1. |
Last Voyage
08:24
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i Leaving Home
Richard, with his pipe, yarning,
Spinning stories for his son.
Susan by the fire, darning,
January eighteen eighty-one.
Now the glass is rising fast,
Harry run and tell the crew,
The weather breaks at last,
Fishermen have work to do.
Richard skulls from the quayside,
Early on a winter’s day.
Slyboots on a morning tide,
Sailing out into Torbay.
As they run past Berry Head,
Quarry men look on the view,
Slyboots’ sails of ochre red,
Streaming out against the blue.
Susan by the fire, waiting,
With her baby on her knee.
Two boys by a bed kneeling,
Pray keep father safe at sea.
ii Sinking
Deep midwinter light fades early,
Not a star will pierce this cloud,
The night as black as Richard’s Bible,
Dark enfolding like a shroud.
Creaking rigging, lapping water,
Harry thinks he hears a sound,
Thomas on the starboard quarter,
Searching, quickly turns around.
Skipper I think I see a light!
Panic as the steamer looms up in the night.
Charlie calling for his mother, shouting out in fright.
Daniel, desperate, swings an axe to cut away the trawl.
Richard straining on the tiller cries,
Too late, the Lord God keep us all!
Struggling men and tangled rigging,
Floating on a winter sea,
Heavy sea boots pull them under,
As the steamer, and hope, fade into the night.
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2. |
Susan's Dream
05:04
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Dreamt I looked out o’er the sea.
Mid-winter cold surrounding me,
Watched the steamer strike the smack,
Heard her timbers split and crack.
Watched the men jump into the sea,
I wake, I’m sweating, I’m screaming.
Richard, Richard, Richard save my boy.
In the early morning gloom,
Young Osmond creeps into my room,
“Mother, is my Father there,
I heard his boots on the stair,
He came in as the clock struck three,
I knew he was from sea.
Mercy, Mercy, mercy on my boys.
Dazed I wonder on the quayside,
Hoping I will find some news,
But not a peep, Not a rumour,
Had yet to reach the town.
Last night in that dream of terror,
I saw the ocean pull them down.
Know that in their passing moments,
We see the souls of men that drown.
Alone I look out o’re the bay,
Sky and water cold leaden grey,
This cruel and haunted sea,
Has now twice widowed me,
Swallowed up my eldest boy,
And robbed me of hope and joy.
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3. |
Last Voyage (Reprise)
01:18
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Susan by the fire grieving,
Baby Richard on her knee,
Finds her solace in his smile.
Softly hums “Abide With Me.”
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Red Over Red Brixham, UK
Red Over Red are producer and songwriter Glyn Barnes, Vocalist Chris Edwards and Bass player Andy Long.
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