Upcountry, by David A. Harley

Upcountry

by David A. Harley

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Full Digital Discography

28

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1.	A Smuggler's Song 03:14	lyrics	buy track
Lyric as sung here is the version published by the Kipling society at http://www.kiplingsociety.co.uk/poems_smuggler.htm
2.	Wearing Out My Shoes 02:26	lyrics	buy track
There's no future in singing the blues I guess I'll leave, I've got nothing to lose Wearing out my shoes, walking away from you And if I can't walk, I guess I'll fly - bye-bye... I went down to the depot, looked up on the board It said "good times here, but better down the road" Wearing out my shoes, walking away from you And if I can't walk, I guess I'll fly - bye-bye... I'm going down to the crossroads, my cap in my hand Looking for a woman that's looking for a man And wearing out my shoes, walking away from you And if I can't walk, I guess I'll fly - bye-bye...
3.	This Guitar (Just Plays The Blues) 02:17	lyrics	buy track
A trace of your scent still lingers on my pillow And raises echoes in my memory And I believe you’re missing me almost as much as I miss you But I wish to God that you were here with me The sun will surely rise on another soft blue morning And lying in your arms is where I’ll be With sweet dreams still in my eyes, I’ll wake and kiss your hair But it’s a long cold night while you’re not here with me This guitar once played for keeps, but since you changed my life This guitar just plays for you, if that’s OK? This guitar rang bells for losers, but there’ll be no more songs of losing Though this guitar just plays the blues while you’re away
4.	Cornish Ghosts 03:39	lyrics	buy track
Close to where I stand on Trecrobben Pilgrims walk St. Michael's Way Few today reach Santiago Most will cease their journey at the Bay The Mount is rising from the distant water Yet barely seems an arm's length away Causley on the road to Marazion Dreamed of one last summer in the Med Sheets are dancing Morris in the wind A buzzard slowly circles overhead Engine houses march along the skyline A sea fret daubs the coast in brown and red Beyond the darkening horizons Beyond the hills to the West Beyond Pendeen and Cape Cornwall The Longships founder off Lands End Sea nymphs and mermaids pluck the heartstrings But the bells no longer ring in Lyonesse Around me march the ghosts of long-dead armies Recalled among these ancient stones The engine house beyond the farm Still offers shelter to the crows I watch the sun sink slowly to the West Back into the sea from whence it rose
5.	Hannah's Gone Upcountry 03:44	lyrics	buy track
There's lightning on the skyline But I can't hear a sound I used to stand for something Now I can't find solid ground Tom's gone to Hilo And Sammy's gone to sea But Hannah's gone upcountry She wouldn't wait for me The wind bites like a razor When those Easterlies veer round The moon floats high and lonesome Peering through the clouds Tom's gone to Hilo And Sammy's gone to sea But Hannah's gone upcountry She wouldn't wait for me Some fell where they were standing Some are glory bound But Hannah's gone to the mountains And she's never coming down Tom's gone to Hilo And Sammy's gone to sea But Hannah's gone upcountry She wouldn't wait for me There's lightning on the skyline But I can't hear a sound I used to stand for something Now I can't find solid ground Tom's gone to Hilo And Johnny's gone to sea But Hannah's up the country She wouldn't wait for me Yes, Hannah's gone upcountry She won't even write to me
6.	The Road To Frenchman's Creek 03:27	lyrics	buy track
In spring a young man’s fancy is supposed to turn to love An older man takes time to reminisce He takes the path from Helford on a sunny afternoon Searching once again for Frenchman’s Creek Too soon for love-lies-bleeding, too late for love’s young dream The sun plays peek-a-boo among the trees By the gate at Kestle Barton, he stops to rest a while Before following the signs to Frenchman’s Creek Sometimes we lose our bearings, our love lost in a mist We glimpse our Ithaca but doubt laps at our feet Sweet 16 to 70, too many times been kissed Was that the road to Manderley or Frenchman’s Creek? Left high and dry so often by the tides of desire Yet in autumn days a heart may rise from sleep And still recall with thanks the times love wasn’t such a liar And the tide may turn again in Frenchman’s Creek
7.	Whistle While You Walk 03:53	lyrics	buy track
