once in a lifetime


1. dance called america
2. protect and survive
3. chi m'in geamhradh
4. rocket to the moon
5.going home


6.cnoc na feille
7. nightfall on marsco/tu mo leann
8. skye
9.loch lomond
10. hearts of olden glory



1. dance called america

the landlords came
the peasant trials
to sacrifice of men
through the past and that quite darkly
the presence once again
in the name of capital establishment
improvers, its a name
the hidden truths
the hidden lies
that once nailed you
to the pain

they did a dance
called america
they danced it round
and waited at the turns
for america
they danced their ladies round

to the candles
of enlightenment
once lit they say don't burn
to turn the darkest room of suffering
to a greater state of pain
don't tell me that's behind you now
don't greet me
don't meet your dying blind
it's our very last stand together
so lets sever,
no regrets

(chorus)

there were days
that once held confidence
strength of will & mind
the camouflage that once washed
your father's
your son's and daughter's time

another tongue
my love, my island
you've gone international
with all the praying men of god
who stood
and watched it all go on

(chorus)

2. protect and survive

the red hot sun burns up the hill
the winter's bride,
the summer's king
i tramp these acres and i feel
once upon a time
then it seemed that everything
you saw and touched and felt was real
you turned the tap
and you turned the wheel
breathing free

once in a lifetime
you live and love
once in a lifetime
you die
once in a moment
the sun goes down
protect and survive

now you search the open evening sky
trace the memory in your eyes
for the prophet's hard rain and the deluge
lie in tears around your door
once there were trees and livestock here
a mother's love, the warnings clear
but you chose to turn away from fear
breathing free

chorus

protect and survive
protect and survive

now there's a faceless cross on a distant hill
a wasted voice, a silent scream
where the lovers love and the dreamers dream
you stand and dream alone
you took your sacrifice to the gods of war
traded your children's lives for a mess of gold
and you beat your plough-shares into swords
breathing free

chorus

3. chi m'in geamhradh

chi mi'n geamhradh 'as a' ghaoith
chaneil an sheachd' fada bhuainn
sgothan dorch' 's na craobhan ruisgt
tha an oidhche nochd fuar

shaoilean fhein gur ann an de
Bha teas an t-samhraidh 'gar leaghadh
fad an fheasgair air an Dun
's tu laighe leisg ri mo thaobh

's tu laighe leisg ri mo thaobh
's iomadh oidch' a rinn sinn suiridhe
's iomadh oidhch' a rinn sinn gair
's ionadh oidhch' a bhithinn a'smuaintinn
gum bitheadh tu comhla ruim gu brath

chan fhan a' ghrian fad na bliadhna
cha sheas an uair mar a tha i
Dh'fhalbh thusa gu'n a'cheo

's dh'fhag thu mi le mo geamhradh
's iomadh oidch' a rinn sinn suiridhe
's iomadh oidhch' a rinn sinn gair
's ionadh oidhch' a bhithinn a'smuaintinn
gum bitheadh tu comhla ruim gu brath

gum bitheadh tu comhla ruim gu brath
gum bitheadh tu comhla ruim gu brath
gum bitheadh tu comhla ruim gu brath

english translation

i see the winter

i see the winter in the wind
the snow is not far from us
Dark clouds and the trees losing leaf
the night is cold

so often it feels that
it was only yesterday
the summer heat melted us
all evening long out on the Dun
and you lying lazy by my side

Many nights we loved
Many nights we laughed
Many times i thought
that you would have stayed forever

But the sun never shines all year
time will not stay as it once was
You left for the city
leaving me to my winter

Many nights we loved
Many nights we laughed
Many times i thought
that you would have stayed forever

that you would have stayed forever
that you would have stayed forever
that you would have stayed forever

4. rocket to the moon

here hangs an open landscape
a wild and huge frontier
from a harsh and a barren wasteland
through the grave to the promised field

you came, you trapped, you charted
you laid the railroads and the schemes
and you tamed this land by enterprise
and by the power of your dreams

chorus
but you made this clan great
and you made this nation bloom
and you rose
with your people through the new world
like a rocket to the moon

from the olden coasts of ireland
from the hebridean shores
with the forgotten chosen ones
running from europe in droves

chorus

there's a town in manitoba
they say the windows touch the sky
but across the brine the shipyards close
in this garden flowers die

still the homelands divide us
like your blood red brothers of the plains
but where they grieve a candle still burns
a prayer from a flicker to a flame

chorus

5.going home

in the distant day was dawning
comes to me the early morning
something tells me that i'm going home

the brand new sun shines bright
from the darkness fields of light
something tells me that i'm going home

going home
where the summers coming in
and the moonlight on the river
shows me where i've been

soft the rain gently falling
lightly 'cross the city morning
i get the feeling that i'm going home

across the moorland, past the mountains
o'er the rivers beside the new stream
something tells me that i'm going home

