1. |
A Trip to the Museum
05:10
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As I walk through the door, my mind begins to fill
With images and echoes of times gone
And as I climb the stairs, I feel their presence near
And the circle of our lives becomes as one
The faces on the wall reflect the harsh conditions
Which many of them lived from day to day,
But also show their hopes and dreams of better times to come
And joyful moments felt along the way
The fishermen beside their boats, the fishwives on the quay,
The lasses gutting herring, barrels full,
The farmers and the shopkeepers, the soldiers and police,
The boys from Sarawak ready for school
When I see the scythe and heuk, I can smell the new cut hay,
I’m eight years old, I’m by father’s side,
Harvesting the spuds and neeps and hearing wee birds sing,
And walking where the river seemed so wide
The military room is a place to dwell and think,
Of all those caught in conflicts down the years,
And those who travelled overseas, never to come home,
And families left behind to weep and grieve
In the classroom are the desks like those that I once used,
When teachers drew the tawse held by their side,
Though many stories show they loved the children that they taught,
And helped prepare them for the world outside
So many memories are held within these walls,
Of people, places, objects that we knew,
And as our lives move on to a future we can’t know
The lessons from the past will guide us through
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2. |
White Horse Money
04:06
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Nana Callie took her spade and went down to the beach
The sand glistened in the bright moon shine
The worms that she dug that night were worth their weight in gold
And none of them would ever bait a line
White horse money, white horse money,
A fortune lying underneath the sand,
White horse money, white horse money,
A rumour spreading all around the land
When Nana died her family came to clear the cottage out
A locked kist in the bedroom caught their eye
It weighed so much they couldn't move it with her other stuff ... so..
They broke the lock and raised the lid up high
They barely could believe the sight that met their eyes that day
The kist was filled with golden sovereigns bright
And how they got there none would say though many wondered if
She'd been digging white horse money up by night
The man had ridden off one day, heading for Fort George
His saddlebags weighed heavy on his horse
According to the Fishertown they foundered in the sand
But no one knew if that was true of course
After Nana Callie died, many more would dig for worms,
And most of them appeared to do quite well
But was it white horse money that they prized out from the sand
No one knew or maybe none would tell
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3. |
The Good Doctor
04:11
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4. |
The Fisher Girl's Kist
02:55
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She's Shetland bound on a Monday night,
Away with the Fishertown girls
Her very first trip away from home
It seems to the end of the world
Her kist is stowed with all the rest,
The shottles packed with care
Like her mother's had been years before
When the company paid her fare
Is this the life you thought you'd have
When you dreamed in your wee cot?
Did you see the future differently
And was this just what you got?
One shottle holds her gutting knife,
A wisker and knitting pins,
With bandages to wrap her hands
And a couple of small tins
She's packed work clothes and Sunday best
And wool from Baillie and Cope
With cups and saucers, knives and forks
And a small amount of hope
The harn holds her new work boots
Her blankets and calf seck,
All labelled up for the journey north
And stowed beneath the deck
She's headed north for a ten week spell,
She'll be living in a hut,
Working up to twelve hour days
So many fish to gut..
She's Shetland bound on a Monday night…..
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5. |
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The year was eighteen eighty-eight
A schooner launched that day,
Built in Banff by Geddie's yard
They sent her on her way
To Garlieston at first she went
And then she came to Nairn
As Gordon's business empire grew
And a century was born
The waves were high and
flecked with foam
The wind a hellish sound
The crew, the coal, the ship were lost
As the Mary Nish went down
For many years she plied her trade,
Along the North Sea coast
Until the year nineteen fifteen
When ship and crew were lost
The Ides of March had brought a storm
But as wind dropped at the quay
And knowing coal was scarce in Nairn
The captain put to sea
Then off South Shields, disaster struck
The gale sprang up again
The new rigged ship turned turtle and
The storm took ship and men
Peter the Russian died that day
His body in the deep,
His pay still lies at Gordon's yard
No family there to weep
From Ireland to the Dardenelles
Crews died those fateful hours
Of March eighteenth, nineteen fifteen,
In storms and in wars
As through the ages, those on shore
Were left to grieve and mourn
The loss of fine ships to the sea,
Masts shattered and sails torn
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6. |
The History Boys
05:16
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7. |
And Then He Sang
03:19
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His face was soft and gentle
He hinted at a smile
A man who'd seen a thousand things
And wandered many a mile
He sat there in the corner,
He never spoke one word
When people tried to speak to him
It seemed he hadn't heard
But then he sang...
