The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #161312   Message #3831991
Posted By: Joe Offer
11-Jan-17 - 07:56 PM
Thread Name: Lyr Req: Burning of Kingston
Subject: ADD: Burning of Kingston (Gekle-Seeger)
Well, looky there! It's on a Smithsonian Folkways album titled Fifty Sail on Newburgh Bay: Sixteen Songs of the Hudson River, recorded in 1976 by Pete Seeger and Ed Renehan.
Transcription coming right up. Words by Bill Gekle, music by Pete Seeger.
-Joe-

THE BURNING OF KINGSTON
(Words by Bill Gekle, music by Pete Seeger)

Autumn burned in the Ulster Hills,
Before the British came,
The elms and maples smoldered there
The oaks were yellow flame.

The fields were empty, barns were full,
Wrapped in October haze,
While British ships up-river sailed,
All through the golden days.

As in a dream, the white-sailed ships
Past the lowlands glide,
All quiet now, as if in peace,
Northward on the tide.

Two thousand men aboard the ships
Gaze at the golden shore,
They dream of making homes and farms
Instead of making war.

This was a land they could have loved
And shared its homes and farms,
This was a land they could have had
Without resource to arms.

But Kingston was burned in the Ulster Hills,
Every house but one,
And it burned in the hearts of Ulster men,
Until the war was won.

Didn't find the individual cut, but the entire album is here:"Burning" is the second song on the album. You'll notice that Seeger uses slightly different lyrics.