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A Rededication Of Pastor Skull

by Blyth Power

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1.
Royal George 03:19
Stag broke cover and the coursers brayed We met out hunting on Boxing Day Beneath the dripping trees a tryst arranged And while we spoke our passion led the bloodhounds astray She has two sisters is the eldest of three Their names are wit and beauty and diplomacy She's rich as Croesus with a legacy Worth more in land and money than I will ever need Jackdaws rise in clouds among the rooves To the distant sound of horsemen in the stables and the mews But it's the chamber music fading down the hall That calls me back for more But I'm not sure what I am looking for Her brothers are Lieutenants in the Guard's brigade With great dexterity they practice their trade They're fighting Bonaparte and far away So of their fraternal jealousy I'm not afraid Her mother knows the Regent a courtier she Tends his royal needs to an intimate degree In quiet rooms in Mayfair meets him regularly For cocktails bridge and coffee and for afternoon tea Her father is a captain and an East-Indiaman From the Solent to the Orient and Ankara commands I'll risk his anger for his daughter's hand And while he's round Cape Lonely I will post the banns From their narrowed eyes the family portraits glare Each receding generation marks my passage down the stair As the muted hum of conversation flows From the drawing-room below But what their faces show Won't make me stay or go Now the black buck's stalking down the royal ride How much more than merely mystery The looking glass provides I can't decide Which card to play I can pay my way But if the stakes are raised I have no hidden ace
2.
Pastor Skull 04:01
Still save the stallion's hesitant peace Through the wandering valley and the fumbling fleece Came a long cold knight and a saint I'm told With shining armour bright as beaten gold Sage soul-strong in the firelight stood At the shore of the mere in the darkening wood Mother of winter's long lost hold Stirred in the deep of the bottomless waters cold Sullen and sick in the waters waking Spurs the worm to the surface breaking Ring like the clappers on a leper's-bell toll But the warning peal too late cold comfort holds Through all the stained-glass windows Red gold burns in the black of the night Plucked me a rose and off to his bed he bore me On his bloody sword Saint George Stands on the Stour at Wormingford Pastor Skull came stumbling down Gave thanks for the new day born in the morning's glory Hard by the heat I the whirling water The knight with the cross and the holy orders Kneels in a prayer for the victor's crown Then spits on his sword and throws the gauntlet down He put a hammer-lock grip to her left front paw And an elbow strike to the drooling jaw Made the worm fall backward tooth and claw And lean on the scales which tipped to the warrior's score We heard her scream we heard her die We heard the knight's triumphant cry Our hearts beat faster we locked our doors Blind eyes turned let the battle take its course Pastor Skull rode up the hill In the half-light borne to the site of the kill Stiff to the glebe then picked his way Where the knight stood still and the bloodstained body-count lay Pastor Skull threw up his hands Wept for the worm on the silver sands Turned to the knight and cursed him through May God forgive for I will never do Gallows-bait sneer in his bully-boy's eye We watched the knight go riding by In shame at his sport was the village renamed Wormingford t'was called and so remains King's pawn has opened Rookery rings to his ragged cry Ask me the time by Shrewsbury clock in the morning Knight takes pawn Bishop looks on Front rank kneels in the rising corn Enter rumour racked and torn No time to rehearse his lines for the first performance
3.
Glazed yellow in the steamheats early mourning Flashing silver from the rails Our people are waiting at the barrier To hear the whistles and the bells When the sleeping car attendant checked my ticket He introduced me to the guard I've seen your picture in the Telegraph But I've never read the Morning Star Then the man who came in third Said I am speaking and you will listen Mark my words I saw the coloured rose he wore Was the arms of the man who was going to change the world Rolling under to the wheelbeats counting numbers And later on the midnight mail They dimmed the lamplight in the corridors And the scarlet lantern at the tail I went to meet him at the station in the morning Took a cab to the conference hotel And waiting later for the delegates I shook his hand and wished him well Clenched fist salutes in anger on the barricades Through all the speeches and the pleas Are empty words in marble palaces And empty vessels on the quay I sank your ferry in the Mersey broke your palisade And cast your scarlet statues down Then all the bleeding hearts of Liverpool I wore as rubies in my crown
