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1. |
A Woman's Way
05:15
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I thought it only fitting
And my soul of adventure it touched
That my husband's name should reap the rewards
Of a journey that cost him so much
So I left my Ontario farmhouse
And set out for Ungava Bay
To paddle the unknown wilderness
And discover a woman's way.
And I've never found so much freedom
I've never felt so much at home
In the golden stillness of a northern sunset
Or the strength of the wild rapids' foam
Charting a course for my own canoe
Living from day to day
Paddling the unknown wilderness
To discover a woman's way.
Now the men didn't think it was fitting
How often they scolded and teased
And I wished to myself that I was a man
And could do anything that I pleased
But I had my share of adventures
I wrote down at the end of each day
As I paddled the unknown wilderness
To discover a woman's way.
And I've never found so much freedom
I've never felt so much at home
In the golden stillness of a northern sunset
Or the strength of the wild rapids' foam
Charting a course for my own canoe
Living from day to day
Paddling the unknown wilderness
To discover a woman's way.
Now some folks might think it's not fitting
For a woman to roam round the Pole
But that northern journey of sunsets and rapids
Brought stillness and strength to my soul
And here's what my story can tell you
If you're a young woman today
Go paddle your own unknown wilderness
And discover your own woman's way.
And you'll never find so much freedom
You'll never feel so much at home
In the golden stillness of a northern sunset
And the strength of the wild rapids' foam
Charting a course for your own canoe
Living from day to day
Paddling the unknown wilderness
To discover a woman's way.
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2. |
Gudrid the Wanderer
10:18
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VInland the Good
There on the strand did the broad sea-boat stand
The ring-prowed, the dragon ship proud
With fifty brave warriors and five women wise
We set sail for the land of the vines.
The sea-goer moved foamy-necked, floated forth
The woollen sail snapped in the spray
The world candle carried us into the west
O'er the whale-path we set forth that day.
For nine days and nine nights we never lost heart
for the fifth ship to follow were we
Where Erik the Red sent three of Erik's sons
And the storm-tossed sea warrior Bjarni.
He told of a land where wheat and grapes grew
A land of flat stones, Helluland
Then Markland of forest, and Vinland of vines
And the sand on the broad Wunderstrand.
Our sea-dragon surged o'er the strong struggling waves
When we came at last to Leif the Lucky's land
In his longhouses, turf-roofed, our troop found its rest
And rejoiced in our fair newfound land.
Who WIll Follow
Troubled is my heart as I gaze across the frost-cold sea
Tomorrow will the whale-path carry me again to my country.
Who will follow? Surely they will come.
Who will know us when our work is done?
The memory of my kinsmen moves within me even as they fade
Again I send my warrior out across the winter-woven wave.
Who will follow? Surely they will come.
Who will know us when our work is done?
Here wealth is fleeting, friend is fleeting, man and woman fleeting fall
The hearth is cold, the land is cold, my heart is cold to leave this hall.
Who will follow? Surely they will come.
Who will know us when our work is done?
My son, you are a warrior, eldest born of this newfounded land.
I wonder, will the whale-path carry you again to fair Vinland?
Who will follow? Surely they will come.
Who will know us when our work is done?
I wonder, will the whale-path carry me again to fair Vinland?
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3. |
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(trad. coll. Martha Pellerin)
C'est en m'y promenant le longue de ces prairies
Dans mon chemin rencontrent Marguerite m'amie
Je sais bien quelque chose que je ne veux pas dire
Ah, que je ne dirais pas
Qu'a vous a soupirer, Marguerite m'amie
Ne sais-tu pas, galant, que mon père m'y marie
Je sais bien quelque chose que je ne veux pas dire...
Ne sais-tu pas, galant, que mon père m'y marie
A un vieillard bonhomme qui a la barbe grise
Je sais bien quelque chose que je ne veux pas dire...
Je voudrais que ces vieux soient dedans un navire
A cinque cents lieux au large sans pain et sans farine
Je sais bien quelque chose que je ne veux pas dire...
Pour leur montrer par là, les pucelles a poursuivre
Les vieux sont pour les vieilles, les garçons pour les filles
Je sais bien quelque chose que je ne veux pas dire...
