Life is the only teacher  (Polydor 1980)

                             

1. Life is the only teacher
2. The land that is me
3. The witch
4. Donna (woman)
5. The harvest
6. Colours
7. The Lord of Baux
8. Smart little girl
9. The lady and the falconer

 

 

Life is the only teacher
( Keith Christmas  - Angelo Branduardi )

Beautiful lady walking by
Bearing the mark of pride
Life is the only teacher
Live it and be satisfied

Beautiful lady tell me why
Let yourself be denied
Life is the only teacher
Live it and be satisfied

Opportunity is lost
To those who sit weighing the cost
Everything is there to reach for
Life is the only teacher

Never let the chance be missed
For luck is the lady to kiss
Love is there for us to seek for
Life is the only teacher

Beautiful lady I can see
You know the truth inside
Life is the only teacher
Live it and be satisfied

Beautiful lady turn the key
Why leave so much untried
Life is the only teacher
Live it and be satisfied

Opportunities are free
To all those who are willing to be
Freely taken by the wind that blows
Life is the only teacher

Never let the joy be stilled
For life is a cup to be filled
Up and drink a toast to every moment
Life is the only teacher

Beautiful lady have no fears
Forget all the tears you cried
Life is the only teacher
Live it and be satisfied

 

 

The land that is me
( Keith Christmas  - Angelo Branduardi )

If I should call you
A sky of peacock blue
And like the swallow
I will return you

Will you be a star to guide us
Across the endless sea
And may fortune fly beside us
To the land that is me
If I should call
If I should call you
The seasons’ ancient rhyme
Endlessly turning
Upon the wheel of time

You are the gentle sun of morning
Touching everything I see
You are the rain that is falling
On the land that is me

If I should call you
The scented wine of spring
How could I measure
The happiness you bring

Like the soothing summer showers
That fall eternally
You are everything that flowers
In the land that is me

If I should call you
A sky of peacock blue
And like the swallow
I will return you

You are natures’ forgiving
And graceful harmony
You are all that is living
In the land that is me

Like the road that takes me homeward
To where I long to be
Ever calling me forward
You are the land that is me

 

 

The witch
( Keith Christmas  - Angelo Branduardi )

One hot day in midsummer
For this is how the story goes
There was a fair young maiden then
With eyes like a fire glow

She looked to be just like any girl
In stockinette and calico
But there was something about her then
That everyone would come to know

A heaven-made decision
To give the power to see
A momentary vision
Of what there was to be

She will be able to turn the blackest rook
Into the whitest dove
She will be able to turn an acid look
Into love
She will be able to make the deepest night
Into day
So many spells to cast
To see the future and the past

On the day that she was twelve
Out walking in the meadow-lea
She met a dark-eyed stranger there
Who said you are to follow me

I have a duty to teach you how
In everything you need to know
There is a power within you now
That very soon will start to grow

A heaven-made decision
To give the power to see
A momentary vision
Of what there was to be

 

THE WITCH (II)

She will be able to turn the silver ashes
Into the purest gold
She will be able to turn the fiery passions
So ice cold
She will be able to change a lovers’ wishes
Into their hearts’ desire
And she will even burn the holy kisses
With hell fire
So many spells to cast
To see the future and the past

A heaven-made decision
To give the power to see
A momentary vision
Of everything to be

You may be able to see her in the starlight
Dancing by the stream
But you may think it just a will-o-the-wisp
Or a moonbeam
You may be able to hear her singing
By the magic wishing well
But you may think it just a flute
Or a chanterelle
So many spells to cast
To see the future and the past

 

 

Donna (woman)
( Keith Christmas  - Angelo Branduardi )

Donna I want to sing you
Donna you’re mother
Donna the ending
Donna you’re rock
Donna you’re sand
At times
A fleeting white cloud

Donna donna you’re shadow
Donna you’re mist
And
Donna you’re dawning
Donna donna you’re stone
At times
A fleeting white cloud

Donna you’re water and fire
Donna you’re fear
Donna you’re happiness
Donna you’re wisdom
Donna you’re folly
And a fleeting white cloud

Donna donna the friend
Donna the ship
And
Donna the dry land
Donna donna the air
At times
A fleeting white cloud

Donna you’re thirst and vintage
Donna you’re dust
Donna you’re rain
Donna you’re wisdom
Donna you’re folly
And a fleeting white cloud

Donna donna the spring
Donna the grass
Donna the green leaf
Donna donna you’re stone
At times
A fleeting white cloud

Donna I want to sing you
Donna you’re fear
Donna you’re dancing
Donna donna the ash
At times
A fleeting white cloud

 

 

The harvest
( Keith Christmas  - Angelo Branduardi )

Summer days have come and gone
And the nights are drawing in
From tomorrow, all about
the harvest will begin
But while the men sit honing reaping-hooks
Casting young girls keener looks
One will wait alone
For her lover to be known