Sometimes you look into her eyes And all you want to do is talk Sometimes you have to see her Other times you just have to walk Just walk away / Walk away And whistle as you walk away Sometimes you're the heartbreak Sometimes you're just broke And all your songs are lost In the space between the notes Just walk away / Walk away And whistle as you walk away Sometimes you know you love her Sometimes you feel so cold Sometimes your heart is empty And you turn back to the road Just walk away / Walk away And whistle as you walk away
8.	Janey 03:22	lyrics	buy track
Janey, tell me are you leaving? Talk to me without disguise Is it time I turned to meet The grey dawn rising in your eyes Is the shadow in your sleepy eyes The secret of your flight? Will you leave me taking with you The whispered secrets of the night? When I wake some morning Will I find myself alone? Tell me now will tonight be the night I'll reach out and find you gone Sermons in the dusty moonlight Tell me that I should have known I would wake some sad morning To find my heart has turned to stone
9.	Gooseberry Blues 01:48	lyrics	buy track
Going down the upline to your heart Changing stations for a brand-new start If you’d asked I might have stayed But since we met it’s been stop signals all the way Going back to the Badlands where I’m known So I don’t have to sing those backstage blues alone If you ask I might just say The gooseberry blues is one tune I don’t play Going down the upline to your heart Changing partners for a brand-new start If you asked I might just stay But since we met it’s been stoplights all the way
10.	Aftermath/Postcards 05:29	lyrics	buy track
Years on from the explosion Standing in the aftermath She waits for the three minute warning Hears nothing, Runs the bath And pulls the chain on another miracle Waits (though the post is always late) For letters which never seem to arrive And are never worth the wait Still the sun shines on bravely The wind blows kisses to the sea Gulls waltz to the rhythm of the waves And she writes ‘I wish you could be here with me’ Skips through the morning like a postcard Spends the afternoon alone Carries out the day to order One eye on her horoscope And one ear to the phone Sometimes she wakes in someone else’s bed Before he wakes, she’s gone Leaving him to wonder why She couldn’t let the evening die alone Still he lights a cigarette Soon remembers to forget But he wonders where his whisky went Wonders why his day is empty She has dropped her life on postcards Through a letterbox in distant parts But the tale was shunted into disused sidings And the unintended bombsites of his heart And he writes “At last I’ve found a woman Who’s noticed that I’m me, And not just a dispenser Of Scotch and sympathy And maybe she’s The One Or maybe I’m just marking time But at least she holds her liquor And she doesn’t whine…” And he writes “Go your way, taking with you A year or two of my life That’s all I have to offer But don’t forget to write…”
11.	Anywhere 03:12	lyrics	buy track
I could catch a bus to anywhere And never think of missing this old town Instead I'm sitting in a bar right here Scared to play my last go-round Last dream smashed and short of cash Nursing one last beer Hoping for a bus to anywhere Anywhere at all but here I could take a train to anywhere Shake this country dirt from off my shoes Turn my face away from nowhere Trading up to city views Had enough of you and all you put me through Pretty sure you've had enough of me Time to take a train to anywhere Anywhere I know that you won't be I could hitch a ride to anywhere And surely I won't miss this empty town Right now I'm sitting in this tired old bar All set to play my last go-round Last dream smashed and short of cash Nursing one last warm beer Maybe I can catch a ride to anywhere Anywhere at all that isn't here
12.	A Rainy Day Blues 02:24	lyrics	buy track
Some days are like a melody But I can’t seem to hold the key I don’t mind losing I just wish I had a little more to lose So I spend my day trying to keep myself amused Sitting here picking at a rainy day blues I don’t mind losing I just wish I had a little more to lose It seems the road to fortune never ends You play God all week and golf at weekends I don’t mind losing I just wish I had a little more to lose And if we quit the rat-race we could have a ball But you know those big wheels grind so small I don’t mind losing I just wish I had a little more to lose You say you love me but it seems sometimes You stuff my mouth with kisses and my ears with lies I don’t mind losing I just wish I had a little more to lose
13.	Tears of Morning 02:46	lyrics	buy track