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4. |
Pommier doux
03:35
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Par derrière chez mon père |:'y-a-t-un pommier doux :|
Les feuilles en sont verts et le fruit en est doux, ah...
REFRAIN: J'ai les grains de mille, j'ai les grains de paille
J'ai de l'oranger, j'ai du tri, j'ai du tricoli
J'ai des allumettes et j'ai des ananas
Le pierre à fusil, le laurier fleuri
J'ai du zi, j'ai du zenazi, j'ai du zenazen et j'ai du zenazon
J'ai de beaux, j'ai de beaux, j'ai de beaux oiseaux.
Les feuilles en sont verts |: et le fruit en est doux :|
Les trois filles d'un prince sont endormies dessous, ah...
REFRAIN
Les trois filles d'un prince |: sont endormies dessous :|
La plus jeune se reveille, dit, ma soeur, il est jour, ah...
REFRAIN
La plus jeune se reveille,|: dit, ma soeur, il est jour :|
Non, ce n'est qu'une étoile qu'éclaira nos jours, ah...
REFRAIN
Non, ce n'est qu'une étoile |: qu'éclaira nos jours :|
Nos amants sont en guerre qui combattent pour nous, ah...
REFRAIN
Nos amants sont en guerre|:qui combattent pour nous:|
S'ils gagnent la bataille, ils auront nos amours, ah...
REFRAIN
S'ils gagnent la bataille, |: ils auront nos amours :|
S'ils gagnent ou s'ils perdent, ils l'auront toujours, ah...
REFRAIN
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5. |
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Maona, leno leno gaote, haino, haino, haino. (repeat)
Maona, wai kan chucki kche hinge. (descant)
O Maona, be in my head and in my understanding
O Maona, be in my eyes and in my seeing
O Maona, be in my mouth and in my speaking
O Maona, be in my end and at my beginning.
Strong of spirit, strong of heart
Deep in the heart of the land
There's a song of the spirit, a song of the heart
Deep in the heart of the land.
CHORUS: Run, river, run like blood in the bone
Deep in the heart of the land
Run, river, run like veins in the stone
Deep in the heart of the land.
Ocher bison, ocher face...
Of power lines a lichened trace...
CHORUS
The rapid beats below the boat...
Feel the pulse of the river in the pulse at your throat...
CHORUS
Tobacco for the water witch...
Memegwayse, o megwitch*...
CHORUS
Shield of granite, shield of ice...
This open heart the Shield's device
This is the heart of the land.
CHORUS
(repeat first verse)
*Megwitch is the Ojibwa word for "thank you." Tobacco is the traditional ritual offering to the memegwaysiwuk, the spirits who dwell in the river caves.
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6. |
Lady Franklin's Lament
01:52
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We were homeward bound one night on the deep
Swinging in my hammock I fell asleep
I dreamed a dream and I thought it true
Concerning Franklin and his gallant crew.
With a hundred seamen he sailed away
To the frozen ocean in the month of May
To seek a passage around the pole
Where we poor seamen do sometimes roll
Through cruel hardships they vainly strove
Their ship on mountains of ice was drove
Only the Eskimo in his skin canoe
Was the only one that ever came through
And now my burden it gives me pain
For my long lost Franklin I would cross the main
Ten thousand pounds I would freely give
To know that on earth my Franklin do live.
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7. |
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My name was Nellie Prentiss, as you may understand
I was born ten miles from Boston town, in Marblehead’s fair land,
When I was young and' comely, sure, good fortune to me came,
My husband loved me tenderly, Josiah Creesy was his name.
My father was a mariner, a master of his trade,
He taught me navigation, the horizon I surveyed
I shot the moon and the Northern star with my sextant bright and true
Till I shipped on board the Oneida as a nurse to all the crew.
It was in the yards of East Boston town we met Donald McKay
The builder of The Flying Cloud, with her masts that scraped the sky,
My man Josiah took her helm and from New York we did go
Sixteen thousand miles around the Horn to Califor-ni-o.
