shadygrove

North/South

Words and Music © Shepherd, 2003

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Orphaned Lyrics

Except: 2 Widower's Sigh (Words:John Clare, Music: Shepherd), 15 My Own Heart: (Words: Gerard Manley Hopkins, Music: Shepherd) and 16 More Than Rain (Words and Music: Tom Waits).

I stopped to ask the Rain Crow
When will my wedding be
And how long have I
'Till I reach eternity

The Rain Crow laughed said softly
You'll never wedded be
'Though you'll live to be a hundred
Or a hundred and three

And every single minute
Of every single day
You'll rue the hour you left her
And turned her love away

You left the one who loved you best
Regret will follow you
And cast a lonely shadow
Over everything you do

Once more I asked the Rain Crow
Who'll make my sad heart sing
Who'll cover me with their feathers
Let me hide beneath their wing

Crow said you hide a dark soul
You're fickle as the moon
And you wander round in midnight
While the sun shines down at noon

And every single minute
Of every single day
You'll rue the hour you left her
And turned her love away

You left the one who loved you best
Regret will follow you
And every waking thought will run
To the one who loves you true
Every aching thought will run
To the one

Peter The Wild Man from Hanover.
Whoever will bring him to Mr. Fen
at Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire shall
be paid for their trouble.

My man is a man of very few words
And sometimes he goes wandering
He likes to stand in the warmth of the sun
Or on a starry night to go a-rambling

If you should see him out on the road
Please see that you return him home
I'll give you silver I'll give you gold
Just help my Wild Boy to come home

Bring back won't you bring back
Bring back my Wild Boy to me
Bring back won't you bring back
Bring back my Wild Boy to me

He was the toy of Princesses and Kings
Dressed in courtly green and scarlet stockings
Scarlet stockings and forest green
He was the rarest boy that you've ever seen

Bring back won't you bring back
Bring back my Wild Boy to me
Bring back won't you bring back
Bring back my Wild Boy to me

Bring back won't you bring back
Bring back my Wild Boy to me
Bring back won't you bring back
Bring back my Wild Boy to me

Come all yea roving gamblers
A story I have to tell
It doesn't have a happy ending
Just a candle and a funeral bell

Come all you brave young men
Hang down your heads for shame
I'll tell you about a man a very fine man
Jack Randall was his name

Near Leopard's Hill the jailhouse stood
And any that cared to seek
Might find Jack Randall a prisoner there
Locked up from week to week

Abandoned by his enemies
Held against his will
He swore to leave the madhouse
While he had dragons and giants to kill

And the news came down from High Beach
From Buckhurst Hill Epping and Loughton
And it rang through the trees of the forest
That Rambling Jack had gone

He's gone he's gone
Rambling Jack has gone
And it rang through the trees of the forest
That Rambling Jack had gone

The stream was winding in the slade
The winter sun was fair
He rode off with the landlord's daughter
On the landlord's black-eyed mare

When they came to the edge of the forest
Mary said " Dear Jack I love you so
But you must go alone down the Old North Road
Out of Essex I cannot go"

And the news came down from High Beach
From Buckhurst Hill Epping and Loughton
And it rang through the trees of the forest
That Rambling Jack had gone

He's gone he's gone
Rambling Jack has gone
And it rang through the trees of the forest
That Rambling Jack had gone

Penniless and cold he stumbled on
He slept in hedge and briar
No one shared his comfortless
No light or warming fire

But coming home was no sweet return
Poisoned was his fate
The lovely commons where once he roamed
Were barred by fence and gate

And the news came down from High Beach
From Buckhurst Hill Epping and Loughton
And it rang through the trees of the forest
That Rambling Jack had gone

He's gone he's gone
Rambling Jack has gone
And it rang through the trees of the forest
That Rambling Jack had gone

So farewell the tracks of my childhood
The brook and the primrose and the lane
The oak and the Beach and the old hollow ash
Where we sheltered from the rain

And the news came down from High Beach
From Buckhurst Hill Epping and Loughton
And it rang through the trees of the forest
That Rambling Jack had gone

He's gone he's gone
Rambling Jack has gone
And it rang through the trees of the forest
That Rambling Jack had gone

There's an old dead tree on a lonely hill
And you can go to see her
Written on the bark
By a hand unseen it says:
"Here is the grave of winter"

So fare thee well
I never liked you much
And I'm not going to miss you
But it's a long cold road
That we've all got to go down
Here in the grave of winter

On the old dead tree
A robin is singing
What he's singing there's no way of knowing
But it seems to me
That he's quite happy to be
Here in the grave of winter

I'm a misfit in the country
I'm a misfit in the town
I'm a misfit in the air and
I'm a misfit on the ground

I'm a misfit on the motorway
I'm a misfit in the train
I'm a misfit in the sunshine and
I'm a misfit in the rain

Ooh Ooh Misfit
Ooh Ooh Misfit

I'm a misfit in Muswell Hill
I'm a misfit in my mind
I'm a misfit in thought and word
I'm a misfit in deed and kind

I'm a misfit when I'm dreaming
I'm a misfit when I wake
I'm a misfit when I'm early and
I'm a misfit when I'm late

I'm a misfit when it's quiet
I'm a misfit when it's loud
I'm a misfit on my own and
I'm a misfit in a crowd

