XII Taboos

My first album project, after strong encouragement from Highland Festival, especially Jim Hunter.  I had served a vital apprenticeship lead-singing with Wounded Knee.  Bobby Macdonald, Roger Niven and Iain Clark had road-tested many of the songs.  I owe Wounded Knee so much for teaching me how to produce, arrange and deliver rock songs.  Looking back, it feels as if two years of my life was spent studying the works of Steely Dan, The Doobie Brothers and Sting, under the watchful eyes of Macdonald, Niven and Clark.  After Wounded Knee, everything seemed to fall into place so quickly.  Next thing I knew I was in Watercolour Music’s studio with Nick Turner.  Jamie Ash, Graham Flett, Andy Murray, Andy Thorburn and Jim Hunter (on Jamestown) all helped me on my way.  Heather MacLeod and Shona Arthur also sang with Fraser Fifield on sax.  Craig Mackay developed the visual concepts and imagery around XII Taboos, all rooted in the mysticism and fragility of the butterfly.

Album Lyrics

DOUNREAY

The sun has risen over Alba
The virgin soil stirs from sleep
The Calvinist and crofter shepherd
Their aimless starving heartless sheep
On yonder Ben there stands a statue
A soulless stone that carves the path of fate
And in his hand he holds a Bible
The rod of wrath; the rod of hate

One day I’ll watch my children dying
I’ll turn my back to hide my crying
I should have stopped these people lying
Dounreay has blown us into heaven

Across the moor the wind has carried
The dust of death through the decades
From Sellar, Westminster to Dounreay
The Highland flame begins to fade
As Ossian sits and sketches scriptures
The church begins to waste away
For even Mary was a virgin
But there is always one Dounreay

One day I’ll watch my children dying
I’ll turn my back to hide my crying
I should have stopped these people lying
Dounreay has blown us into heaven

 

SAVANNAH

Savannah – please hold my hands
And help me understand
Why your eyes are emeralds
In a red, red Highland sky
Tears falling from the clouds so high
I see miracles in your eyes
And when you smile I feel incredible

I can’t sleep tonight
Thinking about you lying by my side
Your love comes pouring in like morning light
That’s why I want you
Savannah

I call your name
I hear the echoes of a run-away train
Love is just a game
Of throwing dice for your emeralds
In a red, red sky
I say I want you and you start to cry
A tapestry of tears fall from your eyes
And when you kiss me I feel incredible

See the miracles in your eyes
Tears falling fro the clouds so high
In a red, red sky you kiss me
And I feel so incredible

I can’t sleep tonight
Thinking about you lying by my side
Your love comes pouring in like morning light
That’s why I want you
Savannah

 

THE JOKE IS ON ME

I need your love
I’m waiting for your call
Please call tonight
Any time at all
I’ve got your photograph
Pinned on my wall
Need your love
Starting to fall

Is this how it feels
To ride on the wind
You’re coming to save me
Because I have sinned
Washing the blood from my fingers
Hey! You’re crucifying me
That’s why I’m sad
Because the joke is on me

Does he love you
The way I do
Is he gentle
When he touches you
Will he kiss you
When you’ve got the blues
Can he feel your love
Like I’m beginning to

Dreamt last night
She made me fly
Dreamy your love
And her golden eyes
That’s why I’m sad

 

THE JELLICOE EXPRESS

Always the same waiting for the train
To whistle twice coming round the bend
Never again will I let you die
Or slip away into the sands of time

I’m waiting for the Jellicoe Express

10.55; I heard the victory cry
Mama’s alone because my dad has died
The bravest man you set your eyes upon
But now he’s gone into a foreign land

I’m waiting for the Jellicoe Express

Whiter than white gravestones and poppies bright
All is quiet on a silent night
Never again waiting for the train
To whistle twice coming round the bend

I’m waiting for the Jellicoe Express

 

PRECIOUS ONE

You are my river always rushing by
I’m your ocean vanish in my tide
Standing stones whispering the time
Seams of gold trapped inside my mind

What can I do
Because I am so in love with you
My Precious One

You are my island, my Northern Lights
Aurora Borealis on frosty nights
I am tragedy, merciless and might
You the calmest wind, seahorses so white

