One song I used NOT to sing because I was never happy with musical instruments accompanying it is 'Leaving this Land'. I heard it done by Suzanne Thomas a few years back and have it on her CD, although she didn't write it.

Anyway, at music one night I mentioned that I'd like to sing that song but never figured out chords that I was happy with, and someone suggested singing without accompaniment. So I did.

Leaving This Land
By Robin and Linda Williams and Jerome Clark
1988 Songs of PolyGram/Brantford Music BMI

"There's a dead stillness around this place
Like the calm that falls in a twister's wake
Precious memories abound
Of loved ones lying in family graves
And working fields all turned to waste
And this old weathered house that's falling down

This farm took everything you had
I watched it come between you and Dad
All he left behind was you and me
The day he came to understand
That life don't care much about our plans
He moved on like a leaf blown from a tree

I've stood with you as long as I can stand
It tears me all apart,
Mama it breaks my heart
To be leaving this land

Wolves are howling at our door
We can't hold them back any more
The dreams are lost, they can't be found
In this old house on this tired ground
Handing me the deed won't set you free
It's time for us to turn the page
On the sorrows of this sorry age
It's time to leave behind this lone prairie

I've stood with you as long as I can stand
It tears me all apart,
Oh, Mama, it breaks my heart
To be leaving this land"



See? It still gives me chills.