Simply from the Heart
The Mermaid
One Saturday night as we set sail,
Not very far from land,
We there did spy a pretty mermaid,
With a comb and a glass in her hand,
With a comb and a glass in her pretty, pretty hand,
With a comb and a glass in her hand.
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This pretty mermaid sprung into the sea,
The storm it began to roar.
The snow and rain came thick and fast:
“We’ll never see land any more,
We’ll never see land any more, more, more, more,
We’ll never see land any more.”
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The first one on deck was the captain of our ship,
With a plumb and a line in his hand,
He plumbed and he plumbed and he plumbed for to see,
How far it was to the sand,
How far it was from the sea to the sand,
How far it was to the sand.
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The next one on deck was the mate of our ship,
And a well-looking man was he,
“My wife and my child are in Merry England,
And tonight a widow she’ll be,
And tonight, a widow she’ll surely, surely be,
And tonight, a widow she’ll be.”
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The next one on deck was our little cabin boy,
And a very pretty boy was he,
“Oh what, oh what will my mother say,
When she knows I’m drowned in the sea,
When she knows I’m drowned in the salt, salt sea,
When she knows, I’m drowned in the sea?”
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Oh three times ’round went our gallant ship,
And three times more went she,
And as the storm did rage and roar,
She sank to the bottom of the sea,
She sank to the bottom of the deep blue sea,
She sank to the bottom of the sea.
Fairytale kisses
“Fairytales are so described by those who may not have believed what they saw, smelled, tasted, touched, and heard.” SRB
Once I had a sweetheart (roughly interpreted)
This traditional song of which I only play guitar was most memorably played and sung by Bert Jansch on his record album entitled “Rosemary Lane”. Bert Jansch (since gone from this world) was probably more influencial than many other musicians on my psyche (human mind, soul, and spirit). My improvised version is imperfect and perhaps flawed in its brevity, but nevertheless is expressive of the vulnerability that is revealed in matters of the heart. S.R.B.
Either way it goes
Frost rainbow pinwheels
I know the way
I just uploaded the original version of “I know the way” prior to having added the mandolin part posted last week. At that time, I had decided to let the mandolin part become more prominent. The guitar and concertina parts threaded in and out from the background with only intermittent assertions in accompaniment. Such richness of barely heard voices are revealed when a single dominating presence sifts into silence! SRB
Straggler’s march
Cedar Sunrise
Where is the storm?
