1. |
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Nine hundred and ninety nine nights
Forty two turns of the moon
I knew then that one night the well would run dry
I know now that night will come soon
Nine hundred and ninety nine nights
Tonight, and tomorrow, and then
I'll see the moon rise for the third and last time
As my spool of tales comes to its end.
(Chorus:)
Only three left, and there's power in threes:
In the stories I tell, there's never a doubt
That the third one is different, the third one has magic
But what will I do, where will I be
What will become of me when the stories run out?
Nine hundred and ninety nine nights
Three summers, three springs and two falls
The long endless nights of three frozen winters
And those were the hardest of all
Nine hundred and ninety nine nights
Too spellbound to touch me at first
I told him the tale of the faithful young daughter
Who knew that her marriage was cursed.
(Chorus)
Three hundred and five when my firstborn arrived
That night was the tale of the morning star rising at dawn
Six hundred and twenty – my second son came
I told of the tale of the moon ever chasing the sun
Nine hundred and seven – the smallest of three
That night came the noble adventures of three brothers brave
He sleeps at my breast, but there's power in threes
And who knows what this third one might save?
Nine hundred and ninety nine nights
The fear with each story's last breath
Was this tale as good as the ones gone before it –
Enough still to keep me from death?
Nine hundred and ninety nine nights
Three silver coins left still to spend
The last one's the tale of the girl who told stories
And who knows how this one will end?
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2. |
Lizukha
04:20
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Lizhukhshka, krasnaya, umnaya malenkaya lyssa
(Chorus:)
Run on little fox, cunning fox, red fox
run on through the trees through the woods all night
leave my love sweet love one love true love
to come home sweet home by the day's first light
Winter night falls on the forest
snow and silence, nothing stirs
moonlight catches two bright eyes
a flash of white-tipped tail between the firs
Young man riding through the forest
galloping on through the night
man and horse approach the clearing
suddenly the horse rears up in fright
(Chorus)
Forest maiden stands before him
loose long hair of flaming red
swirling skirts the hue of cherries
silken cloak of finest crimson thread
Young man rears the horse to standstill
mesmerised by eyes so bright
smells the honey on her lips
she smiles - and her teeth are oh so white...
(Chorus)
She beckons him with bone-white fingers
he reaches out, lost in desire
moonlight catches on his ring
he drops his hand as if it is on fire
Young man knows now who he's seeing
knows this is no maiden fair
knows the red fox from the stories
Lizhukha, drawing young men to her lair
(Chorus)
Lizhukhshka, krasnaya, umnaya malenkaya lyssa
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3. |
Phantom Doll
04:04
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4. |
Freefall
03:41
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She’s put away all her mirrors now
she’s down to just one pair of shoes
she pins up her hair to hide the grey
and maybe she’d choose differently if she could still choose
It’s all so normal now, each day and night
- she once thought it was so exciting
her feet hurt now when she tries to dance
the sea calls to her at night and its voice is so inviting
She hasn’t been unlucky, and life hasn’t been unkind.
She’s enjoyed forty years of the world she came to find.
And it knows it was her choice that this should come to be –
but some nights she longs for the sea.
And when the moon is full and the tides are pulling stronger
she knows that she can bear these chains of earth no longer
she longs to run down to the shore
kick off her shoes
strip down to her skin
and dive in
And let the sea surround her, take her in its arms
lose herself completely in its waves and in its charms
be one with the salt water, let it set her free
give herself back to the sea
She’s put away all her mirrors now
she’s down to just one pair of shoes
she pins up her hair to hide the grey
and maybe she’d choose differently if she could still choose
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5. |
Both Sides Now
04:59
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Rows and flows of angel hair
And ice cream castles in the air
And feather canyons everywhere
I've looked at clouds that way
But now they only block the sun
They rain and snow on everyone
So many things I would have done
But clouds got in my way
I've looked at clouds from both sides now
From up and down and still somehow
It's clouds’ illusions I recall
I really don't know clouds at all
Moons and Junes and Ferris wheels
The dizzy dancing way you feel
As every fairy tale comes real
I've looked at love that way
But now it's just another show
You leave 'em laughing when you go
And if you care, don't let them know
Don't give yourself away
I've looked at love from both sides now
From give and take and still somehow
It's love's illusions I recall
I really don't know love at all
Tears and fears and feeling proud,
To say "I love you" right out loud
Dreams and schemes and circus crowds
I've looked at life that way
But now old friends they're acting strange
They shake their heads, they say I've changed
Well something's lost, but something's gained
In living every day.
