Lyrics

This page contains the lyrics for SLIDEs two albums "Downhill all the way" (2003) and "The Slippery Slope" (2001). All lyrics are copyright Bliss/Whitaker except "Maid on the shore" which is traditional. However, feel free to sing and pass the songs on in the traditional way!

Downhill all the way

(C) 2003

THE SILVERLODE OF SARK
Tom Bliss

I was born down in St Austell, in the year of 1810
My family all were miners, a noble breed of men, They
Said I was their kind of lad, a healthy strapping chap
Slapped a shovel on my shoulder, and a candle in my cap
Then word came to the tin-mine, in the year of 36
A gang of lads was needed with their dynamite and picks, they'd
Stumbled on some silver, and a ship was set to go
To some island in the Channel where the wild winds do blow

And it's fine for you, the devil you may care
Staring at the view, with the breeze all in your hair
Me I'm down the dungeon, in the danger, damp and dark
Hacking through the granite, for the silverlode of Sark

I remember when we landed, she was standing on the quay
I heard them call her Chloe, she had eyes to match the sea, but
The silver needed shifting, and I had work to do
Till I met her at the island fair and all my dreams came true
For seven years we laboured but the pickings they were poor
We had no fuel for smelting, had to ship each ton of ore, so
The finance never tallied, but I worked to keep the faith
For a chance to marry Chloe, I would give my dying breath

We were down to 60 fathoms, and the galleries ran far
Some deep and some so shallow, just beneath the ocean floor
And when the breakers thundered, we trembled with the dread
We could hear the boulders rolling, barely yards above our heads
By 44 a fool could see that things were going wrong
And all the lads from Cornwall, they upped and went back home
But I stayed on for Chloe, and I worked with twice the heart
To spin a ring of Sliver for my bonny Maid of Sark

I should have seen it coming, should have left with all the rest
But I thought I'd faced the challenge, I could weather any test
But love was no protection in the terror and the din
When the island gave its answer, the day the sea broke in
I heard the shouted warning, I tried to get to grass
But the ladders jammed with miners, there was no room to pass
I never was a sailor but I met a sailor's death
Ninety feet below the ocean, I drew that dying breath

THE STORM
Neil Whitaker

Who's afraid of the storm?
Who's afraid of the storm?
Keep you back against this dark night
Your hands against this fire so warm
And who's afraid of the storm
I'm just a traveller on the road
Where I'm heading I don't know
But I'll keep you from the dark night
Hold back the curtain let you feel the warm
Who's afraid of the storm?
You've got pictures in your hallway
Of dark clouds rolling o'er the bay
Along a boat is set for sailing
Steer for the wave, hard fast and pray
Who's that knocking at you door?
The Devil, a salesman or St Paul?
If they're here to test your virtue
Will you sin or sell or pray for more
Who's that knocking at your door?
Turn your collar to the cold air
Ride the winds of your mistakes
To be a hero you must know fear
To ride the storm around the cape

THE VIOLIN
Tom Bliss

I was built in a back street in Saltzberg
In a dusty and candle-lit room
By hands that understood music
And timber and varnish and glue
With a lifetime of skill in his fingers
He stroked the first notes from my strings
And my voice sallied out in the darkness
And my soul first unfolded its wings

And I was dancing, I was singing, but my story is locked in my soul
I can laugh to your tune, Cry for the moon
But my silence sings loudest of all, my silence sings loudest of all

The star on the door told the story,
And he knew that the blackshirts would call
When they dragged him away to the station
They snaffled me down off the wall
Yes I played for their parties in Paris
Where the jackboots kept time to the beat
It was polkas and waltzes and mazurkas
As all Europe lay bruised at their feet

When the Allies rolled down into Paris
The band made a run for the east
But with a gun in the hands that had loved me
My trooper fired back till the last
Then a lad from the Kentucky mountains
Nicked his wallet, his watch and then me
And the bluegrass was burning for Danville
In the barracks and down the NAAFFI

And with the peace I was back on the market,
Well, he'd a perfectly good fiddle at home
I changed hands for two crates of Marlboro
And all over Europe did roam
Then one rainy November in London
With three silver balls overhead
A man noticed the price on my label

WALKING ON WATER
Neil Whitaker

Well life ain't easy, you know it's a fact
They knock you down you've got to jump right back
It's a slippery slope, it's just a balancing act
Take your eyes of the wheel, you'll be down the wrong track
But I'm learning to walk on water
Had enough of that sink or swim
Learning to walk on water
Loose your footing you might sink right in
Well its one step forward and it's two steps back
If you're loosing your religion, good old faith is what you lack
So let it slide down easy, let it slip down slow
Slip the leash and let the old dog go.
The same old story - truth, religion or lies
Devil's got that shotgun right between your eyes
Take your chances, roll the dice, split the deck
One false move you're in it up to the neck

