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THIS EARTHLY SPELL

by Karine Polwart

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1.
The Good Years Wherever you are You shall be my star Flashing near or smouldering far I am happy when I bask in your light All I ask is that you may bask In my mind I hear the sound Of every happy fount Fresh as fresh is found We're singing without tears We're clinging without fears
2.
Sorry 04:18
Sorry When your time on the mountain is over And you fall to the earth like a leaf It won't be enough these days to say sorry No, sorry won't pay for this grief For you may lay down your guilt on the altar You may nail your remorse to a cross But it's not enough these days to say sorry No, sorry won't pay for this loss And if the blood on your hands turns to water And the night in your soul turns to day It won't be enough this time to say sorry No, sorry won't wash it all away You may lay down your guilt on the altar. When you're through with the spells you've been spinning When our hopes and our dreams have all died It won't be enough these days to say sorry No, sorry won't turn back the tide You may lay down your guilt on the altar. And if you should desist from deceiving And if you should confess to the crime It won't be enough these days to say sorry No, sorry won't save you this time You may lay down your guilt on the altar.
3.
Better Things So is this the best that we can do? Oh I can think of better things - can't you? Yes I can think of better things That hands can make and hearts can sing For now we deal with those for whom A life is but a carnal tomb In which the darkness holds no power And neither does the final hour We may lament the deadly art Of tiny atoms torn apart Of visions that we can't return And future fires in which we fear we'll burn Yet this is the art of those before Who found a cure within the core The noble mind behind the ray That eased our earthly cares away Is this the best...
4.
Rivers Run 03:08
Rivers Run This weary Earth we walk upon She will endure when we are gone While kingdoms come and kingdoms go Rivers run and rivers flow You know I don't believe it's true That in this world there's nothing new For darling you have just begun Rivers flow and rivers run And if those rivers should ever run dry Somewhere the rain will still fall, Will still fall from the sky When I'm beguiled by the fear That darker days are drawing near My darling, you seduce the sun Rivers flow and rivers run And if the rivers. This wounded Earth we walk upon She will endure when we are gone But still I pray that you may know How rivers run and rivers flow And if the rivers. So I cross my heart and hope to live Just long enough that I can give It all to you, my darling one Rivers flow and rivers run
5.
Painted It White Nobody learns, seems like everybody turns to the screen To watch it pass but not to ask you "What does it mean?" We believed. So here we are, we're not so far from where we could be You've got a gun, the one you say will keep us all free So free that you Can bomb a blue horizon to black Then steal away the day And never, never give it back We believed.
6.
Firethief 03:29
Firethief Who stole the heart of my bonnie laddie? All alone and aloney O And left me another lad in his body Down where I cannot go Down where I cannot follow Who stole the light from my laddie's eyes And left me another lad in disguise? Who stole the words that were on my laddie's tongue And left me a rickle of skin and bone? Who stole today? Who stole tomorrow? And left me with nothing but doul and sorrow? I know the name of the fire thief But you can't grow a tree from a fallen leaf
7.
Behind Our Eyes Hope roams these streets at night It's looking for a light that gleams Inside our dreams and yearning It's burning behind our eyes Behind our eyes Behind our eyes Behind our eyes Behind our eyes And in the waking hours Hope keeps its flowers concealed It's like a field before reaping It's sleeping behind our eyes Behind our eyes Behind our eyes Behind our eyes Behind our eyes
8.
The News 03:12
The News What if the news were nothing more than the secrets of seashells on the seashore whispering which way the wind will blow this night and how everything's gonna be alright What if the very first sound you heard at dawn was a wild and wonderful word? and what if a smile was your first sight? wouldn't everything have to be alright For everyone, everywhere every joy, every care Everything's gonna be alright What if the only sign of unrest were feathers falling form a fledgling nest just an hour before it soars in flight wouldn't everything have to be alright For everyone, everywhere every joy, every care Everything's gonna be alright
9.
Sorrowlessfield I dreamt last night of a sorrowless field I saw you come back to me I dreamt last night of a sorrowless field You stood under the birken tree Through the rattle and rain To my window you came And where I lay silently sleeping I dreamt last night of a sorrowless field But woke to the sound of weeping I dreamt last night of a sorrowless field And we lay all day in that meadow I dreamt last night of a sorrowless field Unburdened by destiny's shadow I surrendered my skin Til evening blew in Upon every joy of creation I dreamt last night of a sorrowless field But woke to a lamentation I dreamt last night of a sorrowless field The only one left without sorrow I dreamt last night of a sorrowless field You said you would see me tomorrow Then you parted from me Where the road splits in three And all of those roads were for the taking I dreamt last night of a sorrowless field But woke to the sound of my own heart breaking
10.
Tongue That Canot Lie I was born with a tongue that cannot lie and how it grieves me Each fleeting thought behind my eye just up and leaves me Into the wild, like a bastard child born under a briar Oh to be, oh to be, oh to be a liar I've been courted by saints and by sinners who all know the things that a tongue can tell Whose discrete invitations for sweet revelations Were such an enticement to sell But the street price of secrets seduced and reduced me to trading without any care Oh to be a liar. So in conscience I chose to avoid those consumed by ambitions of earthly dominion But even this act, the omission of fact Just delighted The Lords of Opinion And in retreat from it all I did fall for a man Who swore that my words were a blessing But for each of the beautiful daughters we bore I betrayed all the joy in my heart Each harmless invention or childlike convention I brutally shattered apart Some say love is saying the way that it is But believe me it just isn't so For the joy of surprises, the tooth-fairy wonder And Halloween guises were all torn asunder And the lovely mistruths that I so longed to utter Dissolved in the blink of a tear just like butter Oh to be a liar. For a tongue that can't lie shall cause the meek to cry cruel words to cut them through And a tongue that can't lie Shall cause the righteous few to silence all that is true Oh to be a liar. Now I wander these earthly lands from pole to pole And from shore to lonely shore Seeking concealment in corners but somehow the world still descends on my door Afflicted, addicted I pray for a potion To take all my vision away Oh to be a liar. So tear out this tongue and stitch up these barbarous eyes with which I see And grant me the right To spare you the cold callous cut of reality Won't you take all this knowing and leave me with nothing, no nothing at all Let me speak what I will and reserve all the rest and I'll walk through the world Neither blighted nor blessed For my sole modest wish now before my demise Is to savour the sweetness and kindness of lies Oh to be a liar. For a tongue that can't lie.

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released March 10, 2008

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Karine Polwart UK

One of the finest singer-songwriters in Britain" The Guardian

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