Lyr Req: Arran Convict (Battlefield Band)

Subject: Battlefield Band Lyrics
From:
Date: 10 Nov 98 - 11:58 PM

I am after the words to a few Battlefiels Band tunes.

"The Rovin' Dies Hard" and "Long Legged Mary" Chords would also be nice but the words are more of a need. Thanks.

Subject: RE: Battlefield Band Lyrics
From: Wolfgang Hell
Date: 11 Nov 98 - 11:31 AM

Don, I have posted "Rovin' dies hard" in June 97. Make a Forum Search for, e.g., "dies hard" and you'll find it or take this shortcut

Wolfgang

Subject: RE: Battlefield Band Lyrics
From: DonMeixner
Date: 11 Nov 98 - 07:34 PM

Danke Wolfgang, you're one hell of a guy. (Bet you've never heard that before.) I do appreciate it a very great deal.

Don

Subject: Lyr Add: THE ARRAN CONVICT (Alan Reid)
From: Jennifer Burdoo
Date: 12 Nov 98 - 11:42 AM

Here's "Long-legged Mary" (AKA The Arran Convict) -- copy/pasted from Dejanews. It's a great place to look for stuff you can't find here. I did a little editing, BTW (correcting misspellings, etc) and changed a few of the words to reflect the version I've heard. The liner notes are included.

Jennifer
The Arran Convict
Emigration has always been a great factor in the history of the Scottish people. This song of Alan's [Alan Reid, the keyboard player and lead vocal - Lee's note] follows the fortunes of one emigrant leaving the island of Arran, off the Ayrshire coast. Many ships left the north of the island in the late 19th century bound mainly for the east coast of Canada. All hoped to find the good life. Not all did. The tune that intersperses the song is an Irish tune called "The Spanish Cloak". By the way, if there are any film producers listening out there, Alan thinks this song/story would make a great movie.

Chorus
I wish I was back on the Lochranza ferry
With long legged Mary
Breathing the spray and the sweet island air in the morning
But I'm wastin' away in this sweltering prison
The mercury's rising
And freedom's a dream that arrives and escapes with the dawning

1
It seems just like yesterday sailing from Brodick
Across the Atlantic in search of a wife and some land
But the New Brunswick winters are lonely and hard
So I followed the wagons out west with no money or plan

2
I worked on the railroad with Chinese and Irish
I slept in the pinewoods and heard the wolf creep to me door
But a Scotsman in Portland took all of my money
He sold me a cartload of candles he'd robbed from a store

3
I fell in with gangsters and dealers in blueshine
And soon they involved me in driving their wagons of booze
One night we were ambushed and I killed a black man
Now I'm in the jailhouse on one of the hard labour crews

4
Sometimes when it's dark I remember Lochranza
And days when the rain from Kintyre is a sheet without end;
And long legged Mary who smiled at me slyly
And when they release me I think I'll go back there again

Subject: RE: Battlefield Band Lyrics
From: Wolfgang
Date: 12 Nov 98 - 12:16 PM

Jennifer, thanks for posting this. I was about to post a request for the Arran convict and had no idea it had an alternative title.

Wolfgang

Subject: RE: Battlefield Band Lyrics
From: Jennifer
Date: 12 Nov 98 - 12:25 PM

Wolfgang -- Neither did I but I remembered that "long-legged Mary" was mentioned in the song. I'd been looking for it too. I do a lot of extracurricular singing.

Jennifer

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Arran Convict (Battlefield Band)
From: GUEST,Cindy Funk
Date: 15 Oct 08 - 09:58 PM

Jennifer, I believe the line is:
I fell in with gangsters and dealers in MOONshine

Thanks for putting the lyrics up, though. This is one of my favorite Alan Reid songs.