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1. maymorning
i'm alive again on a maymorning
going to wipe the slate clean
follow my dreams
all the yearning buds are here again
with the promise of a new life to come
spring is here again
the sun is melting over the hills
all our roads are waiting
to be revealed
for this in history has brought us to here
now it's all there for the taking
the day is what you see
the light's returning, the work is in hand
all the cynics have vanished
from where we stand
all the chances wasted are drawing me near
and all around there's new life rising
from the winter fields
i'm alive again
i'm alive again
2. message
i'm going to dance you round the floor
drink you under the tables
going to take that last flight home
to balivanich in the month of june
go racing up the south ford
turning midnight in the cars
waiting up late with the greenock girls
singing every song that made us
you take your message to the waters
and you watch the ripples flow
now somewhere out on the ocean
it says mary please don't go
we're going to lie down on the grass
your lipstick in the clover
going the marry mary in the summertime
the atlantic round our shoulders
skies are dawning 'round the langass barpa
stopped off at the white bridge waters
it's all crossroads lined with telegraph poles
a rise of larksong fills the morning
you take your message to the waters
and you watch the ripples flow
now somewhere out on the ocean
lies our fear should we grow old
you take your message to the waters
and you watch the ripples flow
now somewhere out on that ocean
it says mary please don't go
and when we've wasted all our young years
who's to say we never tried
to live fast and honour our pledges
here we vowed to stay young till we die
we drank the life from the last of the bottle
we wrote our message out like a prayer
then we threw away the message with all our
hearts
then we watched our lives disappear
you take your message to the waters
and you watch the ripples flow
now somewhere out on that great beyond
lies our fear should we grow old
you take your message to the waters
and you watch the ripples flow
now somewhere out on that ocean
it says mary please don't go
3. ribhinn donn
o mo run
tha an oidhche ghremhraidh
reoite is fuar
na bliadhnaichean dol bhuainn
is bhon cheud la gheall mi dhut
chuir sinn seachad cuart am bliadhn'
is gach uile gheamhraidh anns a bhlas
a chailin og dhan tug mi luaidh
aon earrach ur
o mo run
tha an la a tha ann cho truagh ri gaol
gann tha an cridhe nach diult
is a bhoid mhaireas buan
o oigh, alainn, chiuin
co eile air thalamh ghabadh t-ait
gun siubhlainn leat gu cul na greine
is gu crioch la
mo ribhinn og
mo ribhinn donn
gun siubhlainn leat gu cul na greine
is gu crioch la
o mo run
tha mi mar as abhaist is mi 'nam aon
na mo shuidhe sgriobhadh dhan
se seo doigh mo dhaoine
is moladh mi do chliu
le oran ceangailt anns an nos
is ged sheasainn air gach uile reul
bhiodh tu os coinn
mo ribhinn og
mo ribhinn donn
is ged sheasainn air gach uile reul
bhiodh tu os coinn
mo ribhinn donn
english translation
brown-haired girl
my love
the winter night
is frozen and cold
the years are moving
away from us
and from the day
when i first vowed to you
we lived through the journey
of that first year
and through every other winter in a warmth
young girl to whom i gave my love
one new spring
my love
this day and age is impoverished in love
scarce is the heart that does not reject
and the vow that binds eternally
graceful, gentle girl
there is no other i could put in your place
i would walk with you to the back of the sun
and to the ends of time
young girl
brown haired girl
i would walk with you to the back of the sun
and to the ends of time
my love
as usual as i am in the solitary
writing songs
this is the way of my people
i will sing your praises
in song secured to the tradition
and supposing i stood on every star
i would place you higher
young girl
brown haired girl
and supposing i stood on every star
i would place you higher
4. big sky
the light is on me
all time is here
i'm going down to clachan
to stem the rush of years
big sky above me
power lines overhead
i get lifted up enraptured
i keep falling at your feet
i'm looking over colour fields
past the white sands
and our human years
and it's all waiting here
breaking the seed
it's coming again
gathering the wind
returning to claim a harvest
i'm lifted where i stand
on the never-ending land
i'm coming to a sense of home
wind through the barley
your early dream
a rising choir of bird-song
your fields of summer green
it's all passing over
i've no complaints
we're just a row of unlit candles
waiting at the gate of saints
i'm living on the borderline
between the moment
and the shining miles
the far stretching stones
all the lines of the sown
it's coming again
gathering the wind
returning to claim a harvest
i'm lifted where i stand
on the never-ending land
i'm coming to a sense of home
the light of ancient shine
on your ordinary lives
we went to the fires of harvest
so open up the land
open up the sand
returning again in clachan
5. life is
life is hard, somehow
life is cold, somehow
it can make you, it can break you
in pieces all around
there is no return
once the seal's undone
morning dawning with life abounding
but in time we all must fall
and it seems to be this way
hearts change and brightness fades
and it leaves you facing the days
when your hope is blown apart
life is hard
i walk you down that road
it's the only road we know
nights so blinding, the world denying
that love so loved the world
what words to ease the pain
a life to live again
what can lift you up from this place
where you hold a broken heart
life is hard
6. da mhile bliadhna
fo na gealachean
air rathad da mhile bliadhn'
co chreideadh na dh' fhairich sinn
's na chunniac sinn ri ar linn
dh' fhas am fasach suas
far an do chuir sinn siol ar naire
dlieab mor nan daoine
an t-acras is am pathadh
anns an aineolas
chaidh ar gairdeachas air chall
da mhile bliadhna
air an rathad lethainn mhall
tha mi direadh a' chnuic as aird'
airson sealladh, dhan an talamh
air cul a' ghlinne waobh eile thall
air sraidean baile a mhaireas
an la nach criochnaich is nach gluais
tro na h-aireamhean
mar fharadh theid sinn suas
anns an dealachadh
atharraichidh sinn an am priobadh suil