4.
My brother Gabriel the Angel stands among the cornfields looking round At the blue hills in the distance beyond the river valley and the town With a hunch about his shoulders that the footfall in the new-made furrow found And the broken bow-shards on the hillside Will show him where the killer went to ground Then replacing his receiver and returning to his solemn duty bound He told me anything you say may be taken down Then Cain took the stand took The Bible in his hand and turned the page He said I was hoeing out the turnip rows working just a couple of fields away When I heard his shout behind me I came running back to where my brother lay Face down among the poppies an arrow shaft between his shoulder blades That's how the watchmen came to find me there all in his life blood stained But as God will be my witness I am not afraid They called the Jackal and the Serpent Judas was a witness standing by But Gabriel the Angel wasn't called to testify Their defence was torn asunder With all objections cast aside Because with proof enough to hang him all the court was satisfied But Gabriel the Angel cleared his locker out and bade the farce goodbye He said the prosecution's case is all a pack of lies When Adam delved and Eve yet span who was then to blame? Who left the body in the cornfield lying broken by whose bloody fingers slain? And was it Gabriel the Angel with his chainsaw and loaded rifle aimed Saying Cain was Abel's only joy and Abel so was Cain's?
5.
Marching skyward banners raised Down the high street winds the annual masquerade Salutes and standards flags and flames Decry our penitence and shame And in the lines of Graves The poppies and the pansies look the same Old campaigners on parade Coloured ribbons on their uniforms displayed Bow their silver heads and pray While the solemn bugles bray And in the lines of Graves On brisker feet the nimble meters play In the first row lay the Colonel and his lady So we clip the grass and trim the weeds away In the second and the third They had the General Staff interred On the fourth row lay the Captain's pretty flowers every day In the fifth and sixth and seventh Sergeant Majors and non-commissioned souls are on parade In eight eleven nine and ten Cheek to cheek and end to end All the conscripts and enlisted men were laid Past the lectern down the nave Carved initials in the varnish black with age Hear the whispers turn the page From the plates of brass erased And in the lines of Graves Are the faces and the half-forgotten names Through the lychgate down the lane Beneath the jackdaw choir the music's gentle strain Frees our hearts and soothes our pain Sends us marching home again And in the lines of Graves The cannon fire has faded into rain Over here lie the Colonel and his lady Arm and arm these luckless lovers lay See here he steals a kiss From her cracked and crumbling lips Underneath the poppies in the cold cold clay March me off to heaven Sergeant Major Show me how a soldier should behave Tip me over end and as we kiss and kiss again Will you remember all the promises you made Or will you leave me with the mourning Where all the conscripts and enlisted men were laid Now the white horse on the hill begins to fade The sexton's carved his figures in the clay And though the armistice is over In the lines of Graves The faces and the half-forgotten names still remain
6.
Breitenfeld 05:08
I'd never learned about Alexander I never knew what Marius says I never read about the Revelations Or the Knights that fought the first crusade I fell in love with a monk in armour The sweet fist of the catholic lay Took out my sword and the scarlet amour From the trunk where they were packed away I didn't march for the Romans' splendour I didn't follow for a penny a day I didn't fall for the strumpet Glory But to march behind him all the way We marched south through the ragged country And as we marched south through the mud and the rain I kept my eyes on the distant standard That he bore throughout the long campaign We fought round to the clash of armour And when we had to fight without provision and pay We cut them down 'til the sole survivors Watched the river Elbe wash the bodies away In taking stock of the situation It took all my nerve not to throw it away I travelled on as the Primal Oeuvre Made me march behind him all the way He'll be rounding the horn in the morning and I'll come following by With the smoke of the campfires borne on a wasting wind To batter and blind the skies And the powder and corn we burnt in passing left Blackened and useless to lie Put up your sword drop your scarlet painted armour now What endeavour won't bring the Lord will not provide I had to fight with my Christian conscience I had to fight it every step of the way I had to fight through the rival armies Just to march behind him all the way We found him smashed where his horse had foundered In the mud and offal on his belly he lay We dragged him off under cover of darkness Then we quit the field and ran away We rode west through the heat and confusion And as he spewed blood through the visions and shame I cast aside all my fine illusions And was never the half a fool again