Now I became a shellback in the year of fifty-one
The fastest ship from Sandy Hook had made a record run
In two days less than e’er before I found we’d crossed the line
I did my calculations o’er to prove the right was mine.
Off Tierra del Fuego we ran our easting down
The Roaring Forties racked her ‘til the men were like to drown
Through storm and fog I set our course, at night I took no rest
For the saying of my captain was, her dead reckoning’s the best.
With Gold Rush records to be won, our own record we reversed
Sixteen hours less than ninety days, we dropped our anchor first
We caught the Hornet two days out, not even an hour late
The Andrew Jackson never beat us through the Golden Gate.
The Flying Cloud was a Boston ship, fifteen hundred tons and two,
She could outsail any clipper ship the world it ever knew
With her canvas white as the driven snow, set sails of twenty-eight
She was sharp and broad, uncommon swift, in all things she was great.
When my man he came home from war, ‘twas to find the Black Ball Line
Cut down her spars and trimmed her sails and sent her to the Tyne
She ran from Deal to Melbourne Town all under Captain Baines
She carried lumber from Shelburne, from Gravesend to Brisbane.
She broke her back on Beacon Bar and they burned her to the rails
They sold her soul for copper and her heart for iron nails
No more she’ll fly before the wind and race before the storm
Forever may her record stand for the rounding of the Horn.
Farewell unto the Flying Cloud, that ship I do adore,
I'll never shoot the stars again nor round the Horn no more,
But sextants, storms, salt air, and ships have made a life for me,
Young ladies, lesson by me take and boldly go to sea.
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8. |
An Ode to Ida Lewis
01:12
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Ida, do you still, like a mother, gaze anxiously on
When the wind calls up its tempest song,
And do you still watch o'er your favored bay
And recall the years long passed away?
Do old Malbone and Longfellow and James drop by
To fill your nights with their gay replies,
While Luce and Mahan plot history's page
From the hallowed halls of another age?
Do ever you stroll round to Coggeshall's mews
And up Castle Hill or to Cliff Walk's view,
Or roam "Bloody Alley" and the famed "Old Fifth"
Where rum, chowder, and johnny cakes scent evening's mist?
Do Trinity's bells ever charm you from sleep
To greet the full sails of a homeward bound fleet,
Can our "Red Pants Bravado" arouse the lost smile
When the waves were your family and "The Light" was your child?
Remember the secret you whispered then
On the eve of a gale to the ear of a friend,
"By gosh, had it not been for sailors and fools,
Lime Rock and I would have had nothing to do!"
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9. |
Ida Lewis
02:39
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Ida Lewis left Newport at the age of 15,
Moved onto Lime Light Rock in the 1850's
Her father was a captain, now keeper of the light
Soon the duties fell on Ida to keep the lamps burning bright.
Her sisters & brother she'd row to school every day
In a small open lifeboat across the rough bay
From his wheelchair her father would watch through the storms
In horror as Ida would row the children back home.
Renowned for her skills no matter the weather
At swimming or rowing no man was her better
At the age of 16 she had saved 4 mens' lives
By the time she retired she had saved 25
There are saints on the water & demons in the sea
One & all they praised Ida for her great bravery
On the very night this women died, who had lived on the shoals
Every bell on evry boat in Newport did toll
Now they've renamed that rock the Ida Lewis Rock Light
And in her honor today the lights are still burning bright
But sometimes at night when it's rough & it's cold
Some claim to see Ida pulling boys from the foam.
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10. |
Chansons des voyageurs
05:18
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Fendez le bois
A la claire fontaine, m'en allant promener
J'ai trouvé l'eau si belle que je m'y suis baigné
Fendez le bois, chauffez le four
Dormez, la belle, il n'est point jour.
J'ai trouvé l'eau si belle que je m'y suis baigné
Dans la plus haute branche le rossignol chantait
Fendez le bois...
Chante, rossignol, chante, toi qui a le coeur gai
Tu as le coeur à rire, moi, je l'ai à pleurer
Fendez le bois...
C'est la belle Françoise
C'est la belle Françoise, lon gai
C'est la belle Françoise
Qui veut s'y marier, maluron lurette
Qui veut s'y marier, maluron luré.
