When I saw this thread I remembered that I had these lyrics from ¡®The Emigrant & The Exile¡¯ CD that Eric Bogle made with John Munro a few years ago. I think the only one previously posted is ¡®One Small Star¡¯, and I¡¯ve managed to work out the dots so I¡¯ve added these here.

(written for the parents of the children killed in Dunblane)
From ¡®The Emigrant & The Exile¡¯
X:2
T:ONE SMALL STAR
C:Eric Bogle
Q:1/4=105
M:4/4
L:1/8
K:C
CD|E3G G2E2|D2C4C2|C3C C2A,2|G,6CD|E3G G2E2|
D3C E4|F3E D2(C D)|D6G,2|A2A2B3A||A2G3G GG|
F3G A2F2|D6D2|E3E E3D|D2C2C2CC|C3B, A,2B,2|C6||
E2F2|G4c4|A6c2|c2B2A3B|(AG) G4EF|G4(c2B2)|
A4F3E|D6G2|G4C4|A2F6|B4(G2c2)|c6|]

OLD AND IN THE WAY

The time has come could be a while
But I'll start to see it in their eyes
They're trying hard, they joke and smile
But I can see the day
When they've had enough of duty's lot
Enough of watching as I fad
But my kids will fight the very thought
That I'm old and in the way.

My wits dart quick as ever could
Which makes the pain far greater still
This shell can't move the way it should
Or speak the words my mind would say
Inside I watch my own decline
Along with those who love me best
They bear their pain, I live with mine
'cause I'm old and in the way.

Ch        An independence of my own
The garden or the corner store
It's at an end - not safe alone
Or so at least the doctors say
The kids will quickly rally round
'Come stay with us, we've lots of room'
Does my life depend upon them now?
Am I so old and in the way?

And so at last the time has come
My dignity just slips away
Will I let them see me fall so far?
Well, that'll be the day
Old folks home - there I said the words
'It¡¯s for the best' they'll bravely say
And with brittle smiles they'll come at first
And then slowly fade away


They feel the guilt and I despair
Of strangers' cool and distant care
But I'll be here and they'll be there
No longer in the way.

From ¡®The Emigrant & The Exile¡¯


ONE SMALL STAR

When I need to feel you near me
I stand in this quiet place
With the silver light of countless stars
Falling on my face
Though they all shine so brightly
Somehow it comforts me to know
That some who burn the brightest died an eternity ago.

Ch        But your light still shines
It's one small star to guide me
And to help me hold back the dark
Your light's still shining in my heart.

I'm learning how to live without you
Though I never thought I could
And even how to smile again
And I never thought I would
And to cherish the heart's memories
That can bring you back to life
Though some caress me gently
And some cut me like a knife.

Can your soul be out there somewhere
Beyond the infinity of time
I guess you've found some answers now
I'll have to wait for mine
Till my light joins with yours someday.
To shine through time and space
And one day fall, in a distant age
Upon some stranger's face.




POACHER'S MOON

Moon on the water cold frosty night
World full of shadows and silver light
Your blood is singing to an old wild tune
Your heart beats faster it's a poachers moon.

Beneath dark water by the rivers edge
The salmon is resting on a gravel bed
Cam frae the ocean cam hame tae spawn
Back to the tweed river where it was born

Man o the river all the days of your life
You love it better than your kids and wife
It¡¯s beauty caresses, it's peace consols
The song of it's journey runs deep in your soul

Salmon and poaching its aye been the same
Both play their parts in a far bigger game
Through ages uncounted as the years spin roond
Play hunter and hunted 'neath the poachers moon

Fish in the torchlight oh see how it gleams
a nice wee present frae the Earl o' Weymess
Nothing tastes sweeter nothing tastes as good
As a poor man's belly full of rich mans food

The torch is steady the salmon is still
The cleek is ready and noo the kill
White water splashes red water runs
Tail madly thrashes and this games done