I've looked at life from both sides now
From win and lose and still somehow
It's life's illusions I recall
I really don't know life at all
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6. |
Galehaut
05:13
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Your eyes are alight with the bonfire tonight
you’re thinking of love
her name in your sighs as you finish your wine
and your pain is a knife, oh, your pain is a knife
you wonder what bends two strong men to the wills of a war
what makes us come out here and put life and heart on the line
king and country
king and queen and country
my country for my queen
Galehaut
(You say) isn’t it great to never have known
what it is to despair
to be dying for one whom you never can tell,
one who never can know, no, they never can know
I bet back at home all the girls come and
fall at your feet
so handsome, so brave, so everything anyone ever could need
all the women
all the beautiful women
calling out your name
Galehaut
You pull yourself up and you hurl down your cup
in the embers that burn
say lucky the man who has never known love
that cannot be returned
my lips remain sealed as I’m left to stare into the flames
you say what would I do without you who just listens and shares in my pain
friend and brother
so much more than brother
goodnight my friend
Galehaut
Your eyes are alight with the bonfire tonight
you’re thinking of love
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7. |
Starship and Haiku
03:56
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I am the flaw in the tea-bowl
I will not dance death
I will not lie down here in peace
And release my last breath
All of our hopes have been cast on the reefs and are gone
Still my salt blood reaches out for the sky
Still my warm song touches notes clear and high
Outward I go and I know I will fly a new dawn
Starship and Haiku
Dying hate and living love
Reach beyond our sin
Starship and Haiku
One last flawed reminder of
All we might have been
I am a discord in deathsong I cannot be still
I am an infinite paean a permanent trill
I am a leap to the stars I am song to the sky
Always I shun the bleak burial grounds
Always I listen for life's vibrant sounds
Always my hollow-reed heartbeat resounds with its cry
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8. |
Ophelia
03:19
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I stand before the water and
I think of my beloved
how it scares me how it scares me
to be leaving him behind now
and I think he’d be surprised to
find me sounding so coherent
find me sound of mind and body
when he thought me long-surrendered
to the cruel grip of madness
like a stone that sinks in water
and the water
and the water
calls me in
I stand before the water and
I look at my reflection
see the empty-eyed young woman
see the wilting bunch of flowers
there is rosemary for remembering
there are pansies for the thinking
will he think, will he remember
or dismiss it all as fancy
and I drop them one by one
and send them floating in the water
and the water
and the water
calls me in
And I thought it would be kinder
if they thought it wasn’t me
thought a force beyond my power
was the one that drove my hand
And I tried so hard to find a way
some other way to go
but my footsteps always take me to the water…
I stand before the water and
and I find myself a woman
standing naked for the first time
with her lover, and I step in
and I find myself a small girl
jumping joyful in a puddle
and I sink in and I find myself
an infant in the darkness
of the womb that holds her gently
and I’m safe now in the water
and the water
and the water
calls me in
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9. |
Middle Ages
05:48
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Robin walks down to the place by the river
when once he first kissed his maid fair.
He stoops down and frowns at his face in the water,
(and) thinks “Lovely, another grey hair.
Is it time that I hung up my bow and my quiver?
Have I uttered my very last ‘Stand and deliver!’?”
but the breeze breaks the glass with a rippling shiver
and he looks, but he’s no longer there.
Marian slowly walks down through the forest
her long silver hair in a braid.
“Am I still the girl that the legends have sung of?”
she wonders, and feels herself fade.
“Is it time to step down from a younger girl’s throne?
I was too busy living to see how time’s flown
- the silent glissando from maiden to crone.”
Is she ready? Or is she afraid?
And down at the inn all the merry men gather
in their musty and quaint Sunday best.
They’re raising their tankards to old Friar Tuck
whose bones they have just laid to rest.
And Little John leans down to Alan-a-Dale
whose shaking hands never stopped strumming,
says “somehow each one of us knew this must come,
and somehow not one saw it coming…”
The village’s children run in with a whoop
In their minds, time is endless and vast
Robin and Marian look at themselves
in a mirror that points to the past:
at the young girls and boys with their chirruping cries
with their bows in their hands and with stars in their eyes
and, oh, how those smiles take their hearts by surprise!
And they know that the legends will last.
Robin Hood sinks into Marian’s eyes
where the crows’ feet touch kindness and light.
she tells him “The rich are still rich, but the poor,
oh, they’re richer by far for your fight.”
And the pipe and the tabor ring out through the woods,
the fire’s kept burning, and everything’s good
and Marian’s hand closes round Robin Hood’s
as they slowly walk into the night.
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10. |
The Lady
06:03
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Playing Rapunzel Ilford, UK
Playing Rapunzel (Mich Sampson and Marilisa Valtazanou) are an energetic folk duo who share, in powerful harmony, songs of story and myth.
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