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Lyr ADD: The Snowy Cordillera (De Danann)

28 Jan 97 - 05:05 AM (#1678)
Subject: They came across the border...
From: bottarel@ipruniv.cce.unipr.it

I would like to know the TITLE and LYRICS of a song sung by De Dannan - probably in the album "1/2 set in Harlem"

First verses are: They came across the border Through the snowy cordigliera She could dance fandango He could play guitar

I will appreciate very much any help Bye

Ezio - Italy

30 Oct 01 - 08:18 AM (#582529)
Subject: Lyr Add: SNOWY CORDILLERA (De Danann)
From: Wolfgang

One of Ezio's old questions brought to my attention by George Seto and here's now the answer. I've copied and pasted the lyrics from Susanne's My songbook.

Wolfgang

SNOWY CORDILLERA
(Alec Finn / Phil & June Colclough)

They came across the border through the snowy Cordillera
She could dance Fandango, he could play guitar
In a cold northern city now they try to live life faceless
She collects the glasses, he works behind the bar

But something in their faces is bound to get them noted
A beauty, a defiance that makes customers beware
And if you watch them closely you can see that they're no servants
But players from a drama which is happening elsewhere

In the early morning when the drinkers have departed
We watch them walk in silence to their tiny room
And often around corners together they'll be glancing
To make sure no one's watching through the shadows and the gloom

For hour after hour together they'll be talking
About the time they ran fast as the southern reels
They'll be reminiscing of the time they were walking
High on the snowline, way above the trees

They waited till the night came and then they ran together
There was no time to say goodbye, there was no time for tears
All through the darkness running for the border
All they carried with them was nothing but their fears

In the early light they saw the Cordillera
There they breathed the air which is so free and pure
Their arms around each other they came across the border
In their hearts they knew they would return no more

Her hair upon the pillow it shines as black as raven
The rings upon his fingers are the only things he brought
And if you were to see them and say that they've got nothing
But all they need is nothing, and nothing's ever sought

Sometimes while they're sleeping they can see the southern mountains
They stand there in the wind which blows so strong and wild
All they have is love and love it costs them nothing
In the early springtime she expects his child

(as sung by De Dannan)

31 Oct 01 - 12:06 AM (#582937)
Subject: RE: They came across the border...
From: Deckman

In the mid fifties, Harry Belefonte recorded a song that started like this ... "As they poured across the border,
I was cautioned to surrender,
this I could not do,
I took my gun and vanished.

This doesn't help you thread, but I found it interesting. CHEERS, Bob from Everett, Washington, USA.

31 Oct 01 - 07:21 AM (#583003)
Subject: RE: They came across the border...
From: McGrath of Harlow

That sounds interesting Deckman. Here's a list which is supposed to contain all Harry Belafonte's recorded songs. Could you pick out which of them that might be, if it's there.

The Cordillera song says something about immigration which I think is central, and gets missed so often. The fact that so often it involves people living out their lives in drab culturally impoverished exile.

31 Oct 01 - 09:38 AM (#583030)
Subject: RE: They came across the border...
From: GUEST,Malcolm Douglas

The lines Deckman quotes are from The Partisan, a translation of La Complainte du Partisan, which Leonard Cohen revived back in the 1960s.  It was written in 1943 by Emmanuel d'Astier de la Vignerie (known as "Bernard") with music by Anna Marly, who originally recorded it.  The English translation was by Hy Zaret.

Full details and sound samples of recordings by a number of people (no mention of Belafonte, though) can be found at  Song Of The French Partisan

31 Oct 01 - 10:08 AM (#583046)
Subject: RE: They came across the border...
From: Grab

Malcolm, many, _many_ thanks for that. I've always suspected that LC's few verses in French were part of a larger song, but never knew it. The French version is so much better, especially the last verse.

Graham.

31 Oct 01 - 10:42 AM (#583070)
Subject: RE: They came across the border...
From: Deckman

I said that Belefonte recorded it but in retrospect, I believe I heard him perform live at a concert in Seattle early in his career. As I recall, the words were printed in the concert program. Thanks for all the information. I'm pleased to get the backround. CHEERS, Bob

31 Oct 01 - 02:42 PM (#583287)
Subject: RE: They came across the border...
From: breezy

Thanks to all for input on this thread .I now know more than before, the joy of mudcat.Now where did I leave that De Dannan album and is it Delores K singing it?

31 Oct 01 - 05:48 PM (#583420)
Subject: RE: They came across the border...
From: Susanne (skw)

Nope - it's Eleanor Shanley singing, another great voice!

21 Apr 12 - 06:10 AM (#3341200)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Snowy Cordillera (De Danann)
From: GUEST,jemcat

The couple are obviously fleeing from danger and I have always wondered which conflict they are escaping from. I take it that the Cordillera are in South America and I wonder if the "cold northern city" is in the USA. Can anyone shed any light on the background to the song? De Dannan's rendering is superb!

11 Jul 22 - 04:12 PM (#4147021)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Snowy Cordillera (De Danann)
From: GUEST,Rick S. in Bellingham

Hi,
I just came across this discussion, and I think the Cordillera may be the Pyrenees, because the cordilleras of the Andes in South America run north to south, so if they were crossed, the exiles would not have gone north. The Pyrenees are also a cordillera, separating brutally fascist Franco Spain from France. The Basque country straddles the Pyrenees, and Catalonia shares the Occitan language with southern France, so those fleeing Franco from those regions would have the possibility of fitting into local languages and culture. Just my two cents.