What can I do
Because I am so in love with you
My Precious One

Precious to me
I’ll set you free
And you could be my Precious One

I am the hero, you’re my golden sand
Touch your Caledonia , I become a man
You unleashing, eye me as I stand
I press my self against your sacred land

What can I do
Because I am so in love with you
My Precious One

I am the eagle souring in the sky
You’re my Cailleach Oidhche as you fly
Spirit woman, Spiritus Mundii
I will love you until the day I die

Precious to me
I’ll set you free
And you could be my Precious One

What can I do
Because I am so in love with you
My Precious One

 

SO HAPPY

So this is what it means
To be out of my head
In love with you
Catching the moon and stars
Making love in the back of your car
On Brahan Seer Boulevard

I’m so high up in the sky
Don’t need drugs
I’ve got drugs

I heard the wise man say
That you were out of your head
In love with me
High and free on the ecstasy
Of love in the back of your car
On Brahan Seer Boulevard

I’m so high up in the sky
Don’t need drugs
I’ve got drugs

Time for living
Time for dying
Ain’t no time for your cry, cry, crying
Get down on your knees
And ask me why
Say ‘wo baby’
Time for love
Time for hate
Go swing on heaven’s gate
Get down on your knees
And ask me why
Say ‘wo baby’

 

JAMESTOWN

You live in the city
I live in the wilds
Separated by a million miles
I’m waiting for you to come
I wish I was in Jamestown

Lying by your side
Waltzing round the waters
With the guitars playing all night
I’m waiting for you to come
I wish I was in Jamestown
Lying by your side
I wish I was in Jamestown

Magical the moment
Intimate the night
Banjos, fiddles and the old guitars
Kissing in the pale moonlight
I wish I was in Jamestown
Lying by your side

Where’s my family and friends
I’m on the road again
Why did the party have to end
I’m waiting for you to come
I wish I was in Jamestown
Lying by your side

 

IMPOSSIBLE DREAMS

Holy Man secures the creel
From the rivers of tears
You tried to conceal
Find the stone and carve in my name
All God’s lobsters going insane
To you it may seem I’m chasing
Impossible Dreams

Lobster man: guess what I see
A boy who followed the man
He’s born to be
Within lies the blood
The heart and the soul
To you it may seem he’s out of control
But I’m that boy who’s chasing
Impossible Dreams

Finding the oceans
Finding the trees
Finding the land of the free
Finding the Gael
Finding the sea
Finding what it means to be living
Impossible Dreams

Gabriel angel of hope
Mends the fiery cross that apathy broke
Take my hand, let’s kneel down and pray
That freedom will come
At the end of the day
That’s why I’ll always be chasing
Impossible Dreams

 

DAVY’S SONG

She’s sitting by the fire
Singing Wild Mountain Thyme
Bringing back the memories
You’re always on my mind
When you sang this song for me
When you said you’d marry me
This is where I’ll always be
In memories

It’s raining there’s a gale a-blowing
I hear your voice tonight
I feel you sitting beside me
And singing of the mountain thyme
I close my eyes and think of you
There’s nothing else to do
I live and breathe for you
And you carry me

When you sing this song for me
We kiss so heavenly
Living without you
Will be a memory

She singing and I am crying
She sang this song for you
I know that when I die I’ll travel
To the Corrie Shalloch with you
When you sang this song for me
We kissed so heavenly
Now living without you
Is a memory

 

CALLING OUT YOUR NAME

When I come home will you be there
Standing on the stairs
Will you reach out your hand
And call me up
Or turn away
My love

I’m calling out your name
A thousand times

When I believe
Will you know
To follow
Where I go
Will you take off your clothes
And let me touch
Or turn away
My love

I’m calling out your name
A thousand times

When you’re not here
You’re always on my mind
This is not heaven
This must be hell
That’s why I’m calling out your name
A thousand times

When I’m dying
Will you be there
Crying
Or will you care
Will you pray for my soul
To God above
Or turn away
My love

I’m calling out your name
A thousand times

 

DENQULI

My name is DenQuli
And I am sad
They took away my pride
And all the dreams I ever head
My home is simplicity
Made of bars
It’s the spaces between
That leave all these burning scars

I can fly
Over the sea
Because I am free

I am a free bird
I fly in the sky
Flying above me
When I pray to God
And close my eyes
My dream is eternal
That I will die
Praying to God
With a purple smile
And a middle eye

I can fly
Over the sea
Because I am free