The
1997 CD from Steve and Ros Barnes
Song
Lyrics
Reviews
| Stories behind the songs
Click
"About the Song" for background stories about each number,
and a sound sample where available.
Words
and music © 1996 Steve Barnes
About
the song
In the heart of the desert island the rivers turn to sand
Redgums grow in ghostly rows, reach for water far below
The sun baked ochre land
On the bank the windmill turns
Whirlwind twists and the bushfire burns
The children of the dreaming learn
To live with the river's plan
The river runs deep, the water runs cold
The rain that falls from the sky
Is worth much more than its weight in gold
We're running the country dry
On the coast of the desert island the river meets the waves
Leafy groves and sandy coves, tropic birds on the sugarloaf
The breakers sweep the bay
The river bathes the ocean strand
With salty tears from far inland
And leaves its mark upon the sand
Where wild wind music plays
The river runs deep …
On the shore of the desert island the river meets the clouds
Endless views in sapphire hues, sky reflecting mirror blue
The seabirds crying loud
Beneath the surface danger lies
The blue-green poison multiplies
And threatens to engulf the sky
In a lifeless funeral shroud
Words
and music © 1992 Steve Barnes
About
the song
Driving through the day
Across the western plain
I stopped along the way
In the main street of this country town
Beside the cemetery
Stands this old gum tree
Witness to history
The sunlight shining through its glinting crown
Beneath your canopy
Old country refugees
Saw you as enemies
Cleared the land and built this wheat-belt town
And in your summer shade
Fair-skinned children played
Farmers cursed and prayed
That soon the rain would kiss the thirsty ground
(chorus)
This old tree was here before we came
It's seen the drought and rain
And it will see us out again
But like this tree the ones who still remain
Draw their life from this land
Then came depression years
When hope gave way to fear
But still they lingered here
The ones who couldn't bear to pack it in
And so the town revived
And while it never thrived
Somehow it still survived
Beneath your weeping crown of olive green
(chorus)
Soil has turned to sand
Salt has claimed the land
Now we understand
Your branches hold the lessons of the past
And now the wheat-belt men
Are planting trees again
In rows against the wind
The circle turns around again at last(chorus)
Words
and music © 1992 Steve Barnes
About
the song
In the village in the valley the fields are turning brown
The man you had to marry has gone for work in town
He comes home once a year
Then turns his back and leaves you slaving here
But I heard you singing, (to the people of the valley)
Woman of Africa
Yes I heard you singing, (to the people of the world)
Woman of Africa
I heard you singing
One day, some day, how far away you'll be free?
With a bundle on your head and a baby on your back
Your load weighs down like lead as you climb the winding track
It's you who plants the seed
But every year there's another mouth to feed.
But I heard you singing....
They say a new age is dawning
A time to live in peace
And on that bright morning then you will be released
But who will carry the water?
Find wood for the fire and feed your sons and daughters?
In the village in the valley you harvest and you plough
The bricks were made and the thatch was laid with the sweat of your
own brow
You carry the world on your shoulders
But every day that dawns you're one day older
But I heard you singing...
Words
and music © 1995 Steve Barnes
About
the song
The moon is shining through this cage
The same cold light that falls on you at home
The curse that fell upon the weaver and the boy
Has followed me so far across the foam
But behind this silver frame
The far side of the moon is black as tar
The light that shines for us is nothing more
Than reflected glory from another star
Across the silver river
Between the Weaver and the Buffalo Boy
The parting way might grieve us
The past will never leave us
Across the silver river build a bridge of wings
Across the darkness runs a stream
A skein of silver cloud across the night
When your eyes aren't dazzled by the moon
It shines so faint but with a truer light
And as between the lovers in the tale
That river's like an ocean with no shore
At full moon when the birds are flying home
Their wings will touch and link our hearts once more
Across the Silver River…
Words
and music © 1994 Steve Barnes
About
the song
Among the dog-eared photographs I found a faded prize
Familiar strangers on a porch with laughter in their eyes
I cauht the scent of new mown hay and dinner on the stove
It seemed like only yesterday but a thousand years ago
A thousand years ago
My eyes aren't what they used to be, my hearing starts to fade
But I could hear across the years those children as they played
I heard the sounds of evening falling half a world away
It seemed a thousand years ago but only yesterday
But only yesterday
Now one by one the hardhips come and pleasures fade away
The heart of that young laughing child still beats in me today
How fast the years have flown away, but days go by so slow
It seemed like only yesterday but a thousand years ago
A thousand years ago
Words
and music © 1995 Steve Barnes
About
the song
You're trying to sleep now at three in the morning
Insomnia's curse is upon you again
