Runrig

By the mountainside, by the ocean blue
Where the struggle broke my heart in two
River of millions flow downstream
A golden highway to the sea of dreams

Morning comes, turn on the light
Deceive the day, delay the night
Ideologies come, ideologies go
A waste of words, and endless flow

Great people come, take the stage
Famous moments vanish without trace
Trees grow tall, fields grow wheat
Woman grows older, man grows weak

But now you're here
I feel no fear
I can't believe
The news from heaven
You close your eyes
On a world inside
A spark of life
On a wire from heaven

In the state of a miracle
State of a miracle.
I watch this miracle unfold
In the state of a miracle
State of a miracle
Far north of the soul

You ask me to believe in magic
Expect me to commit suicide of the heart
And you ask me to play this game without question
Raising the stakes on this shotgun roulette

But you came to me like the ways of children
Simple as breathing, easy as air
Now the years hold no fears, like the wind they pass over
Loved, forgiven, washed, saved

Every river I try to cross
Every hill I try to climb
Every ocean I try to swim
Every road I try to find
All the ways of my life
I'd rather be with you
There's no way
Without you

I arrived in the city of lights
Enchanted ballrooms where I lost my life
I've closed my eyes
On your fairground smile
Seedy heroes and silver tills
Sinking suns on a sea of thrills
I place my bets
Trading with strangers in silhouette

I drink your health, son of the earth
Passing ships in the modern death
We're all still fired
Old emotions still burn inside
On solid ground, round the mother tongue
A tower of hope, a joyful sound
You take your time
A hand of aces in a pack of lies

I found my song and I started to sing
Took me away on an olden wing
So far from home
Standing so lonely but not alone
In this empire of ache and rhyme
Lovers and best friends are running blind
I grasp your hand
Is this the only world I understand

There's a sadness
There's a joy
There's a place
There's a song that will never die
Forever

What makes me walk through Ireland's shrines
And Ireland's holy shores
To see a country crucified
Your beauty crowned in thorns
And as I watch that wonderous cross
That's been hewn down and severed in two
There's something here
That draws me near
To wear the green for you

To see you there blood brother Gael
The face, the tongue my own
Many places in my own country
Could not make me feel more at home
Laughter and music through the night
Your freedom in the dark
Tonight I swear I'd gladly wear
The green next to ma heart

From the long and rolling Antrim hills
Through the wilds of Donegal
The songs of history are sung
Every stone on every wall
But here in our land how can we stand
And wash our hands of shame
When the sins of generations fall
Across the green like rain

Here one world window opens wide
And demons they show face
Some of your men have taken seeds of truth
And planted fields of hate
This way has never won a war
And I fear that when the harvest comes
You'll see your freedom fall on stoney ground
And the green overgrown

Failte gu mo dhan
Siol is means nam bard
Am foghar bha feitheamh orm
Bho an la a bha mi og

Failte gu mo thir
Eilean geal an iar
An t-ait a chi gach tuigse is firinn
Glaiste 'na mo chridhe

Failte gu mo chainnt
Is i dh'ionnsaich mi 'nam phaisde
Canan uasal mor nan Gaidheal
Mar bhratach dhomh gach la

Is ged a dh' fheuch iad ri cur as dhuinn
Chi mo theaghlach cnoc nan linn
Is ged tha ar canan leoint le stri
'S an tir seo bidh i beo

Trobhad is coisich rium
Ri taobh a' chuain
Is seallaidh mi dhuit
Tir a' Mhurain

How can we close our eyes
Watch our world break down and die
How can we let it be
Slaves to world economy

How can we be like wood
Watch our world cry out for food
How can't we start to see
A glimpse of world simplicity

The hands of wealth are tied
Men of power run and hide
But we're players you and me
In the game of world duplicity

World appeal
World appeal
This is our planet
Let it heal
The earth, the rain, the air, the seas
This is our future
Let it breathe

