We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

In Northumberland

from ALBUM: Songs for the Wood by Talis Kimberley

/

  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      £0.50 GBP  or more

     

  • Buy the Full Digital Album

about

This is a side-quel song... I have a bunch of them... neither a sequel nor a prequel, but a cobcurrent embellishment; this tells a little inside, hidden tale from the unread pages of the ballad 'Lord Bateman'. I heard that fine song first on Chris Wood's excellent album 'The Lark Descending'. The story of it stayed with me, and when my writing went through a phase of exploring the song inside the song, this came out. One day I hope you'll get to hear it with the other parts I'm writing it, but for now, simply and sweetly, here is the song in its solo state.

lyrics

IN NORTHUMBERLAND


I remember when she came aboard having paid her passage fee
I could scarcely take my gaze from her but she never looked at me
Not a man who laid a hand on her but was met with sharpened blade
So she kept herself in privacy and in privacy she prayed

And her hair is like the raven’s wing and her eyes are dark and clear
And her heart is in Northumberland and very far from here.

Only once she walked the deck at night while we waited for the wind
My watch done, I dared to speak with her, could she think of me her friend
Oh the tale she gave was wild enough, better lies are often told
And she wore great many necklaces and her rings were all of gold

And her hair is like the raven’s wing and her eyes are dark and clear
And her heart is in Northumberland and very far from here.

“This I’ll say, and you will hear me out, then I’ll trouble you no more:
If Northumberland is less than kind to you I shall be three weeks ashore”
All ashore, and she was gone from me not one single backward glance
Three weeks passed and I was bound aboard and I knew I’d little chance.

And her hair is like the raven’s wing and her eyes are dark and clear
And her heart is in Northumberland and very far from here.

All these years I’ve sailed the ocean deep I have held her in my mind
And I hope she’s in Northumberland and that Northumberland is kind.

Now my home’s whatever ship I’m on and my hearth’s the rolling sea
And my true love’s in Northumberland and very far from me.


____________________________________________

Words & music by & © Talis Kimberley 2013

credits

from ALBUM: Songs for the Wood, released March 5, 2014
The blond Ovation, in the studio, with the Tascam. Made altogether shinier and better by Mark Long.

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Talis Kimberley image

Talis Kimberley UK

"I'm a songwriter and singer; my songs are spun from folklore and history, stirred well with a hazel wand and served with cake. I'll sing you ravens and bones and the story behind the story, I'll sing you bread and apples, ghosts and knitting, and bring you home with a pocketful of feathers and hope"

Voice / guitar / English concertina

Festivals, folk clubs, libraries, museums, & protests... ... more

contact / help

Contact Talis Kimberley

Streaming and
Download help

Report this track or account

If you like Talis Kimberley, you may also like:

Bandcamp Daily  your guide to the world of Bandcamp

On Bandcamp Radio

Saxophonist Isaiah Collier chats about his new LP and the influence of Pharoah Sanders.
listen now