WIDOWS WEEDS
Neil Whitaker

My granddaddy was a miner though I never knew the man
His earthly days were over before mine began
Child of the city, of red brick and soot
Well he met a girl called Edna may, said she'd be his love
But they could never marry unless he changed his job
Cos there's danger down a coal mine
In the dark there's blood and bone
She wouldn't wait to be a widow, patiently at home
When you're working for the wages of pity
Working for the wages of sin
When you're working for the wages of pity
And the working man who can't win
So it's goodbye to the coal mine and for the city bound
A new trade and a wedding bed, safe above the ground
But you cannot cheat your chances, when they're written in your blood
And you can kill a man with kindness good intentions and love
Ordinary days, ordinary lives,
But widow's weeds lie waiting for a young mother and a wife
For there's danger in the daylight, as well as underground
Grinding life and limb as the wheels go spinning round.
A pittance and a promise for a man who works no more
No help came fast enough to stop him bleeding on the floor
But there must be compensation, But the poor must have their rule
The price of shoes for a father's life so a child can walk to school

THE WRECK OF THE STEAMSHIP STELLA
Tom Bliss

Maunday Thursday, 1899,
It was South from Southampton we sailed
Bound for Guernsey, the weather it was fine
No hint of a storm or a gale
Full 19 knots, The Stella she could do
As the London And South Western loved to boast
But we slowed right down, when misty came the view
And fog followed in like a ghost

Land Ho! Land Ho! St Peter, St Thomas and Donjon
Land Ho! Land Ho! St Peter, St Thomas and Donjon

Now Captain Reeks, was a man of fine repute
But the pressure could not be denied
With the Great Western Railway, rivals on this route
He must beat the other ships and the tide
So, sure of his course, he ordered full ahead
To the passengers mounting alarm
For the glory of the Company, through the fog we sped
Over seas so uneasily calm

I was up in the bow when, out of the white
The Casquets rose up like a cliff
With the helm hard a-starboard, the first contact was slight
But we'd no chance of clearing the reef
With a terrible rending, the hull was torn apart
And every man on board knew the score
With the White Ship, the Victory, a hundred on the chart
The Casquets was taking one more

All calm and in order, six boats were got away
With the half who'd escape being drowned
As wives and husbands, grim goodbyes did say
They handed the lifebelts around
But Stewardess Rogers, she gave up her own
To a passenger charged to her care
Refusing a place lest the boat should overturn
She went into the sea with a prayer

Now Captain Reeks, his very best did try
But he knew that the price must be paid
With his hand on the rail, and his face to the sky
He went down with his ship to her grave
One hundred died, that dreadful Easter Eve
The day that the Stella was lost
Victim of the system, leaving us to grieve
And the shareholders counting the cost

The Slippery Slope

(C) 2001 (Except Maid on The Shore)

BOAT TO BURHOU
Tom Bliss

Now the waves whisper under the boats in the harbour
And the gulls all come wheeling and wailing like souls
There's a full moon a-rising, the tide makes its answer
And the sea is so clean and so cold
You were wild as the south-western wind when you came here
I caught you, I tamed you, I taught you my tunes
Now the bright lights are calling you back from my island
I'll be taking my boat to Burhou.

When you said you where leaving I knew they were over
Those days out at anchor, those nights in the dunes
By the firelight you promised you'd stay here for ever
And I offered my soul to the moon
Well I wanted for nothing when only you held me
But the beam of the lighthouse and the gleam of your smile
But I won't be there waving your plane from the runway
I'll be taking my boat to Burhou.

I will lay out my lines when the sea runs like wheat fields
I'll harvest the pools when the tide lets me graze
With conies for comfort, gulls eggs for the talking
I will hermit the best of my days
But at night I will lie, when the storm winds come howling
Prowling the night like the demons I knew
When the storm in our hearts was as wild as the Brimtides
And we first took my boat to Burhou.

GOODBYE TO FRANCE
Neil Whitaker

Sometimes I hear you say
You know I feel like blowing it all away
Take all that, that's yesterday
Goodbye to France, and all that,
Ain't no use in it, you can hurl abuse at it,
Rolling round like some drunk on the floor
I can't drink no more, I can't think no more
Lay it all down to die
Sometime I hear you say
You know it only feels like yesterday
Dust down the road not a thousand miles away
Goodbye to romance and all that
Well I've been back, and nothing's change
How can everything be different and still be the same
We said we'd never pass this way again
Goodbye to France, and all that,

THE HUMBER HORSE MARINE
Tom Bliss

From the collier pits of Sheffield to the Alexandra Docks
Is a 3 day sail, a 6 day trail, and five and twenty bleeding locks
So summon my assistance at the pubs along the track
But from the wharf at Thorne your on your own, I'll see thee coming back

When the wind won't blow and your keel won't go
It's me you've got to thank
For a penny a mile I will walk, my style -
Backwards along the towing bank
And if you feed me well I've tales to tell
Of the million things I've seen
In my weary days on the waterways
As a Humber Horse Marine

I call my old nag Molly, she's the Lily of the East
You see she stands full nineteen hands, my beauty and my beast
I ride her home each evening, and she's sure to pull me through
And if she falls in at least she'll swim, which is more than I can do!

My brother Ned got flighty, and he left us by and by
Heading west, where the pay was best, and the Pennines touch the sky
Now he walks the Standedge Tunnel, and he's welcome to his pay
Cos it's four hours through and four hours back, and he does it twice a day!