In the slipstream of luck and democracy
A victim of chance and geography
I reap and I sow the face of the earth
While big guns play games with the land of my birth

I walk these hills and I sail the seas
I've weathered the storms of history
Created to live, created to share
With the fish of the sea, the birds of the air

I'm not too hot on Dukes or Earls or Graces
But I love respect and exhalted places
Give me the people with sod on the knee
The higher the monkey climbs the more he reveals

Tear down these walls
All men were born the same
You came here with nothing
But naked and a name
A name
Tear down these walls
They keep raising for you

Twelve o'clock at night
Streets of many corners
The lunar river winds
Down the closes and the lanes
The night skips the sleeping years
And reawakes the memory
Takes me along the way
To the places of the heart

The days of summer came
Days of many heartache
Not to love is not to live
Not to live is not to feel no pain
So unlock this heart of stone
Teach me the ways of mystery
In the places where they say
Only the brave can walk alone

You took me through this town
And you took me to the moment
That makes angels lose their wings
And makes poets lose their wonder
But I have found in you
A love line pure and lasting
May your heart hold true
And your nights run long

Ochd deug seisreach
Air raontainn Aird a' Mhorrain
Na fir a' treabhadh
An la a thainig na Sleitich

Dubh dath na fala
A dhoirt 'na tuil gu talamh
Saighead claidheamh
Tro chairdeas corp an Udail

Siol Ghoraidh
Mac Ruairidh
Clann Raghnaill
Clann Dhomhaill

Linn gu linn
Ainm gu ainm
Air an sgiath seo dh 'Uibhist
'S mi beo an drasd

Clann mo theaghlaich
Clann mo theaghlaich fhein

We grew up in the spaces
Where the four winds blow
We left these glens and valleys
Traitors to the plough

We thought we knew the answers
thought we had it made
We kissed down in the city
Swore we'd never change

We grew up young
And we played the years
Held out for love like it was fire
Now I can't wait any longer
Down that line
Going to walk with you
That final mile

Today there's gold an your finger
Today you're dressed in white
Today we stand alone together
Proud of you for life

Now the hurt is gone
Now the doubt is gone
I'm walking down
A clearway to your heart

It's all over now, no more summers in heaven
After World War Two wed and a life of ups and downs
I see it now, precious even on paper
A young man and his bride and someone to make time stand still

All things remain to ignore and outlive you
From the man in the moon to the greenhills outside your door
Alone you came so alone you must go now
There's no mountain on earth can ever outlive your soul

I know you well, you'll be nothing but grateful
Never let it be said they were spent in thoughtless ways
Warm winds blow 'cross the ties that bind forever
For a place in the sun and for the hearts of love a home

But now I know and I don't want to believe it
Where does it leave you now
That the precious years are gone

Sunburst. The morning moar. The
light of God. The heart of
youth. I look around me. My eyes
find their rest on this garden
the flower of the west. Sunrise.
The colour frontier. The ageing
light. The sight that knows no
fear. I look over Orinsay to the
Trumisgarry shore. To Aloter.
And the road to Ahmore. The
silent skies. An innocent heart
Holding the moment away from
time in the dark. All I see. All
I know. Is touching the sacred
earth warming the hallowed
ground. I survive the childhood
universe and I step the naked
heath where the breathing of the
vanished lies in acres round my
feet past Loch Scadavagh Loch
Fada and the flatlands to the
east where the dark blue mass of
Eval meets the rising Rock of
Lee. Between the Crogary and
Mairi I started to descend Loch
Aongais on my left hand side I
look across to Clett. Collies
barking on the outrun Dunlin
dancing on the sand. Breakers
show round Corran Vallique and
empty the Atlantic on the
strand

Ochd deug seisreach
Air raontainn Aird a' Mhorrain
Na fir a' treabhadh
An la a thainig na Sleitich

Dubh dath na fala
A dhoirt 'na tuil gu talamh
Saighead claidheamh
Tro chairdeas corp an Udail

