Updated version, sent by the songwriter to Bev Praver:
TRACKS IN THE SNOW - Steve Thomason 2012
G D7 G D7
Chorus - Walk with me down hidden paths
C G D7
White hare in the field, trout in the stream
G D7 G D7
Walk with me down hidden paths,
C D7 G
To the land that is now just a dream.
G C G D7 G
I remember the paths I walked with my dog,
C G D7
Over high heather moors, past the cotton grass bog,
C G D7 G
Saw the lark on the wing heard the curlew's lone call,
D7 G
Heard the grouse cry "Come back" over Matley Moor wall.
G C G D7 G
1. In the spring I would sit with my back at the Rocks,
C G D7
Looking down o'er the field where I watched the hares box,
C G D7 G
Saw the vole in the stream, red kite in the sky,
D7 G
Never thinking those days they would pass by and by.
G C G D7 G
2. With the swaling long done and the heather shoots grown,
C G D7
And the bilberry fruit on the banks near my home,
C G D7 G
And haymaking done and the dusk folding round,
D7 G
We'd watch as the owls hunted mice o'er the ground.
G C G D7 G
3. And autumn comes round and the grey clouds roll in,
C G D7
There's a blanket of mist hides the high moorland rim,
C G D7 G
As you walk through the fields and the rain turns to sleet,
D7 G
And the whole of your world is the ground at your feet.
G C G D7 G
4. With the winter comes snow and the fields turn as white,
C G D7 G
As the coat of the hare that was waiting each night,
C G D7 G
As we walked down the track and the lights of the farm,
D7 G
Brought their promise of comfort, fire and warmth.
G C G D7 G
5. But those days are long gone and the ground at our feet,
C G D7 G
Is concrete and metal on the hurrying street,
C G D7 G
And tractor and link box are lost long ago,
D7 G
But I still see the tracks of white hare in the snow.
G C G D7 G
6. Though those days are long gone, I can still hear so clear
C G D7
The cry of the curlew again in my ear
C G D7 G
And though you have left me I know that you go
D7 G
To follow the tracks of white hare in the snow
Author's notes to Bev.
All the events in this song happened, even the sighting of a red kite which possibly came over to the Peak District from Wales. The hare was one of the arctic hares that had been introduced onto Kinder. Every winter it turned white and would be feeding in the 15 acre field as we came home to walk the ¼ mile down the track towards the glow of the farm lights, visible in the valley - even though the farm itself was hidden. I first wrote this with the “concrete and steel” last verse but, following the death of my mother and father, the alternative last verse is now the one I sing. There’s a recording here https://soundcloud.com/sthomason-1/tracks-in-the-snow
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