Son amant va le voir, lon gai
Son amant va le voir
Qui veut l'épouserai, maluron lurette
Que veut l'épouserai, maluron luré.
V'la le bon vent
V'la le bon vent, v'la le joli vent
V'la le bon vent, m'amie m'appelle
V'la le bon vent, v'la le joli vent
V'la le bon vent, m'amie m'attend.
Derrière chez nous, y a-t-un étang (bis)
Trois beaux canards s'en vont baignant
V'la le bon vent...
Trois beaux canards s'en vont baignant ( bis)
Le fils du roi s'en va chassant
V'la le bon vent...
Le fils du roi s'en va chassant (bis)
Visa le noir, tua le blanc
V'la le bon vent...
O fils du roi, tu es méchant (bis)
D'avoir tué mon canard blanc
V'la le bon vent...
Dans la prison de Londres
Dans la prison de Londres, tam de de li de lam
Dans la prison de Londres, y'avait un prisonnier
Y'avait un prisonnier.
Personne venait le voir...Sauf la fille du geôlier (bis)
Sil faut que demain j'meurs...Détachez-moi les mains (bis)
Quand il eut les mains lâches...A la mer s'est jeté (bis)
A la première plonge...Il a manqué s'y noyer (bis)
A la deuxième plonge...Le mer a traversé (bis)
Si je retourne a Londres...Oui, je l'épouserai.
In French, repeated lines are indicated with (bis) and repeated response patterns with an ellipsis.
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11. |
Offshore
05:15
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Rock, little boat, beneath the quiet sky;
Only the stars behold us where we lie, --
Only the stars and yonder brightening moon.
On the wide sea tonight alone are we;
The sweet, bright summer day dies silently,
Its glowing sunset will have faded soon.
Rock softly, little boat, the while I mark
The far off gliding sails, distinct and dark,
Across the west pass steadily and slow.
But on the eastern waters sad, they change
And vanish, dream-like, gray, and cold, and strange,
And no one knoweth whither they may go.
We care not, we, drifting with wind and tide,
While glad waves darken upon either side,
Save where the moon sends silver sparkles down,
Yonder slender stream of hanging light,
And now white, now crimson, tremulously bright,
Where dark the lighthouse stands, with fiery crown.
Thick falls the dew soundless on sea and shore.
It shines on little boat and idle oar,
Wherever moonbeams touch with tranquil glow.
The waves are full of whispers wild and sweet;
They call to me, -- incessantly they beat
Along the boat from stern to carved prow.
Comes the careering wind, blows back my hair,
All damp with dew, to kiss me unaware
Murmuring, "Thee I love," and passes on.
Sweet sounds on rocky shores the distant rote;
Oh could we float forever, little boat,
Under the blissful sky drifting alone!
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12. |
The Song My Paddle Sings
04:30
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West wind, blow from your prairie nest
Blow from the mountains, blow from the west
Blow, blow, I have wooed you so
But never a favor you bestow.
August is laughing across the sky
Laughing while paddle, canoe and I
Drift, drift where the hills uplift
On either side of the current swift.
And oh, the river runs swifter now
The eddies circle about my bow
Swirl, swirl as the ripples curl
In many a dangerous pool awhirl!
And forward far the rapids roar
Fretting their margin for ever more
Dash, dash, with a mighty crash
They seethe and boil and bound and splash
Be strong, o paddle! Be brave, canoe!
The restless waves you must plunge into
Reel, reel on your trembling keel
But never a fear my craft will feel.
We’ve raced the rapid, we’re far ahead
The river slips through its silent bed
Sway, sway as the bubbles spray
And fall in tinkling tunes away.
And up on the hills against the sky
A fir tree rocking its lullaby
Swings, swings its emerald wings
Swelling the song that my paddle sings.
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13. |
Topophilia
03:16
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Did you ever write a love song to a landscape?
Send a sonnet to a swiftly setting sun?
Have you fished in rushing rivers 'til you shiver
Or worked in watercolors just for fun?