I'm a misfit in my youth
I'm a misfit in middle age
I'm a misfit running wild and
I'm a misfit in a cage

Ooh Ooh Misfit
Ooh Ooh Misfit
Ooh Ooh Misfit
I'm gonna' miss it

I feel a rumble well up from deep
Deep down It must be a sign
And I wander if you're down there
Angel of the Northern Line

I was carrying three bags of shopping
You were reading Landscape Design
Please reply to this ad. if you see it
Angel of the Northern Line

There's only been one other:
The girl from Gospel Oak
We stood on the same platform for fifteen years
But never ever spoke

I'll lose my gut and trim my brow
If you say that you'll be mine
And I'll move out to High Barnet with
My angel of the Northern Line

You thought he was your lovin' Daddy
He called you his sweetheart
But all the time wasn't he just waiting
To go and break your heart

Now you won't let yourself go
There's far too much to do
Ordinary life goes on
So I'll cry a tear for two

Tear for two you're holding back
Though your heart's sad and blue
Silence speaks louder than words have ever done
So I'm crying a tear for two

I put on "Don't let this fire burn between us"
Played end to end my collection of cheating songs
We used to think it couldn't possibly mean us
Or that something so right could go so wrong

I don't know one end of a honky-tonk from another
I don't drink much though I'm no angel that's true
But I fell into the arms of another
And those cheating songs are all I've left of you

So put on a cheating song a silver-tongued deceiving song
I'd play it myself if I could get off this barstool
I'd sing about the man who wanted everything
And the king who turned himself into a fool

I don't know one end of a honky-tonk from another
I don't drink much I'm no angel that's true
But I fell into the arms of another
And those cheating songs are all I've left of you

So put on a cheating song a silver-tongued deceiving song
I'd play it myself if I could get off this barstool
I'd sing about the man who wanted everything
And the king who turned himself into a fool

Put on a cheating song a silver-tongued deceiving song
I'd play it myself if I could get off this barstool
I'd sing about the man who wanted everything
And the king who turned himself into a fool

I got the records she got the car
That's why I'm sitting in the station bar
Counting my blessings and looking back
As the wind whistles down an empty track

I can hear Woody Guthrie singing:
There's more pretty girls than one
But it's a long wait at the station
When the train of love has gone

The train of love glides low and proud
Down a hundred miles of track
But if you miss it and many do
It may never ever come back

We walked in ancient footsteps
Down an old sunken lane
To a church long since abandoned
Her body open to the rain

Over fields which once were tended
Over streams where children sang
Where scythe and saw were mended
And peels of laughter rang

When you've murdered everything
And death is all you know
When the rocks beneath are frozen
And nothing wants to grow

Time and tide have scoured
Hard ruts for feet of clay
And you and I'll go stepping
Out along the hollow way

We'll walk in ancient footsteps
Down an old sunken lane
To the church long since abandoned
Her body open to the rain

Here we'll plant a garden
And enjoy it while we may
Then we'll go a-stepping out
Along the hollow way

All this crazy soul searching
It's like mining the deepest seem in the world
Mostly you dig down and find nothing
Sometimes you come up with a pearl

I'm already halfway through my sentence
I'm just getting used to the dark
I used to be a Gram man
Now it's all Eugene Clark

Would you welcome a stranger to your table
'Though he's cold and he smells of the road
Entertaining is a chore
But ignoring him's a bore
You shove him out the window
And he comes back through the door

You say you're hungry; he's hungrier
You're sad; he's distraught
You're weary; well he's tireder
You're watchful; he's alert

If you were thinking to outrun him
You had better think again
It's not that he can't just doesn't want to
Not if but only when

Will you welcome a stranger to your table
'Though he's cold and he smells of the road
Entertaining is a chore
But ignoring him's a bore
You shove him out the window
And he comes back through your door

All this crazy soul searching
It's like mining the deepest seem in the world
Mostly you dig down and find nothing
Sometimes you come up with a pearl

Would you welcome a stranger to your table
'Though he's cold and he smells of the road
Entertaining is a chore
But ignoring him's a bore
You shove him out the window
And he comes back through the door

In the midst of laughter there is sorrow
For every Spring there must be a Fall
For every dram of pleasure
There's a pound or two of pain
And for every pint of honey
A gallon or two of gall

Flow my tears fall from your springs
Wipe that smile from your face
Give your misery wings
When you're young you know nothing
When you're old you know less
The fool doesn't give a damn
And the wise care even less

A million Springs won't bring back
One dead soldier or babe-in-arms
Each vernal flower's a poisoned tree
Will kill you with its charms
On every branch an unquiet Hotspur seethes
Each fruit is soft with sadness
And death drips from the leaves

A noon-day moon over a dead tree
Is mourning winter's death
The flag of spring in victory is unfurled
And a dead weathercock is crowing
Past the edge of the world

Flow my tears fall from your springs
Wipe that smile from your face
Give your misery wings
When you're old you know nothing
When you're young you know less
The wise don't give a damn
And the fool cares even less

I'd sing you a song
But I know I'd sing it wrong
The load's too heavy
The road too long
My muse too selfish
My words too vain
So I'll sing you the view
From the garden after rain

Beside the water
Blackberries are turning
Taking sweetness
Drawing sting
The tempest silent
That once was raging
The robin singing
On the wing