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Sula Sgier (Live)

from Steer In The Night by The Old Dance School

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lyrics

Sit down, sit down son
I want to ask you once again
This time will you come with me
To Sula Sgier across the sea
The men and I are leaving tonight
We slip the moorings at midnight
Vittled to last us two hard weeks
Steer in the night north by north-east.

Sixty miles on our true line
Beneath the cliffs we'll anchor down
Eight-hundred years we've taken from here
Two-thousand seabirds every year
Seared and plucked, salted and stacked
We sail two-thousand Gugas back
And the people all smile from the harbour wall
For gannet and potato on the table.

Steer in the night north by north-east
Steer in the night north by north-east
Steer in the night north by north-east
Steer in the night north by north-east

Island folk a long time gone
Sustained in seabirds on their own
Year on year never left them short
Boiled in the porridge a puffin they caught
But life was hard then not like today
With food from sunny lands far away
But we'll tip our glass, we'll taste the sea
And I'll ask you now like my father asked me

Steer in the night north by north-east
Steer in the night north by north-east
Steer in the night north by north-east
Steer in the night north by north-east

Listen father, I'm employed
By the power company from far abroad
Each day up to the peat hags I go
Where the great wind-towers like trees they grow
The wind is fuel and the price is high
For energy harnessed from the sky
But my table's set and my bed is warm
And our children will find their way back home.

So father, father don't you see
We're just the same both you and me
From the land and sea we take our share
White wings on the slant Atlantic air
So when the wheat and barley's golden still
But before the heather's here
Call the men together again
And sail for Sula Sgier

Steer in the night north by north-east
Steer in the night north by north-east
Steer in the night north by north-east
Steer in the night north by north-east

credits

from Steer In The Night, released September 8, 2014
Words and Music by Robin Beatty (PRS/MCPS)

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The Old Dance School Birmingham, UK

Duelling fiddles, soaring brass crescendos, and irresistible grooves, The Old Dance School's expansive, cinematic sound charts their remarkable journey from ballet school basement jam sessions and cowshed rehearsals, to remote lighthouses, to headline appearances at international festivals. ... more

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