Walking in the Lea of Time

A collection of 12 songs inspired by stories told by residents of Lady Walk Home, and Harbour Lea sheltered housing in Anstruther.

1 Like a Storm
Andy Shanks
He stands alone like there’s something missing
A lonely figure with an orange net
Feels the nylon and the twine black and heavy
He turns to see but he’s not ready yet.

Take your time for the world’s coming at you like as storm

He’s seen a war and the whole world burning
Seen the bombers owre the Isle o’ May
Felt the thunder as the earth is churning
Faced the morning of another day.

Take your time for the world’s coming at you like a storm

Every year there’s one less neighbor
The world’s no better on the TV screen.
You’d think the fighting would have stopped for ever
We fought a war, what did it mean.

Take your time for the world’s coming at you like a storm.

You’ve got life in your hands
Life’s in your hands
Life’s in your hands.
Take your time or they’ll snatch it away.

So tell me truly was this life worth living
You loved and lost and you made your way?
He tells me son there’s much that’s changing
But I still see bombers owre the Isle O’ May.

So take your time for the world’s coming at you like a storm.

Kinneuchar wi its curlin loch
Carnbee and Arncroach
Balcomie whar the gowfers play
Lookin ower the Firth of Tay
Kilrennie wi its couthie farms
Dunino, Boarhills and Kingsbarns
There's nae place at aw
Like the East Neuk o Fife

Chorus



2 Black and Yellow of the Oilskins
Gifford Lind
Black and Yellow of the oilskins
Rainbow marks for the fleece
Tar for the buoys and the fishing boat hold
From the cold White Russian seas

Look at the sea and the sky and the land
And the colourful plants in the ground
Yet yellow and black on a fisherman’s back
Were the only colours found

Chorus
And the moon shines bright on the Firth of Forth
And the May light blinks on the sea
And the colourful world of a chemical man
Shines like a colourful dream

What makes a colour
It’s a chemistry nobody knows
In the colourful mind of a chemical man
A vision of colour still glows/grows

His artist son paints the colours of life
The other’s a chemical loon
Workin the mines o the cold far North
And the rocks brought doon fae the moon

Chorus

Tom now paints on a clean white sheet
Wi colours bright and bold
A love of his life that’s taken him far
A story that had to be told

And Tom can sit by his own fireside,
And gaze at the wall in his room
At the colours found by his chemical son
On a mineral rock from the moon

Chorus x 2

3 Holy City
Andy Shanks


Winter tide in the Holy City
A full moon rising on a brimming sea
Brings this sinner to the lights of Ainster
Wi’ half filled boxes in a storm’s dark lea.

Singing come on down to the Holy City
Come on down to the holy sea
Come on down to the Holy City
See God come dancing down the streets to me….

The east pier’s sharp as ice this morning
Women glance at the luckless sea.
If God’s a fisher his nets are heavy
For ne’re a fish he’s left for me.

Come on down to the Holy City
Come on down to the …

Sunday night the water’s screaming
The wind tears shreds from the glowering sky.
I first saw Lisa wi' her bible walking
Up Pitskerrie wi' a glittering eye.

She sings come to me you hopeless sinner
Come to me frae the ragging sea.
I’ll mesh your nets wi' God’s own needle
Come fish for souls in the kirk wi’’' me.

Shore Sat. kirk wi’ its stain glass windaes
|Where the hymns come pounding down like the sea
I’m watching Lisa bible singing
Save me Jesus she’s set me free

This little light of mine I’m going to let it shine …

I sailed fro Yarmouth at break of morning
Nets well set for an early start
Wind still singing in the wheel house awning
Of the Holy City and Lisa’s heart.

