New Lyric – The Dreaming

I first went to Australia in 2009 just before the launch of Tales from the Crow Man. I went to play music at a concert/festival called The Druids Dreaming near Adelaide and I fell in love with the country immediately. I’ve been back twice since to tour with Spiral Dance and each time I have brought a little more of Australia home in my heart (or maybe I’ve left a little bit of me in the land). Australia is alive and infectious. The Spirit of the Land and the people get under your skin. The history and spirit of the native stories still sing from the land, from The Dreaming.

The seed for this song was planted back in 2009, when I saw my first Roo, when I met Old Gum Tree, and walked in the warm waters of the ocean. The shoots and leaves unfurled on my next two visits when I learned more of the land and its stories, and now the flower has taken full bloom.

So this song is dedicated to all of my Australian friends, to that glorious land, to anyone who has been there and knows what I’m singing about, and to anyone who dreams of the long trek down under.

The Dreaming – Damh the Bard

Verse 1:

Welcome now a visitor to your shore,

Following a dream I can’t ignore,

From a distant land you may never know,

Of sun and rain and snow.

Here where the endless skies reach for the sun,

The Gum trees stand like the Oaks of Albion,

And the land sings in lines of ancient song,

For the soul to sing along.

Chorus:

And the Southern Cross shines down on where I stand,

And I hear the voices from the Singing Land.

Verse 2:

Here where the land still is king,

Beneath red sand the Ancestors are dreaming,

And a Mother knows which song will be sung,

When a new life has begun.

A serpent made a path across the land,

Formed the rivers and mountains where they stand,

These songs are in the kookaburra’s call,

But she’s laughing at us all.

Chorus:

And the Southern Cross shines down on where I stand,

And I hear the voices from the Singing Land.

Bridge:

Oh I can feel you dreaming,

Oh I can feel you dreaming,

Oh I can feel you dreaming, Oh.

Verse 3:

Familiar stars now shine from up above,

I’ve returned to the land that I love,

But my heart must try to understand,

It’s now shared by another land.

Beneath the Plough I look to the setting sun,

As I stand once more on the land of Albion,

But the Southern Cross will guide me to your shore,

To hear you sing once more.

Chorus:

And the Southern Cross will shine down on where I stand,

And I’ll hear the voices from the Singing Land.

Oh, can you feel me dreaming?

Oh, can you feel me dreaming?

Oh, can you feel me dreaming, oh.

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Some videos of my Australian concerts

From the Druid’s Dreaming

From The Singing Gallery with Spiral Dance

Pipes of Pan from The Singing Gallery

Wild Mountain Thyme from The Singing Gallery

The Ransom Video, but I escaped…

Spiral Dancing at the Singing Gallery

About a year ago I was contacted by an Australian Pagan folk band called Spiral Dance who wanted to cover my song Spirit of Albion. I was very touched that they’d even asked and of course said yes and asked if they’d send me a copy if they ever recorded it. A year later I’m near Adelaide in Mclaren Vale at a venue called the Singing Gallery, a converted church, playing at a concert organised by the band.

We arrived at 5pm ready for a soundcheck and the band were there setting up. I love playing in churches – the acoustics are always amazing. The owners had done a really great job converting it into a music venue. The place was set out with reserved tables where people were going to bring along their picnics and bottles of wine (the venue charged a ‘corkage fee’ but you could bring all your own booze and food).

Spiral Dance are a great band. They remind me of early Steeleye Span. During the

soundcheck they played some of their version of Spirit of Albion so I could hear it. The idea was that I join them onstage during their set when they played it.

People started to arrive around 7.30 and the place was packed and buzzing by 8 when I was due to take the stage. I’ve noticed at each of the gigs I’ve played here that, before anything else happens, there is an aknowledgement that this concert is taking place on the land of the original tribal peoples of Australia – a small but heartfelt ancestral honouring. Adrienne then took the stage to introduce me. I was a little bit nervous to be honest, but I needn’t have been. We were all together from the opening chord of Song of Awen. The band’s sound engineer was great and there was a fabulous sound front stage. I noticed a few people videoing the gig so I hope they’ll end up on

YouTube sometime (there are a few there already!). The balance of the sound on stage was perfect and I could also hear the audience singing along over the sound of my guitar and voice. I played for an hour, mostly songs from my first four albums (it’s getting harder and harder to play for an hour and still fit in all of the songs I want to play!) but ended the set with Wild Mountain Thyme from Tales from the Crow Man which even here everyone seemed to know. The standing ovation at the end of the concert was wonderful – another wonderful evening with lovely people!

After a short break Spiral Dance took the stage. They are a great live band with a lot of energy – they are like an Aussie The Dolmen but more folky. They did a great version of Span’s classic Bedlam Boys and two of the

band even burst through the doors backstage and did some Morris Dancing! Great stuff. Adrienne then told the story of how she’d first heard Spirit of Albion whilst at a Pagan festival in the USA. She asked the people who had been playing it who wrote the song and then found me through the Internet, posting me that first email. It was amazing to join them on stage to play the song (this is one of the vids on YouTube). They have added a very different rhythm to it and then have a ‘diddly’ folk burst halfway through. I loved singing with them.

At the end of their set I was invited up onstage again to singing The Burning Times with them. It’s not a song I usually like but they’d done some very spiritual work on the arrangement and the audience did a spiral dance and ended in a beautiful oval of people. Man it’s so good to be a part if this global Pagan community!

After Spiral Dance’s set I was invited to play a few more tunes. So as they’d already been dancing I thought I’d keep that vibe going with Lughnasadh, Lughnasadh Dance and Hal an Tow. Much hugging and chat followed until gradually people began to wend their way back home. Me? Well, I was buzzing and to be honest everytime I think of that concert I still am!