He knew that they were listening
It seemed so long ago
Since friends and lovers filled his life
And music filled his soul
Ten thousand songs and melodies
Were trapped within his head
But who would help release them now
When so many were dead
But then today, he heard a tune
Echo down the years
He knew that now the time had come
To exorcise his fears
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8. |
The Nairn Whistle
03:53
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Xxxxxx All the Country Round
Xxxxxx You might hear the sound
Xxxxxx The Nairn Lads are here
Xxxxxx Their boats are at the pier
The Ralphs, the Barrons, Mains and Storms, and other names besides
Made their living battling the waves
To bring the fish to port and to keep their families fed,
Whole families worked from cradle to their graves
The children gathered durkins and helped to bait the lines,
Young women gutted fish along the quay,
Sixty folk would haul each boat from beach to crashing waves
And wives would carry husbands through the spray
At first they sailed in scaffies, and then the Zulu came,
A faster and more elegant design
With keels of elm, stems of oak and planks of fine pitch pine,
In full sail there was no sight more fine
But with the turning of the century, and when the Great War came,
The fishermen had moved on once again,
The Last Zulu, the Water Lily, made its final trip
And the Steam Drifter now became the king
Up to the 1930s, the drifters fished from Nairn
And during war they served as naval ships,
But their time came to an end as Seine netters like Orion
And Dulsie and Dunlogie made the trips
Today the fisher fleets from Nairn have faded to the past,
Their customs and their stories less well known,
But remember if you whistle only do so when ashore
And never, ever when you’re on the boat
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9. |
Esther and Dulsie
03:50
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10. |
A Grand Day Out
05:08
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The railway came to Nairn in eighteen fifty-five
A thousand people came to town that day,
The “Grand Pleasure Excursion Trip” brought folk from Inverness
There had never been the like around this way
We’re having a day, we’re having a day,
We’re going to have a trip out on a train
We’re having a day, we’re having a day,
We’re going to have a grand day out in Nairn
Two engines pulled the carriages through the cutting at Balblair,
To Nairn where most had never seen a train,
Raigmore and Aldourie powered the “mass in rapid motion”,
A majestic sight for all of those who came
The people spent the day in town, visiting the sights,
As down the years many more would do,
Though a few missed the four o’clock return to Inverness
The punctuality of a railway train was new!
A monster broadsheet advertised a trip the very next day,
For Nairn folk to visit Inverness,
In first and third class carriages and open trucks with seats
Five hundred made the journey with success
If you came to Nairn for promenade or bathing in the sea,
Messrs Honeyman and Anderson could sell,
Ladies bathing caps and dresses and Shetland underclothes,
And tweed accessories for gents as well
A grand day out in Nairn is still a lot of fun
Though fewer people now would come by train,
But the station is still there, with its thistle, rose and star
And fleur-de-lys to welcome you again
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11. |
Quiet Song
05:12
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The dancer spins and glides, her heart is soaring with the throng,
The red shoes guide her movements as the minstrels play along,
And as I watch my spirits rise and I feel young once more
But then the image fades like waves receding from the shore
So let me share this quiet song to help us on our way,
A song that echoes notes and chords that we heard yesterday
We'll raise a glass of Spanish wine and toast the friends we knew,
And hold each other close until the sun comes shining through
The fiddler's fingers dance like raindrops falling on the strings,
The tunes she draws, once sad, then light to make the rafters ring,
And later on the whole room joins the dancers on the floor,
'Til that becomes a memory, a dream or nothing more
The guitarist is the one who sets the pace the dancers feel,
And Scots and Latin rhythms beat, the samba and the reel,
The room vibrates with life force as the crowd join in a song
But then at once the world stops, the energy is gone
So now the hall is silent and there's no one at the door,
I fall down on my hands and knees, press one ear to the floor,
Then faint at first, I hear a note that builds to a refrain
And travels on around the earth to make us whole again
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Dave Godden Scotland, UK
After a long career in medicine, I now spend my time writing and recording music. All proceeds from Life Stories and Through the Window go to support MS Society Scotland, helping people with multiple sclerosis. Proceeds from A Grand Day Out go to Nairn Museum ... more
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