4 The Sunday Walk
Gifford Lind

Climb up the hill tae Abercrombie
Round tae see the Colinsburgh lads
Kinneuchar maybe doon tae Earlsferry
Then it's hame tae St Monans an yer dad

Chorus
Off off off on the Sunday walk
It’s a fine fine day, had enough o talk
And we sing,sing sing as we walk walk walk
The hymns we sang at church in the morning

Jesus loves me this I know
Cause the bible tells me so
Little Christian souls are we
Fae St Monans by the sea

Yes Jesus loves me
Yes Jesus loves me
Yes Jesus loves me
The bible tells me so

We sing sing sing as we’re walkin
The hymns we sang at church in the morn
The Lads and The Lassies walk thegether
And lads meet wi lassies in the corn

Chorus

Onward Christian Soldiers
Marching as to war
Young folk o St Monans
Marching on before

Out tae meet the locals
See whit they are like
If they dinnae like us here
We’ll just take a hike

Climbing up the hill tae Abercrombie
Round tae see the Colinsburgh lads
Kinneuchar maybe doon tae Earlsferry
Then it's hame tae St Monans an yer dad

Chorus
Will your anchor hold in the storms of life,
When the clouds unfold their wings of strife?
When the strong tides lift, and the cables strain,
Will your anchor drift or firm remain?

We have an anchor that keeps the soul
Steadfast and sure while the billows roll;
Fastened to the rock which cannot move,
Grounded firm and deep in the Saviours love.

5 A Dyker’s Compliments To Her Neebors
Scott Murray Publ GRIAN Publishing

Keep yer ain fish guts tae yer ain sea maws
Ainster daws, tattie shaws
Keep yer ain fish guts tae yer ain sea maws
Lyin amang the deid craws

An wha's acht you ma bonnie lass
That moved here in the simmer
Ah kent yer faither at the scale
A torn-ersed Pittenweemer

Ye lookin at me, ye Ainster daw
Ah'll cowp ye in a dub sir
An wha cried ye a partan face
An ye sae like a lobster

What's that ye're sayin, ah canna tell
Ye styupit shilpit moaner
Ye're no frae here, ah'm shair o that
Ye're a St. Minnens droner

Ye can keep yer Crail, yer Pittemweem
Yer Ainster and St Minnens
Daft dykers what ye ca us aa
Awa back hame, guid riddence

6 Build Me a Boat
Andy Shanks

Build me a boat that will sail the sea
Like a charm on a tinker’s lips.
Build me a boat that will sail the sea
Like a gannet clears the cliffs.

As the waves come rushing in
And the compass needle spins
Build me a boat.

Build me a sky that will light my day
Like the glint in a lover’s eye.
Build me a sky that will light my day
Like the spray on a darkened wave

When tomorrow’s hard to see
And the darkness crowds on me
Build me a boat.

Build me a road that will take me home
When I’m lost in a strange country
Build me a road that will take me home
The harbour lights to see

When the charts we need are gone
And the distances seem long
Build me a road

The sea and the sky and the road back home
The sea and the sky and the road back home
The sea and the sky and the road back home

7 Guiding Light, Evening Star
Scott Murray


Chorus:
Guiding Light and the Evening Star
Spes Malore and the Anster Belle
Nae boats noo doon at the harbour
But aye, Ah mind on them weel

In darkness ye'd look ower the Forth
Tae see the boats by their lichts
Awa tae the east o the May
Like a toon lit up in the nicht

An ye kent the sabbath was endin
When ye heard the buits o the men
Cam doon the wynd tae the harbour
- Time for the fishin again

Ye thocht on the man who was lost
Ta'en frae his boat by a wave
Pit back on deck by anither
We thanked the Lord he was saved

There's nae drifter noo, nae trawlers
Ye're nearer tae Dogger at Shields
They've telt me a the guid reasons
It's tae dae wi siller an yields

8 The Coal Dust Still Moves in the Sand
Gifford Lind

Walkin In the East Neuk o Fife
Lookin out for the spires o the toun
And the tiles of red brought in by the sea
Where crabs and prawns live with fishermen's bones
While the stones of the past wear away
Washed into sea
And the coal dust still moves in the sand
And the coal dust still moves in the sand

Where holy men lived in the caves
And churches and martyrs burned
Where Beaton first sailed to Mary's right hand
Where fights were fought and the ruins still stand
And the great wise men of old
That ran the land
Were left out in the cold
Were left out in the cold

I see in a moment that time has moved on
And summer's been put to the plough
And I stand in a land of forgotten dreams
And wonder where can it go now
And wonder where can it go now

Where the haar o the sea meets the land
Lookin out to the Bass and the May
Where the black boats once drifted with fish in the hold
A haven for oil skinned men of old
And fiery volcanoes once roared
Long before there was man
And the coal dust still moves in the sand
And the coal dust still moves in the sand

9 Mary Walks
Andy Shanks
Mary walks to see the mountains
Far away and west of here
Remembers days of horse and harness
The sound of early morning gear.

