Elsie Marley - James Fagan & Nancy Kerr

She never had an education She uses life as her vocation Standing on ledges clinging to the edges The world's a hard place to land on She has this one way conversation Trying to avoid a confrontation Memories of the kind she's rather leave behind The worlds' a hard place to land on Life can be lonely can be very sad Can be something you wish you never had She never had any affection So she relates well to rejection No stories wait discovery Dreams have passed recovery The worlds a hard place to land on She just sleeps all day In her squalid little slum And takes little white pills To make her body feel numb And it's dark and dirty And there's nothing left to eat And in her heart there's a feeling of defeat Smells of bus and fornication And a bottle of cheat scent Should she stick around If this is all that life meant Life can be lonely can be very sad Can be something you wish you never had Open the door wally, open the door

In the heart of the holy city Where the seeds of our shadows are sown, sown I went walking all in the priest's garden And I met a sweet child all alone I met a sweet child all alone The hard rain it blew all around him Till the black earth it was riven with cares, with cares All the roses were bending and breaking Oh, the ravens have stolen my prayers, he said Oh the ravens have stolen my prayers I was sailing my own little rowboat With my cross and my Bible and beads, and beads It was built by my father and mother And the name of that boat it was creed, creed The name of that boat it was creed Well a stream it flowed out of the village Where the willows they weep by the ford, ford And that stream it grew into a river And the name of that river was Lord, Lord The name of that river was Lord And that river flowed into the valley And the valley flowed into a cave, a cave At the heart of that cave was an altar And the name on the altar was saved, saved The name on the altar was saved But the raven is wary and wily For he covets our shadows and shame, shame And he's wearing the robes of the Holy He will dare you to mention his name, name He'll dare you to mention his name Dark roses they bloom in his garden And their roots they are fed upon fears, fears Though he preaches of penance and pardon All the petals are covered with tears, tears The petals are covered with tears I will pull down down those brambles and briars Where they grow from below and above, above I will build a gate out of this garden And the name on that gate shall be love, love The name on that gate shall be love

I am a man upon the land Cold and slender as a secret river And glamour folds within my hand Like a salmon skin of beaten silver My little fish slip off your skin And leave it in the tide for gulls to plunder And if you wish to walk or swim Let there be nothing in the world to hinder I cannot walk among your kin For after water, land seems so much harder But I will fall from wandering To land on beaten sand and fragile water My little fish slip off your skin And leave it in the tide for gulls to plunder And if you wish to walk or swim Let there be nothing in the world to hinder There are other gifts than silver Like another word for lover If we only hold each other We are beaten sand and fragile water You know the ocean will bleach our bones You know the burning sun will melt the boulders Don't mourn my shadow among the stones For after winter, spring seems somehow colder But as the ocean courts the strand 'Til he becomes the grit that surges in her So generations may understand We are all beaten sand and fragile water My little fish slip off your skin And leave it in the tide for gulls to plunder And if you wish to walk or swim Let there be nothing in the world to hinder My little fish slip off your skin And leave it in the tide for gulls to plunder And if you wish to walk or swim Let there be nothing in the world to hinder There are other gifts than silver Like another word for lover If we only hold each other We are beaten sand and fragile water There are other gifts for silver Like another word for lover If we only hold each other We are beaten sand and fragile water We are beaten sand and fragile water

Dance to your daddy My little laddie Dance to your daddy, my little lad Dance to your daddy My little laddie Dance to your daddy My little lad You shall have a fish and you shall have a fin You shall have a herring when the boat comes in You shall have a codling boiled in a pan Dance to your daddy My little lad Dance to your daddy My little laddie Dance to your daddy My little lad Dance to your daddy My little laddie Dance to your daddy My little lad When you are a man and come to take a wife You can wed a lass and love her all your life She can be your lass if you will be her lad Dance to your daddy My little lad Dance to your daddy My little laddie Dance to your daddy My little lad Dance to your daddy My little laddie Dance to your daddy My little lad You shall have a fish and you shall have a fin You shall have a herring when the boat comes in You shall have a salmon boiled in a pan Dance to your daddy My little lad You shall have a fishy on a little dishy You shall have a bloater when the boat comes in You shall have a fishy on a little dishy You shall have a herring when the boat comes in Dance to your daddy Sing to your mammy Dance to your daddy To your mammy sing Dance to your daddy Sing to your mammy Dance to your daddy To your mammy sing You shall have a fishy on a little dishy You shall have a bloater when the boat comes in You shall have a fishy on a little dishy You shall have a bloater when the boat comes in Dance to your daddy Sing to your mammy Dance to your daddy To your mammy sing Dance to your daddy Sing to your mammy Dance to your daddy To your mammy sing Dance! Dance!