Lyr Req: The Siege (Nick Keir - The McCalmans)

Subject: Lyr Req: The Siege Was At Its Height
From: GUEST,JetlagJen
Date: 04 Sep 06 - 08:35 AM

I know this song simply as "The Siege" and I can only remember snippets of verse and the chorus:

The Siege was at its height
And the well was running dry.
The mayor addressed the town
He said "we'll do it if we try"

Chorus:
There's nobody there
Lift your head above the wall
There's noone out there you should fear
There's noone there at all.


Unfortunately, my attempts to remember all the words still have huge gaps in, and I can't seem to find it anywhere online. Does anybody happen to know all the lyrics?

Hugs,

Jen

Subject: Lyr Add: THE SIEGE (Nick Keir - The McCalmans)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 05 Sep 06 - 06:42 PM

Here it is, copied from The Balladeers web site:

THE SIEGE
Nick Keir
"A young girl dares to peek over the battlements of a city under siege and finds that the besieging armies have packed up and gone home. The story comes from tales of Baron Munchenhausen. [sic—that should be Münchhausen.]"

The siege was at its height and the well was running dry.
The mayor addressed the town. He said, "We'll do it if we try,"
And the soldiers on the wall firing death into the air,
Never looking out for fear of what was there.

The children of the town, running ragged through the raid,
Seemed that half their lives they'd been hungry and afraid;
But Jenny sat alone. She'd been wondering all the day.
She gathered them around and she began to say:—

"There's nobody there. Lift your head above the wall.
There's no one out there you should fear.
There's no one there at all."

Jenny slipped away, through the sleepy midday hour.
Silent and at peace, she climbed the highest tower
And as she looked out on the land and the city far below.
She shouted to her friends what she had somehow always known.

The captain of the guard—he was a kindly sort of man—
Scrambled up the stairs. He pulled Jenny by the hand.
He said, "If they see you up there, then surely you will die."
Jenny pointed to the fields and she began to cry.

They turned and clambered down past the drunken sleeping men,
A soldier and a child, unnoticed until then,
And no one dared refuse as he shouted the command.
They opened up the gates and looked out on the land.

[As sung by The McCalmans (Ian McCalman, Derek Moffat, and Nick Keir) on "Flames On The Water," Greentrax CDTRAX 036, 1990.]

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Siege Was At Its Height
From: GUEST,JetlagJen
Date: 06 Sep 06 - 04:56 PM

Thanks! That's exactly what I was looking for!

Hugs,

Jen