So lower your coggy-boats, send them away
Your keel needs a paint job but you've no way to pay
So slice up your bacon, and fry all your eggs
Or I'll leave you to manage on one pair of legs

MAID ON THE SHORE
Trad.

I am a maid that's deep in love, but yet I can complain
I have in this world but one true love, and Jimmy is his name
And If I do not find my love, I'll mourn most constantly
And I'll find and I'll follow Jimmy through the Lands of Liberty

Oh I'll cut off my yellow hair, men's clothing I'll wear on,
I'll sign to a bold sea captain, my passage I'll work free
And I'll find and I'll follow Jimmy through the Lands of Liberty

One night upon the raging seas as we were going to bed,
The captain cried "Farewell my boy - I wish you were a maid,
Your rosy cheeks, your ruby lips, they are enticing me,
And I wish, dear God, with all my heart, a maid you were to me."

"Ah hold your tongue dear Captain, such talk is all in vain
And if any of the sailors find it out, they'll laugh and make much game
For when we reach Columbia's shore, some prettier girls you'll find
And you'll laugh and you'll sing and you'll court with them, for courting you are inclined"

Well it was not three days after, our ship it reached the shore,
"Adieu my loving captain, adieu for ever more,
For once I was a sailor on the sea, but now I'm a maid on the shore,
So adieu to you and all your crew, with you I'll sail no more"

THE RACE
Tom Bliss

When I was a lad I had no time for school
I had always an eye to the harbour
Watching my father and uncles and all
As out with the sails they would labour
And the moment the bell goes I'm off down the street
Like a four-leg away through the heather
To be in with a chance to be out with the fleet
In the rain and the wind and the weather

And far the Horizon, near is the land I love best
Far - Falling and rising, calling from valley and crest
Half of me's dying of half of me's lost
Where the waves and the white horses chase
Half on the ebb for the Casquets and West
Half on the flood for The Race

And when Father retired the boat that I got
Had a winch and an engine and anchor
But bloney hard work it was raising those pots
Full of spider and lobster and chancre
But never a problem to find my way home
Between all the rocks I could take her
'Cos I know these waters in fog or in storm
As a farmer he knows every acre

And after the war when the Germans had flown
And we'd dragged all their wire from the beaches
And put back the roofs and the doors of our homes
I had sons of my own to be teaching
But now like the puffins they're lost to these shores
Seeking new life and new islands
And I simply don't have the strength any more
I just watch the horizon in silence

THE STRANGER AND THE CRONE
Tom Bliss

Rain had fallen sudden causing trembling and dark
Flashing like a shadow through the trees
The droplets dripped like echoes, running rolling down the bark
Making circles on the road like fallen leaves
Old woman in her apron standing by a horse's side
A man so tall and grave upon its back
Dressed from boot to bonnet all in black
"Good woman - do you know a place where I may hide?"

"Prithee, Noble Sir you must tell me your intent
For you charge me with a strange and heavy load.
I can see your steed is tired, all his energy is spent
But who can you be feared of on this road?"
He answered her again, with his head held high with pride
Though fear and pain were written on his face,
And she saw that he was weary of the chase
"Good woman - do you know a place where I may hide?"

Asking no more questions then she took the bridle hold
And led him quickly on between the trees
But the ground was wet and muddy and the horse's legs did fold
And he sank down to the ground upon his knees
And as the horse so faltered they heard hooves come thundering nigh
And she saw a hunted look come on his face
And her stick up high above her she did raise
Brought it down with all her might across his eyes.

Then through the woods came crashing a full band of angry men
All bristling with staff and spear and sword
"Good Captain!" cried the woman, "Here's your enemy of the King"
Is there anything by way of a reward?"
The men dismounted quickly, with many a shout and curse
And dragged the stranger from his fallen steed
And stabbed him through the heart, how he did bleed!
"Hold your tongue or you'll be treated far far worse"

The old woman saw her danger and her treacherous mistake
Her heart was filled with terror for her life
While off the stricken stranger his possessions they did take
His cloak, his money belt, his jewelled knife
Then savagely they turned upon that cowering old crone
And struck her to ground where she did lay
Then laughing at her fate they rode away
Leaving her to whimper and to moan.

Well, she lay a long while, winded, then painfully did rise
And crawled across to where that stranger lay
His life blood ebbed so quickly, but he opened both his eyes,
She leaned in close to catch what he might say
"We are near the house of Anderson, from whence my father came
And I would fain be buried with my kin"
Then that woman know such anguish for her sin
For Anderson had been her maiden name.

TORCH!
Tom Bliss

I no longer know, if the embers still glow, they are buried so deep in your eyes
But I need to believe, I have only to breathe, and a tempest of fire will arise,

I will carry the torch! Till the day that I die
Carry the torch! Let it scorch me
Carry the torch! Till the day that I die,
Or the day you see the light

[Wherever you are, I will watch from afar as you follow the rules of your life
No need to explain my love for this pain, it tells me my soul's still alive].
Omitted, but this is what we usually sing live

Whatever you say, from this moment, today I know I'll always feel just the same
And any odd tears that may moisten the years will never extinguish the flame