Your head is awake but your body is yawning
And nonsense is running around in your brain
There's taps that are dripping and bills that need paying
The mortgage is due and the car is unsound
Your head is a-flutter with tunes that keep playing
And thoughts you can't utter keep spinning around
The insomnia jig is the step to be dancing
Be sure you'll be first to be seeing the light
Stop counting sheep when you could be romancing
And leaping about in the dead of the night
You toss and you turn and you stare at the ceiling
The sandman has gone on a long holiday
He's gone off to Bali and left you here reeling
Awaiting the bell at the break of the day
You thrash and you writhe and you worry and wonder
You lie there and sweat and you curse and you cough
There's nothing more certain than you will go under
Just as the alarm is about to go off
The insomnia jig …
The world is outside, all intense and exciting
The lights are so bright but your feet are so cold
You're slippers have holes and your flanellette nightie
Is not an appropriate sight to behold
You could be out dancing instead of just lying there
Kicking your heels up and having a ball
You ought to be singing instead you're just sighing
And looking for patches of damp on the wall
Now cease all your worrying tossing and turning
In sleeping you're wasting a third of your life
There's much better things for a mind so discerning
Than dreaming of all kinds of trouble and strife
Words
and music © 1996 Steve Barnes
About
the song
Those wheels have left their mark upon a million miles of road
From the desert to the golden rainbow's end
The air is always cleaner and the grass is always greener
At a destination round another bend
The trees by the roadside wear a mantle of your dust
Your lights shining on the road ahead
The tracks that you make are getting deeper in your wake
They set your course across the watershed
Home is over the horizon
Where the white lines meet
The city lights are shining like a canopy of stars
A tapestry of diamonds far below
Again you are returning to begin another journey
From the place where you started years ago
Home is over the horizon...
When the evening makes your shadow run away
When the night steals the colours from the day
Turn your eyes to the western sky
And find where the white lines lead
Home is over the horizon...
Words
and music © 1995 Steve Barnes
About
the song
I climb the gate and walk across the field
Familiar roads have brought me back again
In twenty strides I travel thirty years
The more things change the more this stays the same
At break of day I used to take this path
To feed the birds come wind or sun or rain
The pond is here just like it used to be
The more things change the more this stays the same
The clock up on the church still only has one hand
One is all you need when time runs slow
Time is standing still here in this pleasant land
It always went too slow for me, and it was time to go
I've been away for more than twenty years
My family knows nothing but a name
And part of me is now a stranger too
The more things change the more I stay the same
Repeat bridge, verse 1
The more things change the more this quiet place will always stay
the same
GREY
STONE WALLS
Words and music © 1995 Steve Barnes
About
the song
Grey stone walls to hide the tears
House of madness, cries of fear
Roof of slate and walls of lime
Freezing cells in endless time
Unwed mothers from the street
Scrub the floors on chilblain feet
House of darkness, house of pain
Wash your sins in holy rain
Grey stone walls have seen it all
Reminders of the past
Now you can find your rest at last
Haunted faces, tattered rags
Silent footfall on the flags
Ghost is walking in the night
Wasted face in silver light
See the moonrise kiss the walls
Zephyr breeze in haunted halls
Hungry eyes in moonlit glow
Hear the singers down below
Grey stone walls …
Ninety years are gone and past
Pictures hang behind the glass
Spirits waking now to sing
Voices make the courtyard ring
Spirits fly to the obsidian sky
The moon rises high above the walls
Grey stone walls have seen it all...
Words
and music © 1995 Steve Barnes
About
the song
Takes a roll to give a rock that motion
Takes the blues to make the rhythm strong
Takes some soul to give the blues emotion
Takes your heart to put some soul in my song
You put the rock in my rhythm
You put the hook on my line
You put the beat in the soles of my feet
You give me a reason to rhyme
Takes a worm to make the bird come calling
Takes some wind to help that early bird fly
Takes the sun to make that wind come squalling
It takes you to put the sun in my sky
You put the rock…
Takes some spice to make that country cooking
Takes some chili to fire up the pot
Takes a dish to make that meal good looking
It takes you to keep my cooking hot
You put the rock…
Words
and music © 1996 Steve Barnes
About
the song
Night is falling over this town
The sun is on its way to Africa
Home is where this heart will be found
In present company
This world still keeps on spinning round
The sun is on its way to Africa
A heartbeat is the sweetest sound
In present company
The past may never be the same
The future's not what it used to be
Here and now I stake my claim
In present company
Crescent moon and evening star
The sun is on its way to Africa
Here and now is where we are
In present company