(chorus)

as the trains rolling nearer
ah, the feeling just to be there,
something tells me that i'm going home

now the skylines reach my eyes
the ridge stands out in highland skies
i just cant believe i'm going home

going home

6.cnoc na feille

gun dragh gun d'chuir e an t-eagal oirnn
solus cnoc na feille
hoginn oro horo illean horo eile
bha feadhainn ann a chunnaic e
's cach ag inns' nam briagan
hoginn oro horo illean horo eile
ach muinntir an da shealladh
chitheadh iadsan co-dhiubh e
hoginn oro horo illean horo eile

hoginn o, hoginn o, horo horo illean
hoginn o, horo illean, hoginn o hoginn o

tha lach is giadh is curracag
'nan caraidean air a'mhachaire
hoginn oro horo illean horo eile
tha feannag air a crochadh suas
ceangailt le ropa
hoginn oro horo illean horo eile
tha coineanach 'sa ghainmheach
ne sheasamh, abair urchaire
hoginn oro horo illean horo eile

hoginn o, hoginn o, horo horo illean
hoginn o, horo illean, hoginn o hoginn o

gun dragh gun d'chuir e an t-eagal oirnn
solus cnoc na feille
hoginn oro horo illean horo eile
bha feadhainn ann a chunnaic e
's cach ag inns' nam briagan
hoginn oro horo illean horo eile

hoginn o, hoginn o, horo horo illean
hoginn o, horo illean, hoginn o hoginn oach
muinntir an da shealladh
chitheadh iadsan co-dhiubh e
hoginn oro horo illean horo eile

english translation

a hill at the market stance

it is without doubt that it frightened us
the light on the hill at the market stance
there were those who could see it
others liked to believe they could
those with the second sight
they had no difficulty

the duck, the goose and the lapwing
are together sharing the machairlands
a dead crow hangs on the fence
tied by a length of rope
a rabbit is sitting in the sand dunes
presenting himself a perfect target

7. nightfall on marsco/tu mo leann

nightfall on marsco
cuchullin in sheets
this world of maclean's words
around us like sprits released
i came to love you
i came to drink
though dancing in darkness
i'm cup running over and drunk

darkest of prisons
oldest of nights
for the dawning round of garsbheinn
in patience we wait for the light
i am a climber
i am a thief
oh kingdom of gabbro
your strong chains won;t hold this love

's tu mo leannan, leannan o
's tu mo leannan, leannan o
's tu mo leannan, 's tu mo leannan
's tu mo leannan, leannan o


8. skye

how can't you see
the wilderness growing free
time wounded and scarred
stroking away the years
it's hard to believe
but memories are old ghosts
mountains of black and gold
sunsets falling over the moor
oh take me there

's na horo eile, horo bho
's na horo bho, hillean o
's na horo eille ho, take me there !

you take your dream
you make life what you feel
appearances lead to deceive
this drama so far from me

destiny on facts aching wings
wild geese flow over your shores
hearts sailing over the trees

oh take me there !
's na horo eile, horo bho
's na horo bho, hillean o
's na horo eille ho, take me there !

chi mi'n t-eilean uaine
tir nam beanntann arda
ceo a'tuiteam tron a'ghleann
na shineadh air do raointeann

9. loch lomond

by yon bonnie banks
and by yon bonnie braes
where the sun shines on loch lomond

where me and my true love
spent many days o
on the banks of loch lomond

twas there that we parted
in yon shady glen
on the steep sides of ben lomond

where the broken heart
it knows no second spring
resigned we must be
when we're parting

you'll take the high road and
i'll take the low road
and i'll be in scotland a'fore ye

where me and my true love
will never meet again
on the bonnie bonnie banks
of loch lomond

ho, ho mo leannan
ho, ho mo leannan bhoidheach

you'll take the high road and
i'll take the low road
and i'll be in scotland a'fore ye
where me and my true love
will never meet again
on the bonnie bonnie banks
of loch lomond

you'll take the high road and
i'll take the low road
and i'll be in scotland afore ye
where me and my true love
will never meet again
on the bonnie bonnie banks
of loch lomond

10. hearts of olden glory

there's thunder clouds
round the hometown bay
as i walk out in the rain
through the sepia showers
and the photoflood days

i caught a fleeting glimpse of life
and though the water's
black as night
the colours of scotland
leave you young inside

there must be a place
under the sun
where hearts of olden glory
grow young

there's a vision
coming soon
through the faith
that cleans your wound
hearts of olden glory
will be renewed

down the glens
where the headlands stand
i feel a healing
through this land
a cross for a people
like wind through your hands

chorus

 


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