Vashti Bunyan

I love coming home from far across the sea
I pick my little wee wifey up and set her on my knee
See how my eldest boy has grown
Whilst I've been away
See here's a boat I've whittled for thee, especially for thee
I've thought of you everyday

I love coming home from far across the sea
And taking up my walking cane
And passing through the trees
I wander on the hillside, the doggie at my heel
The bracken wave's a welcome to me
"Where have you been?
We've missed you a great deal"

I love coming home from far across the sea
I pick my little wee wifey up
And set her on my knee

Jog along Bess, hop along May
Squeak along Blue, it's a walk-along day
It's a long road and weary are we
Bubble on kettle and make us all some tea

Once there was a gypsy man
Selling flowers from a baker's van
Bess, she pulled him round the town
Pulled her wagon all old and brown
Till one day, we took her away
Painted her wagon bright and gay
Now she finds she's travelling north
No more wandering back and forth

Jog along Bess, hop along May
Squeak along Blue, it's a walk-along day
It's a long road and weary are we
Bubble on kettle and make us all some tea

Once there was an Afghan hound
Loved by no one and pushed around
Tied up in a stable yard
Tangled and timid and howling hard
Till one day, we took her away
Called her Magog; shortened to May
She hurt a paw, made it sore
Now she runs on three legs instead of four

Jog along Bess, hop along May
Squeak along Blue, it's a walk-along day
It's a long road and weary are we
Bubble on kettle and make us all some tea

There lived a dog in London Town
With one ear up and the other ear down
The neighbours said he mustn't bark
The only grass he knew was in Hyde Park
Till one day, we took him away
Now Blue bounces through fields of hay
But he sits and squeals like a squeaky wheel
When the wheels are rolling, that's how he feels

Jog along Bess, hop along May
Squeak along Blue, it's a walk-along day
It's a long road and weary are we
Bubble on kettle and make us all some tea

Little green wagon in a deep blue sky
Wheels like dandelions passing by
With a picture by Sam, a painting by John
And a bonnie black hoss to lead you along
Lucky green wagon, you were raggedy brown
Now there is red at the hem of your gown
And we brought you a pumpkin, brought you a mouse
We wished very hard and you gave us a house

Jog along Bess, hop along May
Squeak along Blue, it's a walk-along day
It's a long road and weary are we
Bubble on kettle and make some tea

I climbed the peaks of glass with you
And walked a world of brass with you
And gladly left the glaring streets
To share a bed of grass with you

You made the elder burn for me
And cut the bird filled thorn for me
And through the ripening summer days
You bade the white road turn for me

I rode the dark green deep with you
And drove our dreams like sheep with you
And now my love please let me cross
Brown boundaries of sleep with you

I love your eyes when you look away
Thinking somewhere else of what ought to be
When they're suddenly blue for a moment of time
Then the colour goes when you look at me

I love your hands as a part of you
As they write a word just by staying still
When you talk they move, painting what you say
So i understand more than words can tell

I love your hair in the dark it's soft
In the light it moves, red and green are brown
All the time it takes for a night to pass
And a lifetime grows as the day comes down

I love you now as you don't love me
I can't let you know you're too far away
But i wonder now just what did you see
When you looked at me in that loveless way

I'd like to walk around in your mind someday
I'd like to walk all over the things you say to me

I'd like to run and jump on your solitude
I'd like to rearrange your attitude to me

You say you just want peace and to never hurt anyone
You see the end before the beginning has ever begun

I would disturb your easy tranquillity
I'd turn away the sad impossibility of your smile

I'd sit there in the sun of the things I like about you
I'd sing my songs and find out just what they mean to you

But most of all I'd like you to be unaware
Then I'd just wander away, trailing palm leaves behind me
So you don't even know I've been there

Winter is blue
Living is gone
Some are just sleeping
In spring they'll go on
Our love is dead
Nothing but crying
Love will not find even
One more new morning

Why must i stay here
Rain comes i'm sitting here
Watching love moving
Away into yesterday

Winter is blue
Everything's leaving
Fires are now burning
And life has no reason
I am alone
Waiting for nothing
If my heart freezes
I won't feel the breaking

Why must i stay here
Rain comes i'm sitting here
Watching love moving
Away into yesterday

The rainbow river is a laughing stream
Down in a valley by a mountain that is pine tree tall
The rainbow river has a small boy fishing with a worm
And a jam jar by the waterfall
Don't make a sound don't disturb the ground
The biggest fish you ever saw is around
And the rainbow river gives a rainbow fish
As one small boy goes running proudly to his mother's call

The stonebuilt farmhouse is a rough stone cottage
Hiding close against the hillside up a winding track
The stonebuilt farmhouse has a fair-haired farmer
Wearing wooden shoes and building up a new haystack
Run in the door stand on the stone floor
The oven opens- there's the biggest loaf you ever saw
And the stonebuilt farmhouse gives a good warm welcome
As he sits down in his own chair with a Windsor back

The magpie meadow is a glowing evening colour
Sun is setting quietly and the boy is tired
The magpie meadow has a sparrow hawk who hovers
Hanging on the wind preying eagle eyed
Sit by the lantern watch as the years turn
Slowly bringing truth for every child to learn
And the magpie meadow darkens gently blue now
As the family sit their faces lit by ember fire