Lyr Req: Snows of France and Holland (Brian McNeil

Subject: snows of france and holland
From: mwelsh
Date: 27 Feb 99 - 10:01 PM

anyone know the lyrics to the Battlefield Band song: "The snows of France and Holland"? Would like very much to have them. Please forward to [e-mail] Thanks much!

Subject: Lyr Add: THE SNOWS OF FRANCE AND HOLLAND^^
From:
Date: 05 Mar 99 - 08:34 AM

These are the original words by Brian McNeill:

THE SNOWS OF FRANCE AND HOLLAND^^
(Brian McNeill)

The north wind knows no border
As it shifts across the shore
The road finds only other roads
And the dark hides even more
There's many a weary corner
Between Flanders and the Rhine
And the snows of France and Holland
Have parted me and mine

There's sounds to hear and sounds to fear
And sights to make you sing
And the bonniest in the morning
Is the snow goose on the wing
For her neck is long and slender,
Her road's a simple line
And the snows of France and Holland
Have parted me and mine

The moon stands o'er the ocean
And the waves roll back the tide
The strongest man is the wisest fool
Till he knows the road he rides
For the snow goose cries to the cold North wind
The fool cries out for signs
And the snows of France and Holland
Have parted me and mine

[1988:] A song about the side of a travelling band's life which the public rarely gets to see. Brian wrote it after a particularly gruelling European tour - bad weather, broken vans, sickness, etc. - when it really began to look as though the road would never end. But that kind of stuff is easy to deal with. This gentle song deals with the other side of the travelling musician's life that takes a bit more to come to terms with. (Battlefield Band Songbook 122)

Jean Redpath sings it too, but adapted the words slightly:

The north wind knows no borders
As it shifts across the shore
The road finds only other roads
The morn hides even more
For there's mony a weary journey
On wintry days and fine
And the rolling grey Atlantic
Has pairted me and mine

The other two verses are virtually unchanged apart form the last two lines, which are as above. - Susanne

Subject: RE: snows of france and holland
From: schmuze (inactive)
Date: 06 Mar 99 - 04:23 AM

I love this song!!!!!!!! I've been doing it for years, and I'm sorry but I really don't like it when people think they can improve on the lyric, why don't they just write their own song? I find that people's 'adaptations' rarely improve the song, what do you think?

Subject: RE: snows of france and holland
From:
Date: 11 Mar 99 - 07:40 AM

I don't know - I suppose sometimes you'd like to do a song but the background isn't right - as for Jean Redpath here - or it doesn't fit your personal experience well enough, or it's from a different country. I know some songwriters are very touchy about having their words changed, and I certainly don't think the Fureys improved on Eric Bogle's No Man's Land by trying to bend it towards the IRA ...
If it's well done and I can see (and accept) the reasons for the changes I don't mind. It all depends, as they say. - Susanne

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Snows of France and Holland (Brian McNeil
From: GUEST
Date: 15 Jan 18 - 09:56 AM

Dear Susanne
You are confused and mistaken to think that the Fureys version of the WIllie McBride song "bends it towards the IRA"
The Irish struggle against the British occupation was eventually supported, after the executions of the original ringleaders, by a majority of the people of Ireland as was evidenced by the overwhelming victory of Sinn Fein (70% of the seats) in the 1918 election. The rebellion of 1916 and the achievement of Irish Independance is not something owned by the IRA of the 1970ies onwards but by all the political parties and the vast majority of the Irish population.
I am afraid that you are displaying the usual ignorance of Irish History which is the norm in the UK. Read some books. Any books.
Best wished
Frank.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Snows of France and Holland (Brian McNeil
From: leeneia
Date: 15 Jan 18 - 01:02 PM

Guest, the post you are responding to is almost 19 years old.

This thread is about 'The Snows of France and Holland' by Brian McNeill of Scotland.

I heard Brian sing this song years ago. It's a gentle thing, full of sweet sadness.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Snows of France and Holland (Brian McNeil
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 18 Jan 18 - 05:49 AM

Albeit such an old thread, I can understand, as Susanne said she could, why Jean Redpath might have changed those last 2 lines to make it more personal to her own experience as a much-travelled musician: she was a Scot who moved to America and settled there. It is a lovely song either way.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Snows of France and Holland (Brian McNeil
From: leeneia
Date: 19 Jan 18 - 12:32 PM

Yes. And there are more than one version on YouTube, if anybody wants to learn it.