Just remembered that last night I was listening to Free, in the dark with a glass of whisky (a rather large glass - my hand slipped whilst I was pouring and note this was Scottish not Irish so no 'e') and Song of Enchantment came on.
Now, there is a line in the song which goes "Widdershins turned I singing it low". What a fantastic word widdershins is! I looked it up on wiki (although I was familiar with the term already, I think from Terry Pratchett novels???) and found this:
"In the mythology of the North Yorkshire Moors it is believed that if you dance nine times widdershins around a fairy ring of toadstools you will come under the power of the fairy people. The story of Fairy Cross Plain (Fyup Dale) chronicals the fate of a young boy (Thomas Skelderskew) who did just that and suffered the consequences." How many drugs would you need to be on to dream that one up!
So, my question to you dear friends is what Libera lyrics make you laugh, cry, swoon or scratch you're head in wonderment?
If I’ve got owt to say I says it, and if I’ve got owt to ask I asks it.
Hmmm.... Well, I always laugh when they sing "I was standing in a bar and watching all the people there..." because these boys are ages 7-16. I'm going to hope they aren't spending too much time standing in any bars
Thing is, you obviously haven't been in too many British pubs - we get loads of kids in them and if they are 16+, eating a meal and accompanied by an adult they can drink a pint whilst they are there too! Generally kids over 14 can go in to a pub with an adult but the landlord/licencee (bar owner) can apply for a kids permit to allow any age of child (with an adult) in up to 9pm. In reality, most pubs are quite easy going on this, especially in rural areas.
It gets better. Children of 5 or older are allowed to consume alcohol in private (but you can't buy it until you are 18 ). Thankfully children under 5 can only consume alcohol on a doctors advice for medical reasons
Cheers, bottoms up, cin-cin, & down the hatch
Last edited by Yorkie on Tue Aug 18, 2009 4:48 pm, edited 1 time in total.
If I’ve got owt to say I says it, and if I’ve got owt to ask I asks it.
Alcohol is taboo over here in the states... Or at least it is when people talk about it. Nobody blinks an eye when there is coolers of beer at a neighborhood party, but if you talk about alcohol, the responses you will get will all be negative. Does that change the teenage drinking demographic though? I mean, over here teenage partying is basically drugs and alcohol. If its legal for them to drink do they overdo it constantly like over here?
lol... alcohol is so easy to come by in the uk.. trust me im not at legal age to drink or buy it and i can do it so easily if i want to... they dont ID you, unless you are going to a high profile club ... i like it but i can see why the adults dont lol
i like the lyrics to may the road rise up ... i think the profound meaning behind them with the inocent voices of the boys just makes the song stand out
When you miss me just look up to the night sky and remember, I'm like a star; sometimes you can't see me, but I'm always there.
libera36 wrote:
Alcohol is taboo over here in the states... Or at least it is when people talk about it. Nobody blinks an eye when there is coolers of beer at a neighborhood party, but if you talk about alcohol, the responses you will get will all be negative. Does that change the teenage drinking demographic though? I mean, over here teenage partying is basically drugs and alcohol. If its legal for them to drink do they overdo it constantly like over here?
We have a huge problem with drinking over here (to be fair it isn't just the younger end) - you should see our city centres on Friday and Saturday nights! Brits have never been able to drink responsibly. Mind you, could you kiss anybody with such bad teeth without a few drinks inside you first
If I’ve got owt to say I says it, and if I’ve got owt to ask I asks it.
Prototype wrote: ↑<span title="Sun Mar 15, 2020 9:46 pm">4 years ago</span>
Different lines but from the same song mentioned by OP.
"By darkening lights I wandered through
Thickets trembling with drops of dew"
"But the music is lost and the words are gone
Of the song I sang as I sat along"
Just love those lyrics
And from Rest in Peace
"Lord give me wisdom to comprehend
Why I survive and not my friend
And teach me compassion so I may live
All my enemies to forgive"
Fantastic lyrics
Peter Skellern certainly knew how to write lyrics. Composed in memory of the victims of the 9-11 attacks of course. I do like his performance with Libera too.
If I’ve got owt to say I says it, and if I’ve got owt to ask I asks it.
Great topic!
I absolutely love the lyrics of In the Bleak Midwinter. So wonderfully moving and poetic.
The same goes for the lyrics of Do Not Stand. The imagery of natural phenomena (the diamond glint of snow, the sunlight on ripened grain) is so evocative.
A favourite line from another song:
I just want to show you
all the beauty and the glory
from Eternal Light. It's a simple line but I love it because it sums up what I wish to do when working with children
ETA I should add the endearing, deeply meaningful lyrics of The Lamb.
You raise me high beyond the sky
Through stormy night lifting me above
Oh yes, this is a beautiful topic, I've never discovered it - so, good that it has been washed to the surface! In fact, since I came across Libera I've liked to add lyrics extracts from their songs to different online profiles of mine.
The lyrics that mean the most to me, like a guideline, are those of Something Sings I have in my signature: "But in the dark and cold of things
There always, always something sings."
This is, in a wonderful simplicity of putting it, so full of hope and so according to the love for the most personal instrument, the voice.
Then there is "A silent harmony, the sound of hope
A moment echoes through eternity"
from Ave Verum.
Here I like the words used and the mysterious touch.
Vespera- these words in connection with the music attract me a lot: "Keep me as the apple of thine eye
Hide me under the shadow of thy wings"
I agree to what was said about Rest in Peace and Do Not Stand, exactly the lines that you, Maarten, mentioned plus the "quiet birds in circling flight". However, I find the entire lyrics of this song highly moving.
Also, I'm always touched by "For now we lie in row on row In Flanders fields" from We are the Lost as well as Home's
"Not a bird on the wing, not a song they could sing,
for the loved ones we see no more,
their suffering and pain"
"for the hope we hold amid the crying
is the dream we find a way back home"
"For now a new day wakes the dawn,
spreading its light across the sky,
when all misery and sadness will pass away."
There are definitely more songs, which don't come to my mind right now.
Only, what I have always a hard time to comprehend, even though it's from my favourite Libera song Voca Me, is "As silent as the night for all you cry". Perhaps there is now the opportunity to have it explained?
"But in the dark and cold of things there always, always something sings"
and note this was Scottish not Irish so no 'e') and Song of Enchantment came on.
... i like it but i can see why the adults dont lol
