Lyr Add: Cock of the North

Subject: Lyr Add: THE SAILOR HOME FROM THE SEA
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 04 Aug 98 - 06:45 PM

G'day Wolfgang,

The words you quote are an Australian poem, 'The Sailor Home from the Sea, by (????? - ARGHH ... MENTAL BLOCK ... I'll check and give you the right name), a poet and author who now lives in Perth, West Australia. It was written at the time that she was married to Merv Lilley - a sailor working on coastal shipping and fishing boats. I have always taken it that the expression 'Cock of the morning' is metaphorical for the way his arrival back home has rewoken her life, as the cock crow heralds the day.

The towns mentioned are on the west and north of Australia and the final stanza suggests that the sailor/lover has come home for the winter season.

There are about 4 different tunes to this one - I normally sing the tune by Chris Kempster but I think the best known overseas was a different tune. The song was made popular by Martyn Wyndham-Read in the 1970s.

THE SAILOR HOME FROM THE SEA

1. Oh cock of the north with a dream in your hand,
My love has come home to this beautiful land
As he walks through the door with his eyes like the sun
And his kit bags crammed full of the treasures he's won.

2. There's a pearl shell from Broome and a tall Darwin tale,
Coral and clams and the jaws of a whale,
And our kitchen is full of the smell of the sea
And the leaping green fishes my love brings to me.

3. Oh tumble your treasures from Darwin and Broome,
And fill with your glory my strait little room
With the sun in the morning ablaze on your chest,
My love has come home from the north of northwest.

4. And deep in these beds we will love and we'll lie,
We'll kiss and we'll listen to the rain in the sky,
Warm as the summer, we'll hive winter long,
Oh my love has come home like King Solomon's song.

HTML line breaks added. --JoeClone, 26-Jun-02.

Subject: RE: Cock of the North
From:
Date: 04 Aug 98 - 05:38 PM

Actually, the words posted by Wolfgang don't scan to the tune of Cock of the North that I know, or at least I am having trouble fitting them in. I'm thinking of the fiddle or bagpipe tune. (The words I posted are sung by the soldiers as they march to it.) They also seem rather wistful for so fast a tune.

The small boat, I think, was called a cockle or cockle-shell, after the mollusc. Is it some Scots term.

Subject: RE: Cock of the North
From:
Date: 04 Aug 98 - 05:25 PM

Auntie Mary, had a canary,
Up the leg of her trousers
While she was sleeping I was peeping
Up the leg of her trousers.

Subject: Lyr Add: COCK OF THE NORTH
From: Wolfgang Hell
Date: 04 Aug 98 - 11:42 AM

The Furey's were singing this on the LP (transl.) "1. Irish Folk Festival in Germany" the first of a series of at least 5 LPs which possibly were never sold outside of Germany. Here it is, but I have no information whether it is old (I don't think so) or who wrote it and I even don't know what the title means (personal guess: cock here means small boat). So there's room for additions.
Wolfgang

COCK OF THE NORTH

1. Oh cock of the north with the dream in your hand,
my love has come home to this beautiful land
and he comes through the door with his eyes like the sun
and his kit's bags are full of the treasures he's won.

2. And below the old broom there's a tall luggin's tail,
a bat and a crow and the jaws of a whale,
and our kitchen is full with the smell of the sea
and all of the richness my love brings to me.

3. Come gather your treasures by our gardens and rooms,
and bring them along to the sweet little blooms
with the sun in the morning and blaze on your chest,
oh my love has come home from north by northwest.

4. And here in these beds we will lay and we'll sleep,
yes, we'll lay and we'll listen to the sounds of the deep,
and as long as the summer, we'll sleep winter long,
oh my love has come home like King Solomon's son.

5. = 1.