is evacuated for this reason. The story is told from the perspective of a man who died from the sickness.

You can hear Bob introducing and singing this song at about the 5-minute mark of this set:

Youtube

Emily Smith did a fine cover:

Emily

--Stewie.