Out amang the stoor and clatter
Swinging lamps out to the byre
Singing songs to sooth the cattle
Smoke drifts up from early fires.

As Mary walks and Mary sings
And Mary walks and Mary sings…
Of home

Heavy horses spark the cobbles
Breathing mist into the air
Mary fills the byre with laughter
As the dew falls on her hair.

Doing what her mother told her
She swings her lamp out from the byre
Its aye the outsides keep the insides
We’re spinning gold from dub and mire.

Sitting here in far Bonerbo
Watching boats out on the bay
She minds o’ horse and kye and clatter
As the clouds drift owre the Isle o’ May

10 Raised on the Land for a life by the sea
Gifford Lind

Mary moved fae Fife tae a farm at Logiealmond
Walked tae school at Tibbermore many miles away
Following the paths o the men and the horses
Gazing at the bens in the bright light o May.

Then back tae Langraw up the hill fae Cairnsmill
By Mount Melville on the East Coast line
Walkin tae Madras in the mornin after milkin
First in the family tae drive tae the toun

Chorus
A life on the land looking out tae the water
Wild were the East winds that roared in her e’e
The sea maws, the salt and the haar in the morning
Raised on the land for a life by the sea

Jock o Benerbo went racing round the country
He owned the only motor in the East Neuk o Fife
Daft Jock they called him, his stories went before him
Folk that heard him comin wid just run for their life

Mary met Jock and the two started courtin
Soon they were married at the Cameron Kirk
Stood wi the guests in a tent at Benerbo
Lookin at the lights o the boats in the dark

Chorus

Mary went wi Jock all o’er the country
Travelled all around on the red roads o Fife
Looked out wi joy when the black wheels were turning
A run in the car was the joy o her life

And Mary still dreams o the hills in the distance
We all have a notion o where we’d like tae be
Life is a road that turns and twists before us
Raised on the land for a life by the sea

Mary loved the land, the sea wasnae for her
A sail in a boat had her hurlin oer the side
A child o the land, born tae the farming
Living by the sea was the life that she found

Chorus
11 An Anster Minister’s Dilemma
Gifford Lind

One day in the Winter in Anster Toun
The bairns were aw let aff the school
There was fish for the taking aw roon the bay
Fae the Dreel tae the Cellardyke pool

And folk were aw

Chorus
Wadin in wi their baskets
Sccopin them oot by the creel
And the men in the boats wi their nets and their floats
Were pulling the herring in

The minister gazed at this bountiful catch
Said a prayer and then Michty me!
If I had a boat I could catch me a creel
O herring tae hae for my tea

But I’ll no go

Chorus

So he asked if a boat could be found for him
Tae sail out and catch him a few
Nae chance said the Auld yins aw gathered around
Ye’ll just have tae hae ye a pew

Or you can go
Chorus

Then an auld man remembered an auld auld book
About fishin folk goin tae fish men
Yon Peter and Simon, they gied up their boat
See them, they might gie ye a len

And folk were aw
Chorus

12 Lucky Fish
Andy Shanks

Sleep well my lass
The night’s soon passing
The daylight’s never far behind
Beneath the sea the shoals o’ herring
Lie fathoms deep beneath the wave.

At every crack o’ day they’re rising
One catches crimson frae the dawn
One lucky fish with red scales flaming
Swims wi the rest beneath the storm.

And a’ its brothers cool and silver
Swim tight and close its light to see.
So wish me heavy nets and crimson
And I’ll bring the red fish back for ye.