If you're crazy 'bout the land
There's someone who'll understand
There's a word for what you're feeling through and through
If you've wondered what to say
When they look at you that way
Just smile a great big smile and say
That you've got
CHORUS: Topophilia! Topophilia!
You've got to tell the world that you're in love
That's Topophilia! Topophilia!
with a very special place you're thinking of.
When you're hiking through the hills and hear your heartbeat
Up its tempo with each look around the bend
When your paddle stills the pond to painted silence
And you hold your breath for fear the world would end
There's a word that can express that certain surge of happiness
That being where you love to be can bring
And I'm here to tell you true, 'cause I know, I've felt it too
And when I do, I open up and sing that I've got
Topophilia! Topophilia! I've got to tell the world that I'm in love
That's Topophilia! Topophilia! with a very special place I'm thinking of.
Now, whether it's a place or special person
Relationships are never easy stuff
You've got to learn to show them how you're feeling
And listen when they say they've had enough
Now you might be feeling blue like true lovers often do
Or shy to share your sentiments out loud
But we can make a start if we say it from the heart
And sing out all together that we're proud that we've got
Topophilia! Topophilia! We've got to tell the world that we're in love
That's Topophilia! Topophilia! with a very special place we're thinking of.
Yes, I said
Topophilia! Topophilia! We've got to show the world that we're in love
That's Topophilia! Topophilia! with all the special places that we love.
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14. |
Come Write Me Down
02:10
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I opened the bills when I got home
And I can't believe my telephone
Why must you live so far away
|: Why must I have so much to say :|.
Ah, where are the days when a parted pair
Would write fond letters their love to share
I dry my eyes and I sign my name
|: As I write the check, but it's not the same. :|
Perhaps someday when I'm old and grey
And the grandchildren have come to play
Will we climb the stairs to the battered box
|: Where the old phone bills lie filed and locked. :|
Now (416) made me lose my head
And (617) said we'd soon be wed
|: And 251-4552 was a love he swore forever true. :|
Oh, where are the sketches and poetry
Of the grand love letters that used to be
And the tender words that I unfold
|: To warm my heart when a love grows cold :|
So I tie these bills with a ribbon blue
I hear the phone, it must be you
And with all my heart you'll hear me say
|: Hang up, my love, write me today! :|
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15. |
Traveling Woman
03:35
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You were always a traveling woman
A spirit creative and free
You were born with a love of the wide open world
That you traveled your travels to see.
You were raised in the New England country
Rode horses in 1919
Then you went off to college to study mathematics
In summers served Cape Cod ice cream.
Then you journeyed to earn independence
Keeping books at Cornell had its charm
Single woman at thirty, you were married in June
Raised your kids on a New Hampshire farm.
And you raised them a traveling woman
A spirit creative and free
You raised them with love of the wide open world
That you traveled your travels to see.
At fifty-five, you were a Grama
At sixty you went round the world
Riding camels in Egypt and junks in Hong Kong
Twice the tales of those travels unfurled.
Then you passed on your gifts to another
Taught a child how to travel alone
Roamed the beach hunting wentletraps
Learning the birds
Making your love of nature my own.
For you were my traveling woman
A spirit creative and free
I was born with your love of the wide open world
That you traveled your travels to see.
From the bridge and the brook and the Big Rock
And the trees that you taught me to climb
I have journeyed through Europe, Alaska, West Indies
Growing stronger and braver each time.
And sometimes you are my companion
And sometimes I travel alone
But I'll always remember the lifetime we've shared
As I roam through this world on my own.
For now I am a traveling woman
The latest in a lineage of three
You gave me my love of the wide open world
Now you travel my travels with me.
Yes, you gave me your love and your wide open world
Now you'll travel forever in me.
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Crosscurrents Music Boston, Massachusetts
Lynn Noel brings traditional song and heritage arts online to create community. Lynn has a voice of striking clarity and
power, equally at home in rhythmic chanteys and flowing ballads.
Lynn is a respected song session leader on both sides of the Atlantic and the producer and host of the Mermaid's Tavern online folk club. She is currently Program Chair of the New England Folk Festival (NEFFA).
... more
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