But the old days are gone noo from the river tweed
Always when a man took little more than his need
Oh one for the table one tae buy a wee dram
It¡¯s cyanide and nets now and refrigerated vans

And the salmon are fewer getting less every year
The river noo runs like a lang empty tear
All through bonny Tweedale past sheiling and toon
Dying in the cold light o' a poachers moon

From ¡®The Emigrant & The Exile¡¯


THE BALLAD OF CHARLES DAVENPORT

Welcome home to Derby Charles
Welcome back from Nova Scotia
So many miles so long to wait
And never know your mother
But I knew you'd mend the broken thread
The one I never wanted broken
So now we'll set the record straight
Trade one past for another.

I never think about the war
It conjures up too many shadows
When life was hanging by a thread
And nothing seemed to matter
Then a child myself, I bore a child
They said it best to hand you over
And who was I, in guilt and shame
To think that I knew better.

The sisters said they'd bring you up
And give you what I couldn't offer
Another family, different name
They said I'd soon forget you
And to keep you from the pain and loss
'Poor Orphan' was the tale they told you
and to cleanly cover every trace
to Canada they sent you.

You must have wondered through the years
As you grew to be this different person
What link you were within the chain
What went to make this man
And oh, to be somebody's son
And oh, to be somebody's brother
To be complete, to know your name
And how your life began.

You found your way to Derby, Charles
You've tracked me down from Nova Scotia
To kneel beside the stone that says
I was your loving mother
But you took too long, I couldn't wait
But here you see I always loved you
Too late to see it in my eyes
Too late for starting over.

From ¡®The Emigrant & The Exile¡¯


THE STRANGERS

'Welcome stranger' - the hills a' seem tae say
Their Border colours of green and brown and purple and grey
Are sae familiar and yet they're a' sae strange
So I answer 'hello stranger, is it you or me who's changed?'

'Welcome stranger' the curlew seems tae cry
A scrap o' paper whirlin' in the muddy sky
My heart remembers his bittersweet refrain
Yet I answer 'hello stranger, is it you or me who's changed?'

ch:        But the Tweed still runs down past that wee Border toon
Where my parents lived and died
It¡¯s where the boy was born,
It¡¯s where the man was formed
Where my past and my present collide
Where the man who is and the boy who was
Will not look for each other again
Too many threads have been unstrung too much water has run
Under the bridge between now and then.

'Welcome stranger' the west wind seems tae sing
A promise bearer o' the comin' o' the spring
My senses waken tae the scent and taste o' hame
Yet I answer 'hello stranger, is it you or me who's changed?'

'Welcome stranger' the whole valley seems tae call
It once seemed boundless, aye but now it seems sae small
It¡¯s far horizons the years have crossed and tamed
So I answer 'hello stranger, is it you or me who's changed?'

From ¡®The Emigrant & The Exile¡¯


WERE YOU THERE?

Were you there in the beginning
When the parties were for singing
And for 'fathoming the bowl'!
Drinking by the kitchen door
And did you sleep on someone's floor
When the song was in your soul.

Ch:        Looking back to when Ewan wrote the songs we sang
And Hamish played the blues
Remember when Ray and Archie sang in harmony
The Star Club was the place to be, with Alex singing 'goodbye booze'.

In the Folk Club's candled glimmer
You were audience and singer
There were fewer of us then
And you knew the folk who listened
In a place where no stars glistened
With no thought of 'us and them'.

Now you look out at the faces
At the hundreds in their places
And you don't see one you know
Now it's record deals and airplay
And the company wants their say
And the money's all the go.

But it's not like - Folk Song I gave you
All the best years of my life
'cause wee Eric writes the songs
the Fisher's are still singing
Dick Gaughan helps us look inside our soul
And when all is said and done
And it's really like it was those years ago.

From ¡®The Emigrant & The Exile¡¯


Hope these are of use.

Marion