Where Wild Roses Grow

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voicecall album cover
My father being from Coleraine, Co Derry I have had a close affinity with Ireland since my first childhood visits to stay with relatives there. My love of Irish and Scottish music has ensured the continuance of this affection and this song attempts to express this through its geographical references to the natural beauty of the North and my underlying hopes for peace and reconciliation epitomised in the last line of the fourth verse.

From the waters of Fermanagh lost in early morning mist
Tae an Antrim beach with rocky cliffs like snaw
Tae where a glow of broken sunlight blaws a dancing fern a kiss
Tae the Glens of Antrim’s rocks where primrose grow

(CHORUS)
Take me to the places where the wild flower grows
Where peace and beauty beckon me to call
Take me to the places where wild roses grow
There’s a part of Ireland dies with each that falls

As the fisher enters harbour with his early morning trawl
There’s a shepherd lying in wait for dawn to break
And the townsfolk eye his haul in the port of Cushendal
As the shepherd climbs the glen behind the lake

CHORUS

I hear the birds on Rathlin Island through the early morning squall
I see the sea crash o’er the Skerries far away
And as I listen to the seabirds I imagine in their call
I can hear this message spirit through the spray

CHORUS

I see the songthrush in the hedgerow as I stroll along the lane
That leads me to the mount by banks of Bann
And the cornfields weave their pattern gently ruffled by the wind
As I caress this broken cornsheaf in my hand

CHORUS

From the waters of Fermanagh lost in early morning mist
Tae an Antrim beach with rocky cliffs like snaw
Tae where a glow of broken sunlight blaws a dancing fern a kiss
Tae the Glens of Antrim’s rocks where primrose grow