thoir dhuinn an aireamh nuadh
na laithean buan
english translation
two thousand miles
below many moons
on a two thousand year old road
who could have believed
all that we have seen
and suffered in our generation
the wilderness has grown
where we have sown
the seeds of our shame
hunger and thirst
the legacy of our population
in our ignorance
our joy has lost direction
two thousand years
on the slow broad way
i am climbing up the highest hill
for a sight of the landscape
behind the other side of the valley
on the streets of the everlasting city
day will not end, time will not shift
up through the numbers
we will rise like stepping on a ladder
in the parting
we will be transformed
in the blink of an eye
give us the new number
the eternal days
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7. this is not a love song
i could tell you about the moon
that's rolling 'cross the sky
i could show you all the stars
but it's much too late at night
i'm driving home on the silver run
the last to move on through
and this is not a love song
no matter what i do
words are few but the heart is true
still the world keeps turning round
for me and you
if i could only make you see
one reason to believe
i would open up my heart
it's so easy to deceive
footsteps fall through open doors
across a darkened room
and this is not a love song
this is no moon in june
words are few but the heart is true
still the world keeps turning 'round
for me and you
you know for you i'd give my life
in you i will be strong
we went off looking for the light
but it was right here all along
now we wait her passing nighttimes
until every morning comes
and this is not a love song
this is no easy tune
words are few but the heart is true
still the world keeps turning 'round
for me and you
8. a dh'innse na finn
an cuala tu an naidheachd
a chuala mi an de
tha an saoghal ga
chraobh-sgaoileadh
co shaoileadh a leithid!
a dh' innse na firinn
cha creidinn sa na briathran
to tell the truth
did you hear the news
that i heard yesterday
the whole world is broadcasting it
who would have thought!
to tell you the truth
i could not believe the words
9. all things must change
the road was long
our steps were new
the storms of innocence
strong and fresh they blew
directions turned
love changing hands
we stood like gods before
our maps and plans
but all things must change
so don't look back, just walk away
that morning dawn
with no regrets
we stood in line we laughed
in silhouette
on the learning ground
the place we loved the best
that was our final time
out in the west
but all things must change
so don't look back, just walk away
now the cars come like rivers
night comes like madness
songs come like trains
headlights flash in the darkness
memories twist in the rain
and we feel those flickering moments
like silk they're the flags of our days
and the past is only the part of life
we've thrown away
the river's dark
in constant flow
swollen by winter streams
and the melting snow
i see your face
across the miles
to where some kindness showed
our fate entwined
but all things must change
so don't look back, just walk away
10. cho buidhe is a bha i riabh
tha an rathad a' ruith go tuath
gleanntan sgapte air gach taoibh
a' ghrian tro ghiuthas nam mor-shliabh
saighdean oir dhar leon an agh
thuirt m'anam rium, "nach teid thu null
cuir eallach is cruadhchas asir do chul
is gun cur an t-aite sealach failte oirnn
is bi mi comhla riut an drasd"
sunndach a tha mi
tron oighreachd bhoidheach,
bhoidheach, buan
bha thu daonnan na mo smuaint
tro laithena iseal is bristeadh-cridhe
tog orm mo chiall, tog orm mo bhith
le cridhe aodrom, cridheil, ciuin
aliuthad cuan a ghiulain do dhaoine
is iad a' triall na slighe bhuat
is ged tha an saoghal dol bun os cionn
is astar bhliadhnaichean tighinn oirnn
is ged tha mo dhuil ag eirigh suas
is iomadh sgurr a ghios fo sgleo
ach tha na siontan liath, is na siontan blath
le blas cho diamhair is nach gabh e inns
is tha an lus tha fas air croit dhomnaill bhain
cho buidhe an diugh is a bha i riamh
english translation
as yellow as it ever was
the road is stretching to the north
great glens scattered on every side
the sun glinting through he mountain pines
arrows of gold wounding us in joy
my soul said, "come across to see me
put your burdens and hardships behind you
this temporary place will give us welcome
and i will be with you again"
i am contented
passing through the beautiful, eternal landscape
you were always in my thoughts
through the low days and the heartbreak
lift up my understanding,
clothe me in my existence
with a light, a pleasing and a gentle heart
many were the oceans that carried your people
as they journeyed far from you
although the world has turned upside down
and the distance of years is upon us
and although my hope is riding to the heights
many clouds will approach the summit
but the skies are blue, the skies are warm
with a warmth so profound it can not be described
and the flower that is growing on domhnall ban's croft
is as yellow as it ever was
11. travellers
we stood in the moonlight and the river flowed
and god walked through the garden
a mist came falling down to the ground
i watched it all with no obligation
this is your sister, this is your brother
this is your mother, not somebody's dream
and all our lifetimes drifted through the trees
to that place of moments where all was certain
travellers on an olden road
with all the baggage of our days and years
we're life's carriers to the next unborn
and i'll carry you
till this great race is over
we stood in the garden
and the river flowed....
12. in search of angels
pick up the broken pieces from the ground
all your diminishing returns
and take a good look at the master plan
'cause down here every candle burns
you are as gentle as the morning dawn
torment can't wash away your grace
in search of angels with uist eyes
so many suns light up your face
too many seas to cross, too many roads
you leave me with my higher need
this one horizon in our borrowed hour
such little lives we lead
tonight the skies are red
so red they fill my eyes
sundown on barren words that can't describe
your island paradise
but i know that all's well with the world
don't worry anymore
don't worry now
another sun will rise
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