XXVI The half-moon westers low, my love, And the wind brings up the rain; And wide apart lie we, my love, And seas between the twain. I know not if it rains, my love, In the land where you do lie; And oh, so sound you sleep, my love, You know no more than I. XXVII The sigh that heaves the grasses Whence thou wilt never rise Is of the air that passes And knows not if it sighs. The diamond tears adorning Thy low mound on the lea, Those are the tears of morning, That weeps, but not for thee.
14.	The Wild Swans at Coole 06:33	lyrics	buy track
The trees are in their autumn beauty, The woodland paths are dry, Under the October twilight the water Mirrors a still sky; Upon the brimming water among the stones Are nine-and-fifty swans. The nineteenth autumn has come upon me Since I first made my count; I saw, before I had well finished, All suddenly mount And scatter wheeling in great broken rings Upon their clamorous wings. I have looked upon those brilliant creatures, And now my heart is sore. All's changed since I, hearing at twilight, The first time on this shore, The bell-beat of their wings above my head, Trod with a lighter tread. Unwearied still, lover by lover, They paddle in the cold Companionable streams or climb the air; Their hearts have not grown old; Passion or conquest, wander where they will, Attend upon them still. But now they drift on the still water, Mysterious, beautiful; Among what rushes will they build, By what lake's edge or pool Delight men's eyes when I awake some day To find they have flown away?
15.	The Pilgrim 02:24	lyrics	buy track
I fasted for some forty days on bread and buttermilk, For passing round the bottle with girls in rags or silk, In country shawl or Paris cloak, had put my wits astray, And what's the good of women, for all that they can say Is fol de rol de rolly O. Round Lough Derg's holy island I went upon the stones, I prayed at all the Stations upon my matrow-bones, And there I found an old man, and though, I prayed all day And that old man beside me, nothing would he say But fol de rol de rolly O. All know that all the dead in the world about that place are stuck, And that should mother seek her son she'd have but little luck Because the fires of purgatory have ate their shapes away; I swear to God I questioned them, and all they had to say Was fol de rol de rolly O. A great black ragged bird appeared when I was in the boat; Some twenty feet from tip to tip had it stretched rightly out, With flopping and with flapping it made a great display, But I never stopped to question, what could the boatman say But fol de rol de rolly O. Now I am in the public-house and lean upon the wall, So come in rags or come in silk, in cloak or country shawl, And come with learned lovers or with what men you may, For I can put the whole lot down, and all I have to say Is fol de rol de rolly O
16.	Woods In Moonlight 05:22	lyrics	buy track
Sometimes your words at midnight stream through my memory But your face is growing dimmer: I don't know how it can be That you're gone from my life, yet you still haunt my dreams And daybreak finds me wondering just what it all could mean Walking through the woods in moonlight, there are no words left to say I stumble blindly through the shadow as the long years slip away And only now I realize that it's too late to count the cost And I can only write those words to make my peace with those I've lost So many nights lost, lamenting all the days Opportunity knocked, but that same night it ran away Your voice in my ear, your breath upon my skin Closer than sweat, warmer than sin Another morning broken, and reconstruction fails Once more my train of thought has gone completely off the rails But soon the world will turn without us, and new days won't be broken By the words we should have said or the ones best left unspoken

about

'Upcountry' combines songs that lean towards Americana, blues and even country with more 'traditional' material including settings of verse by Housman, Kipling and Yeats, plus a couple of songs about Cornwall, where Harley now lives.

credits

released September 25, 2021

All vocals and instruments by David A. Harley. All songs (words and music) by David A. Harley except for track 1, Harley's setting of a poem by Rudyard Kipling; track 13, his setting of two poems by A.E. Housman; and tracks 14 and 15, his settings of poems by W.B. Yeats.

license

about

David A. Harley England, UK

David Harley is a former professional musician, administrator, IT security editor, author and researcher, and former much else that is even less impressive. He now lives in Cornwall. More info at whealalice.com