Siol Ghoraidh
Mac Ruairidh
Clann Raghnaill
Clann Dhomhaill

Linn gu linn
Ainm gu ainm
Air an sgiath seo dh 'Uibhist
'S mi beo an drasd

Clann mo theaghlaich
Clann mo theaghlaich fhein

The red hot sun burns up the hill
The winter's bride, the summer's king
I tramp these acres and I feel
Once upon a time
Then it seemed that everything
You saw and touched and felt was real
You turned the tap and you turned the wheel
Breathing free

Now you search the open evening sky
Trace the memory in your eyes
For the prophet's hard rain and the deluge
Lie in tears around your door
Once there were trees and livestock here
A mother's love, the warnings clear
But you chose to turn away from fear
Breathing free

Now there's a faceless cross on a distant hill
A wasted voice, a silent scream
Where the lovers love and the dreamers dream
You stand and dream alone
You took your sacrifice to the gods of war
Traded your children's lives for a mess of gold
And you beat your ploughshares into swords
Breathing free

Once in a lifetime
You live and love
Once in a lifetime
You die
Once in a lifetime
The sun goes down
Protect and survive

We listened into the Iceage
And we built up man round the Picts
And the daybreak hammered out warning
To the weak

We dreamed on moor with passion
And on the long lochs bluer than eyes
'Till the mists of bygone ages
heard our cries

I've seen us among thousands
All of one name waiting to run
And when the charge came heather on heartbeat
Steel on gun

The old rock leaves us with fossil
From the ancient pagan rites
From the universal inroads
back to Christ

Transmitting, transmitting
Breaking down the wire
Transmitting, transmitting
Breaking down the wire

As we look out over the morning
And the days of this life's spring
And the joy of Gaelic's lifeblood
Made me sing

Watching your beauty on this journey
With the lick of youth in your eyes
Let us sow this olden heartland
Reap in time

Transmitting, transmitting
Breaking down the wire
Transmitting, transmitting
Breaking down the wire

Sons and daughters of the dust
Strangers of time and place
For a while your limbs entwine
Holy marriage of flesh
But I know your ways
Your ways are not mortal thought
Till the day breaks and shadows run
Run away

So shine on harvest moon
Cast your might on the ripening corn
And I look at your life
Hold you in my arms
With all the power in the days of youth
In the fullness of love

Fields run deep in golden swards
Hot summer winds blow through the corn
Cast off your sorrows now you stand
In the presence of Lord
Your radiance shines
Like the moon of all innocent grace
To know that we dared breathe belief
To love again

(Chorus)

(Chorus)

You ask me to believe in magic
Expect me to commit suicide of the heart
And you ask me to play this game without question
Raising the stakes on this shotgun roulette

But you came to me like the ways of children
Simple as breathing, easy as air
Now the years hold no fears, like the wind they pass over
Loved, forgiven, washed, saved

Every river I try to cross
Every hill I try to climb
Every ocean I try to swim
Every road I try to find
All the ways of my life
I'd rather be with you
There's no way
Without you

The landlords came
The peasant trials
To sacrifice of men
Through the past and that quite darkly
The presence once again
In the name of capital
Establishment
Improvers, its a name
The hidden truths
The hidden lies
That once nailed you
To the pain

They did a dance
Called America
They danced it round
And waited at the turns
For America
They danced their ladies round

To the candles
Of enlightenment
Once lit they say don't burn
To turn the darkest room of suffering
To a greater state of pain
Don't tell me that's behind you now
Don't greet me
Don't meet your dying blind
It's our very last stand together
So let's sever
No regrets

They did a dance
Called America
They danced it round
And waited at the turns
For America
They danced their ladies round

There were days
That once held confidence
Strength of will and mind
The camouflage that once washed your fathers
Your sons and daughters time
Another tounge
My love, my island
You've gone international
With all the praying men of God
Who stood
And watched it all go on

They did a dance
Called America
They danced it round
And waited at the turns
For America
They danced their ladies round