The Bergen
(Jez Lowe)
Sleep, why'd you wake me with these dreams you bring
Dreams came to me where I lay,
And deep the melody the wild waves sing,
And my love is far, far away.
Chorus: Oh, pity the hearts the wild waves part,
My love sails the bonny barque, The Bergen.
They heap their nets upon the decks by light
Dreams came to me, etc
And creep out gently at the dead of night
And my love is far, etc.
They reap the harvest of the cold, night sea
It leaps with herring 'neath his decks for me.
Steep waves rise above his cold, dark head,
Oh, keep him safe to lie here in my bed.
It weeps with rain tonight where my love lies
It sweeps the foreign sands from out his eyes.
note: This song was written by Jez Lowe; he said that he saw a
graveyard on the coast of Scotland or Northern England
where the local people had buried the bodies of a Norwegian
fishing boat that had gone down offshore in a storm. They
didn't know the crewmen's names, so they put the name of the
ship, The Bergen, on the grave markers. Jez Lowe wrote the
song from the point of view of a wife or sweetheart left
at home wondering what happened to her loved one. I'm
typing the lyrics from memory, so they may be a bit
folk-processed...MLaM
MLaM
OCT98
Thanks to Mudcat for the Digital Tradition!