7.
The death-watch drone from the steeple creeps And drowns the murmur of the highbrowed parish priest Drowsing children switch their feet And fall asleep The plaster virgin bends her knee As the congregation choir for evensong convenes Fat tallow candles and lattice screens Fill their dreams Then General Winter takes command Swings me round again to the cavalry band He snaps his heels as he proffers his hand White-jacketed waiters line the walls With sherry wine subdue the officer corps As we circle slowly round the shadowy hall And while the organ sweetly hymns The sleeping children heed a different voice within That whispers oaths and secrets sings And spread their wings When the night birds shriek at the dawn patrol And wake me sleeping with their clamouring cold With a crack of branches from the riverbank blown General Winter makes it known That everywhere he bids his regiments go The morning frostbite takes and holds
8.
The Sun in splendour rose too soon From her deep sea fever pitched at four o'clock in the afternoon Until four in the morning as the moon climbed by With the night mail crossed the border through And in turning asked me why Why won't you give a beggar a chance But I told her no Who plays the pipe must lead the dance I'm sorry I bore you, sorry you were carried away Then The Sun in splendour howled with rage Stitched our leaders up with a photo-spread on the centre page With four-score torpedoes primed and aimed She turned her readers round But isn't she a fool to be afraid When Shelley had nothing to tell, they told him How time stands still in Reading Gaol I'm sorry they bought you Sorry you were mine to sell With The Sun in splendour lost and found Born strong in the morning blocked by a passing thunder cloud I called forth the darkness to run and hide From her single candle cursing But still the sun is always on my mind Keep a weather eye on the glass But I tell you She won't answer when you ask Nothing will make her nothing's going to change her mind When if of herself she will not shine
9.
Stonehaven 02:50
A thirsty noon breaks through your curtain call The clock-face winks a weary eye Empty letters to your dreamscape shatter through And I'm the stone and the statue standing by In Manor House there lived a lady once From the broken bank she made her plea For all Stonehaven knows my fortunes I will share With the one who'll mend my broken wings for me To her Manor House door there came a travelling man Close your eyes and count to three In the wind and the rain to walk and the southern moon to ride And that's the last of her we'll ever see The North Sea heaved when it heard your wedding bells The grey skies wept upon the beach But who am I to tell the waves which way to turn And who are you to tell me what I can see How came you then this sad song to tell? How bore you children then that never could conceive How narrow minded and malicious I can be And how came you here tonight without his leave?
10.
Vane Tempest 03:13
Grey thunder clouds were out the water was high Between the burdocks I saw you go by To morning service called so eager followed I I sat in silence rapt from nine until noon My knuckles whitened on the back of the pew You turned your face away the whole long morning through Sunlight and shadows round your fingertips played I nudged the parson and asked him your name How far you'd travelled and how long you were staying Far beyond the dull horizon the colliers curse and call The water spills from the peaks and hills and down to the North Sea pours On the stacks and staithes and the dockyard cranes and the railway yards it falls And it's cold as the stones of the Roman wall The leaves were yellow and the season had turned Bedecked the altar boys in garlands and ferns And wicker women in the blackened stubble burned But I'd been watching I waited I bided my time Bit off my fingernails and sharpened my scythe So that when you called your harvest home I could gather mine I filled the chapel from the vaults to the weather vane With bribes and promises burned candles all day But smiling sweetly still you sent me on my way Like three great blisters on the skyline sit Three grey sisters as the morning lifts And in the black sky the spiral-climbing steams change shape and shift And to those three grey sisters as the morning lifts Vane Tempest blows a parting kiss As over Kellingley Colliery and Ferrybridge And in the black sky the spiral-climbing steams change shape and shift