From dawn to dusk the people toil
The harvest has begun
As it has for generations
So it will be done
But while the women talk about the day
The children all too tired to play
One will wait alone
For her lover to be known

Soon the fires will be burning brightly
All across the land
While the courting couples stroll the lanes
In Wonderland
But when the crops have all been gathered in
And the icy winds have yet to begin
One will wait alone
For her lover to be known

Summer days have come and gone
And the nights are drawing in
From tomorrow all about
The harvest will begin
But while the grapes hang heavy on the vine
And they're choosing the girls to tread the wine
One will wait alone
For her lover to be known

 

 

Colours
( Keith Christmas  - Angelo Branduardi )

There is a legend in my country
For those young men who are broken-hearted
If love has treated you so badly
To ease the pain of the newly-parted
They say go down by the gentle seashore
Find a calm solitary place
And where the tide has run out before
You make the colours of her face

Black sand to draw her raven tresses
White sand to picture her cheeks and forehead
And with the colours of magenta
you paint those sweet lips so warm and red
And then in silence you think about her
Every heart-felt memory
For when the tide has washed away the traces
Then at last you will be free

 

 

The Lord of Baux
( Keith Christmas  - Angelo Branduardi )

Overlooking the valley below
High on the edge of a mountain
Stands the mighty castle of Baux
A dark and cursed ruin

The echoes of a thousand knights
Come riding o'er the keepstone
And at their head with ghostly sight
Gallops the Lord of Baux
His spirit seeking rest

On barren stones he built his lair
A monument to power
And he kept his bride a prisoner there,
Locked in the highest tower

Inside the fires were burning bright
With wine-lit eyes

A-gleaming they sang, the battlements rang
With ballads of sword and long-bow
The bravest of all though sat before
So Silent and cold the Lord of Baux

High o'er the ivy-covered keep
The marching steps are ringing
And watching the birds fly to the sea
A sad-eyed girl is weeping

Never so kind and fair a maid
Never so sad a story
Slowly she pined her life away
Surrounded by his glory and fame

The travellers came
To carry the news for all to know
That always alone his face of stone
So silent and cold the Lord of Baux

Overlooking the valley below
High on the edge of a mountain
Stands the mighty castle of Baux
A dark and shattered ruin

The echoes of a thousand knights
Come riding o'er the keepstone
And at their head with ghostly
Sight gallops the Lord of Baux
His spirit seeking rest

 

 

Smart little girl
( Keith Christmas  - Angelo Branduardi )

You say that you love him just like a father
And all that he wants from you
You say that you can be
You say that he loves you just like a daughter
And what he doesn’t want to know he doesn’t see

It’s easy for a girl to make a living
Giving it all for just an easy ride
It’s easy for a girl to be forgiven
For making a business out of being a bride

You were a pretty girl when you were seventeen
Sweet as a rose and as lithe as a cat
But your husband-to-be will never know what he’s missing
He’s well over seventy and blind as a bat

I thought that your choice was a little surprising
But you tell me it’s time you thought of getting hitched
I don’t for one moment suppose it has anything
To do with the fact that he’s incredible rich

It’s easy for a girl to make a living
Giving it all for just an easy ride
It’s easy for a girl to be forgiven
For making a business out of being a bride

You say that you’re marrying in California
It’s one of your favourite parts of the world
It has new feminist laws on dividing property
I always thought you were a smart little girl

You say that you love him just like a father
And all that he wants from you
You say that you can be
You say that he loves you just like a daughter
And what he doesn’t want to know he doesn’t see

 

 

The lady and the falconer
( Keith Christmas  - Angelo Branduardi )

In the highlands' bloody history
There was once a mighty laird
A braw and fearsome man was he
With a daughter most passing fair

Four sons his lady had borne him long
Four sons that had ne'er drew breath
And as his daughter gave her first cry
His beloved wife lay dead

He hunted o'er the moors by day
With the falcon that was his pride
Entrusted to an orphan boy
That e'er was by his side

And when his daughter came of age
There were suitors by the score
But one by one she bade them begone
'Till at last they came no more

But one young man she had loved so long
And her love he did return
And on that day they lay down beside
The banks of the shady burn

The weeks went by and to everyone
How happy she had become
'Till one fine morn' they woke up to find
Both her and the falconer gone

They had not ridden a dozen leagues
Then were caught so easily
And black with rage the laird cried out
He will hang from the gallows tree

As they placed the noose around his neck
She cried out so piteously
Dear father, father spare this man
For his child is grown in me

 

THE LADY AND THE FALCONER (II)

Her lover looked upon his laird
And he spoke with head held high
I have loved you like your own true son
That you have e'er been denied

Then from the eyes of that mighty laird
The tears sprang down his cheeks
He cried I have been grieving too long
Make ready a great wedding feast

In the highlands' bloody history
There was once a mighty laird
A braw and handsome man was he
With grandsons and daughters most fair

 

 

 

 

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