Lyr Req/Add: Trawlerman's Requiem (John Conolly)

Subject: Lyr Req: Trawlerman's Requiem
From: Darlodave
Date: 16 Sep 09 - 08:04 PM

Can anyone provide me with the lyrics to Trawlerman's Requiem, song and lyrics by John Conelly please.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Trawlerman's Requiem
From: Little Robyn
Date: 17 Sep 09 - 03:58 PM

It's on several of his CDs - check here.

Robyn

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Trawlerman's Requiem
From: Darlodave
Date: 17 Sep 09 - 08:01 PM

Thanks, Little Robyn, I do have a couple of his CD's already but sometimes it's hard to pick up all the correct wording hence my request from anyone.

Subject: Lyr Add: Trawlerman's Requiem
From: Ross Campbell
Date: 17 Sep 09 - 11:23 PM

TRAWLERMAN'S REQUIEM
(John Conolly)

In what was once a fishing town
The houses one by one come down;
And now the land lies open to the wind
Where once the smoke curled from a thousand chimneys.

The square of streets close by the shore
Will see the ice-man's cart no more;
And sea-gulls wheel amongst the empty skies
Where yesterday lies close around the corner.

Along the silent fish-dock wall
The ships that knew the Northern Trawl,
Redundant now, lie prisoned to the land;
Like old men clasped in nodding conversation.

And you can feel the men there still,
Who fought the sea with craft and skill;
The oilskinned shades of hidden multitudes -
Blaspheming saints and splendid drunken heroes.

And in the dying of the day,
Their lives are closed and filed away;
By faceless men who worship tidiness,
And never felt the Arctic kiss of winter.

And when we laughed and cried to hear
Their tales of fortune, frost and fear;
We did not dream that they would vanish soon,
And leave us with the singing of their story -

In what was once a fishing town.....


RJC

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Trawlerman's Requiem
From: Ross Campbell
Date: 17 Sep 09 - 11:33 PM

Some great lines in this poignant song -
"Like old men clasped in nodding conversation" -
"Blaspheming saints and splendid drunken heroes" -
"the Arctic kiss of winter".

Ross

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Trawlerman's Requiem
From: Darlodave
Date: 18 Sep 09 - 01:26 AM

Thanks a lot Ross as you say very poignant wording, appreciate your assistance.

Subject: RE: Req/ADD: Trawlerman's Requiem (John Conolly)
From: Sailor Ron
Date: 18 Sep 09 - 05:55 AM

To me, growing up, and living in 'what was once a fishing town' albeit not Grimsby, this song sums up, better than a thousand lines of prose the heartbreak of what had happened to a way of life. I admire all of John's work greatly, but to me this is his finest.