11.
I hear your sirens calling Howling like a priest As I crept in through your barbed-wire crawling To steal your Golden Fleece Like Michaelangelo the scars upon your brow Engraved stone angels by your side Red letters burning in the newsprint wonder now How far the sun will sink tonight I raised my glass to drink to your victory As I watched your winter palace fall So many eager hands assisted me To take your picture off the wall Wash your hands now it's starting to rain Pandora's people are rising again When someone rattled their bars they broke open the door When you won't have to carry your card anymore then you can go to the ball Judas hanged to please the shepherd boy When the scarlet sunrise made him frown To pay his party dues he slipped in the silver seed Then bade us smiling cut him down I learned your language rewrote your history I read my fortune in the files Where I found the key to unlock the mystery That made your secret servants smile Carrion corporations Catch me if you can Crashing in on the Yankee reservation Powerglass in my hand I see you in three dimensions Smiling like a sphinx When you take me to the water Kick me until I drink Then something within me Demands that I lay down my arms To give up the gun and the ghost And to give up my magical charms Wash your hands wash your hands of it all From Beechangar Abbey to Cardigan Hall Wash your hands of the helpless the homeless the hungry and poor Now you won't have to answer to chapter and law Then you can go to the ball
12.
On a fly-speckled summer's eve In the tenth long year of the siege To the campfire gathered round we took our ease And there were songs from better days Back-slapping and glasses raised The same old worn out stories told of the odysseys Of Achilles and of Heracles Then Eohippus outlined a plan For such a bold design and grand That it seemed like a miracle or a masquerade With a hand picked volunteer force In a giant sized wooden horse Through the gates of the yellow-walled city we'd find a way It was a wild card to play Great silence then replied To the mocking seabird's cry It seemed like time stood still for a minute then As the zephyrs swished in the sand around Until someone groaned aloud And the thin veneer of our gay camaraderie slipped away What could we say? I remember when I was young Each swift sure javelin flung Could take me right to the heart of the matter then But now I'm older I'm not so sure I've grown used to the pace of the war And the flesh that was muscle once has grown hard to squeeze Into breastplates and greaves In story now and song Scamander flows along Though the walls of the siegebound city have fallen down And though our arms are red with rust Still in a patient God we trust So for a cause long forgotten until Kingdom comes around We'll stand our ground

about

Some time after the Pastor Skull CD had sold out, the band decided to re-record it, live. The reasoning being that the songs were unavailable on CD now, and that people wanted them. No one in Blyth Power was enthusiastic about re-pressing the original, and re-mixing it was not only too expensive an option, but was also too much of a regression. The logical thing was to record the songs again, and by doing it live, utilising Richard Holgarth's excellent facilities at The Square in Harlow, the project would be affordable. 'It's not the same as the original,' moaned M.Higgins of Croydon. Correct. It's better. The recording is very much a live show - it's ridiculously fast, which is a shame, but that's what comes of having a rubbish drummer who can't count time. This recording, in its turn, has now sold out and been deleted. Looks like we'll have to record it all again.

credits

released September 19, 1996

Songs by Joseph Porter
Arranged by Blyth Power

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Blyth Power UK

Since 1984 Blyth Power have been playing and recording original music, which although regarded by many as fitting into the folk rock catergory goes so much further. Based around the lyrics of songwriter Joseph Porter, the band's sound is unique, and there is an atmosphere to Blyth Power that adds a depth to the music, and makes them more than just another pop group. ... more

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