live at celtic connections 2000


1. rocket to the moon
2. protect and survive
3. big sky
4. siol ghoraidh
5. the only rose
6. a dh'innse na firinn
7. edge of the world
8.. hearts of olden glory
9. eubh nan cudaigean / the middleton mouse
10. maymorning
11. the message
12. cearcal a'chuain
13. pog aon oidhche earraich
14. skye

1. 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

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

choru

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. 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
iget lifted up enraptured
ikeep 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
Iim 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

4. siol ghoraidh

clann mo theaghlaich
clann mo theaghlaich
clann mo theaghlaich fhein

clann mo theaghlaich
clann mo theaghlaich
clann mo theaghlaich fhein

ochd deug seisreach
air raontainn aird a' mhorrain
na fir a' treabhadh
an la a thainig na sleitich

siol ghoraidh
mac ruairidh
clann raghnaill
clann dhomhaill

linn gu linn
ainm gu ainm
air an sgiath seo dh 'uibhist
's mi beo an drasd

clann mo theaghlaich
clann mo theaghlaich
clann mo theaghlaich fhein

dubh dath na fala
a dhoirt 'na tuil gu talamh
saighead claidheamh
tro chairdeas corp an udail

siol ghoraidh
mac ruairidh
clann raghnaill
clann dhomhaill

linn gu linn
ainm gu ainm
air an sgiath seo dh 'uibhist
's mi beo an drasd

(chorus)

linn gu linn
ainm gu ainm
air an sgiath seo dh 'uibhist
's mi beo an drasd

english translation:

the genealogy of goraidh

eighteen teams of horses
on the field of aird a mhorrain
the young men were ploughing
on the day the sleat people came

the genealogy of goraidh
the sons of ruairi
the sons of ranald
the children of donald
the children of my own family

generation to generation
From one name to another
my time is now
to walk this corner of uist

black was the colour of the blood
that flowed like a flood to the land
the arrow, the long sword
through the generosity of the udal
people

the genealogy of goraidh
the sons of ruairi
the sons of ranald
the children of donald
the children of my own family

(chorus)

5. the only rose

between the shifting sands
in the no-man's zone
there's a bar at the end of the street
some ppor country music
one or two sixty's songs
this is the place where the night owls sleep
oh, loneliness
you're a hard earned crust
you're the night at the end of the day
'cause you pay your due
on the road you choose
with the price you have to pay

down the neon aisles
and the twilight miles
where the world takes comfort in shame
and all i can hear
is a voice in my ear
and it's calling out your name
still the silence glows
the four winds blow
and a dark moon rising above
to rest by your side
in the heat of the fire
in the sleep of the night of love

when darkness hangs
on the dirty city
winter falls on a foreign town
and it's all i can do
to be with you
tonight as the sun goes down
but i would cross
the ocean wide
i'd walk the mighty foam
if i could lie
in your arms tonight
you're the only rose i know

6. a dh'innse na firinn

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

english translation:

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

7. edge of the world

all the homes on the globe
are like the television in your eyes
a cross guarding your heart
the living years a sacrifice
a shiver at the door in the night,
clouds cross a black moonlight
rushing on down to the sound
of a turning world
there's a south by sou'westerly
force eight coming in strong
across the continental shelf
from the cold grey malin beyond

the need to keep control
the need to stand alone
at the edge of the world
on the edge of the world
on the edge of the world

the adrenalin infrastructure bringing on it's
troubles some more
all the laws of the jungle
stranded on your latest shore
but the waves hold the healer force
the years disappear like a ghost
somewhere out of the sight of the night
and the light of day
now civilization groans
and the news reel cries
like a drowning man
His life in front of his eyes
oh the need to keep control
the need to bare the soul
at the edge of the world

on the edge of the world
on the edge of the world

and the man from st. Kilda
went over the cliff on a winter's day

on the edge of the world
on the edge of the world

8. 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

9. eubh nan cudaigean / the middleton mouse

lyrics not yet available

10. 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

11. the 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

12. cearcal a'chuain

lyrics not yet available

13. pog aon oidhche earraich

an saoghal, sia uairean
obair la ri cul
teaghlach gabhal dhan a'mheas
pailteas, slainte, is gaol
an ruis a tuiteam sios mu'm chluasan
an ear mheadhain am brot cho dorch
is thusa, uilc is a mhuirt is a shabaid
na mo bheatha a h-uile oidhche

o luaidh be siod an gradh
a dh'fhag mi ceangailte ruit an drasda
co shaoileadh an rud a dh'fhas
bho phog aon oidhche earraich

an greim cho teann's araid
mar ord na mo dhorn
a 'ghealach bha cho soilleir
's a gheall a leithid dhuinn
bha sinn mar longan seolaidh
air cuan buidhe og a 'chridhe
mu coinneamh clann an t-saoghil's theaghlaich
gun ghuth no gaire, dia, no biadh

o luaidh be siod an gradh
a dh'fhag mi ceangailte ruit an drasda
co shaoileadh an rud a dh'fhas
bho phog aon oidhche earraich

co as an dainig na reultan, thuirt mi
co as an dainig grian
tha sinn cho leointe fo na ghealach seo
anam craidhte seachad air ifrinn fheinn
ach tha thusa brosnalchadh nam bliadhnaichean
le saidhbreas seachad air mo dhith
cho gheal ri sneachd gach uile gheamhradh
an t-oran gaoil m'fhaosaid chiontach fheinn

o luaidh be siod an gradh
a dh'fhag mi ceangailte ruit an drasda
co shaoileadh an rud a dh'fhas
bho phog aon oidhche earraich

o luaidh be siod an gradh
a dh'fhag mi ceangailte ruit an drasda
co shaoileadh an rud a dh'fhas
bho phog aon oidhche earraich

english translation

a kiss one spring evening

the six o'clock world
the days work over
family, taking of the fruits
of plenty, good health, and love
russia is falling down around my ears
the middle east in a broth of darkness
and you, evil, murder, and fighting
in my life every night

oh love
what power there was in that embrace
that has left me in union with you today
who could ever have foreseen
all that has grown
from a kiss, one spring evening

the grasp that was so firm and special
like a hammer in my fist
the moon that was so bright
and promised so much
we were like sailing ships
on the young, yellow ocean of the heart
confronted by children, and the world family
without voice, laughter, a god, or food

oh love
what power there was in that embrace
that has left me in union with you today
who could ever have foreseen all that has grown
from a kiss, one spring evening

so where do the stars come from, i said
from where did the sun appear
we are so wounded below this moon
souls tortured beyond hell itself
still you keep bringing inspiration to my years
with blessings beyond my need
whiter than the snows of each winter
the song of love, my confession of guilt

oh love
what power there was in that embrace
that has left me in union with you today
who could ever have foreseen all that has grown
from a kiss, one spring evening

oh love
what power there was in that embrace
that has left me in union with you today
who could ever have foreseen all that has grown
from a kiss, one spring evening

14. 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


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