Dear Mudcats

Re-       On Morecambe Bay

Sorry, I am not a regular, so didn't see this. This is a bit of a long posting, as it contains the words of the song. (If you sing it it lasts over 5 minutes)

Thankyou all very much for the kind words about the song. It commemorates the events on the night of 5/6 February 2004 when at least 23 Chinese men and women were killed on the cockle beds of Morecambe Bay. One press report mentioned that some of the workers, and their families at home in China, called the area 'devil bay'; the phrase triggered a childhood memory of warnings that there was 'the devil of a tide' there. I wrote this song in solidarity with those who live and work along this coast.

It's always difficult to sing about other people's tragedies; but I thought something should be said about it, and someone should record it. After I'd written it I saw that the film maker Nick Broomfield recently made a film "Ghosts" about this same topic; it was premiered at a film festival abroad and was on TV recently. I believe there are other songs and poems about it, so maybe if you hear them you can put them on the forum.

Below you will find the words and the chords. For the tune, you can get it on the CD which mon ami Les Brown and others mention earlier. I must emphasise that the track is very much a collective endeavour, with harmonies from Bev Sanders and fiddle from Chris Nelson. The CD from which it comes, "Residents' Lounge" is also a collective effort, and on that you can hear another ten songs from the Bothy Folk Club residents.

Here's the song; good luck with it.


On Morecambe Bay

(I play this with a dropped 6th string. The switch from the A minor chord to the A major chord is something which I do in the song, but if it is too fiddly, you can just stay on the A minor I guess. Anything to keep it simple!)

Verse 1.
       Dm
Out beyond the street lamp's empire
Am             Amaj
And the calliope's roar,
Dm
Beyond the thrift, the wrack, the samphire,
Am               A maj
Where the sea betrays the shore,
Dm
I have seen them in the tide's wake,
Gm
As the rain cuts through the spray,
Dm
Figures on the edge of daybreak
       Am            A maj
Walking out on Morecambe Bay

chorus             Dm
        For the tide's the very devil,
               Gm
        It can run you out of breath,
               Dm
        It can race you on the level,
               Am                Amaj
        It can chase you to your death,
                Dm
        Yes the tide's the very devil
                Gm
        And the devil has his day
               Dm             Am      Amaj      Dm                     
        On the weary cockle grounds of Morecambe Bay

2. Here's the very life to die for,
Here's a life not as it seems,
Sleeping on a foreign floor
Five to a room no space for dreams.
Tempted by the urge to travel,
Strangers in a stranger land,
Now they dig in sand and gravel,
Plastic bags gripped in their hands.

chorus
        For the tide's the very devil,
        It can run you out of breath,
        It can race you on the level,
        It can chase you to your death,
        Yes the tide's the very devil
        And the devil has his day
        On the weary cockle grounds of Morecambe Bay

3. Letters home with money orders
See how much we earned today;
Tales of crossing Europe's borders,
So we came to Morecambe Bay;
This is where the cockles sleep
In their beds so soft and sound;
This is where our watch we keep
On these weary cockle grounds

chorus
        For the devil's in the tide's flood
        He'll be weighing down your shoes
        He'll be churning up the sea's mud
        This is one race he won't lose
        Yes the tide's the very devil
        And the devil has his day
        On the weary cockle grounds of Morecambe Bay


4. I have met them in the markets,
Brushed their arms in grocery queues,
I should have grabbed them by the jacket,
Should have told them what I knew;
Told them what my mother told me
As we paddled in the waves
Never try and race the tide
Across the sands of Morecambe Bay

chorus
        For the devil's in the tide's flood
        He'll be weighing down your shoes
        He'll be churning up the sea's mud
        This is one race he won't lose
        Yes the tide's the very devil
        And the devil has his day
        On the weary cockle grounds of Morecambe Bay

5. Now I see them in the distance
Laid out in the dawn's hard light,
Helpless in the sea's persistence,
Twenty-three drowned in one night.
Up above in skies so clear
Their phone calls half the world had crossed
'Between the rivers Kent and Keer
We have raced the tide and lost.'

chorus
        For the tide's the very devil,
        It can run you out of breath,
        It can race you on the level,
        It can chase you to your death,
        Yes the tide's the very devil
        And the devil has his day
        On the weary cockle grounds of Morecambe Bay

6. In Fujian, Xelang, Baihu,
Where they mourn their next of kin,
Where the men with snake tattoos,
Rack up the debts and call them in;
Parents stand, their arms flung wide
As their children drive away,
Heading out to race the tide
Across some foreign bay.

chorus
        For the tide's the very devil,
        It can run you out of breath,
        It can race you on the level,
        It can chase you to your death,
        Yes the tide's the very devil
        And the devil has his day
        On the weary cockle grounds of Morecambe Bay
______________________________________________

Regarding the message from Suzanne skw; funnily enough I remember that night! And I do remember talking to you; was it really thirty years ago? I was younger then! Also, I guess I was being a little tongue-in-cheek that night, for Valley Lights was also a compilation of singers living in Wales, and there are some good songs on it including some from the beautiful voice of a good friend from those days, Heather Jones, with whom I was pleased to sing several times when I lived in Cardiff. You can also hear a very 'interesting' version of the Bells of Rhymney by a certain rock band...

best wishes

Kevin