Northern Lights - Southern Cross

The Band ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Album: Northern Lights - Southern Cross ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tracks 1. Forbidden Fruit 2. Hobo Jungle 3. Ophelia  (166K) 4. Acadian Driftwood 5. Ring Your Bell 6. It Makes No Difference 7. Jupiter Hollow 8. Rags And Bones 9.* Twilight 10.* Christmas Must Be Tonight ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Track 1.Forbidden Fruit ----------------------------------------------------------------------------   High and lonesome out on Times Square    Haven’t got a dime ain’t got a prayer    Deliver us Lord from this golden calf    People only want what they cannot have              D#o7    Forbidden fruit    That’s the fruit that you’d better not taste       A            D#o7    Forbidden fruit    You’ve got one life that you’d better not waste       How can I walk with this ball and chain?    How can I land in this hurricane?    Or is this part of man’s evolution    To be torn between truth and illusion?              D#o7    Forbidden fruit    That’s the route that you’d better not take      A             D#o7    Forbidden fruit    Just watch out for the sign of the snake  Little brother got caught in the web  He ran off to join the living dead  Been through the mill seen the cross on the hill  He sold his soul just for a thrill  Forbidden fruit  In hot pursuit out on a limb  Forbidden fruit  Your whole world is closing in  You got the picture but missed the drift  About me workin’ the graveyard shift  I never went in for no burglary   But there’s a stranger inside of me  Forbidden fruit  Don’t you shoot the whole works away  Forbidden fruit  It’s too high of a price to pay  How can you hear with a bad connection? You can’t see when there’s no reception Keep your distance don’t fool with taboo  ’Cause it’ll overtake and undertake you  Forbidden fruit  That’s the fruit that you’d better not taste  Forbidden fruit  You’ve got one life that you’d better not waste ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Track 2. Hobo Jungle ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- by J.R.Robertson. Album: Northern Lights - Southern Cross © 1975 1976 Medicine Hat Music ----------------------------------------------------------------------------     There was a chill that night in the hobo jungle     Over the train yard lay a smooth coat of frost     And although nobody here really knows where they’re goin’     At the very same time    nobody’s lost     Then the fire went out  and the night grew still                        This old man lay frozen     on the cold cold ground     He was a stray bird   and the road was his callin’     Ridin’ the rods     Sleepin’ under the stars     Playin’ the odds     from a rollin’ box car     She attended the fun’ral in the hobo jungle                            Long were they lovers     though never could they wed     Drifters and rounders       and distant friends     Here I lie without anger or regret     I’m in no one’s debt     Man goes nowhere     Ev’rything comes like tomorrow                                But she took that last ride           there by his side     He spent his whole life   pursuing the horizon     Ridin’ the rods     Sleepin’ under the stars     Playin’ the odds      from a rollin’ box car ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Track 3.Ophelia ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- by J.R.Robertson. Album: Northern Lights - Southern Cross © 1975 1976 Medicine Hat Music ----------------------------------------------------------------------------   Boards on the window   Mail by the door   What would anybody leave so quickly for?   Ophelia   Where have you gone?               The old neighborhood just ain’t the same   Nobody knows just what became of   Ophelia   Tell me what went wrong   Was it somethin’ that somebody said?   Mama I know we broke the rules   Was somebody up against the law?   Honey you know I’d die for you   Ashes of laughter   The ghost is clear   Why do the best things always disappear   Like Ophelia   Please darken my door              Was it somethin’ that somebody said? Honey you know we broke the rules Wu somebody up against the law? Honey you know I’d die for you They got your number                  Scared and runnin’               But I’m still waitin’ for the second comin’ Of Ophelia                           Come back home ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Track 4. Acadian Driftwood                          ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- by J.R. Robertson. Album: Northern Lights - Southern Cross © 1975 1976 Medicine Hat Music        For more about this song see Peter Viney’s article. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------    The war was over and the spirit was broken    The hills were smokin’ as the men withdrew    We stood on the cliffs    Oh and watched the ships    Slowly sinking to their rendezvous    They signed a treaty and our   homes were taken    Loved ones forsaken    They didn’t give a damn    Try’n’ to raise a family    End up the enemy    Over what went down on the plains of Abraham (*)   Acadian driftwood   Gypsy tail wind   They call my home   the land of snow   Canadian cold front    movin’ in   What a way to ride     Oh what a way   to   go  Then some returned to the motherland  The high command had them cast away   And some stayed on to finish what they started  They never parted  They’re just built that way  We had kin livin’ south of the border  They’re a little older and they’ve been around  They wrote a letter life is a whole lot better  So pull up your stakes children and come on down  Fifteen under zero when the day became a threat  My clothes were wet and I was drenched to the bone  Been out ice fishing too much repetition  Make a man wanna leave the only home he’s known  Sailing out of the gulf headin’ for Saint Pierre  Nothin’ to declare  All we had was gone  Broke down along the coast  But what hurt the most  When the people there said  "You better keep movin’ on"  Everlasting summer filled with ill-content  This government had us walkin’ in chains  This isn’t my turf  This ain’t my season  Can’t think of one good reason to remain  I’ve worked in the sugar fields up from New Orleans  It was ever green up until the floods  You could call it an omen  Points ya where you’re goin’  Set my compass north  I got winter in my blood Acadian driftwood                                   Gypsy tail wind  They call my home the land of snow Canadian cold front movin’ in                     What a way to ride      Ah what a way to go    Sais tu A-ca-di-e   j’ai le mal du pays    [You know Acadia I long for the country (I am homesick)]    Ta neige Acadie    fait des larmes au soleil    [Your snow Acadia makes tears in the sun (or for the sun)]    J’arrive Acadie   teedle um teedle um teedle ooh    [I am arriving Acadia (or I am coming Acadia)] (*): "The Plains of Abraham" refer to farm land owned by Abraham Martin just west of the Citadel in Quebec City and the site of the battle between the French and the English. is now a park (also overlooks the St.Lawrence) and is a wonderful place to visit if you get the chance.                      ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Track 5. Ring Your Bell ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- by J.R.Robertson. Album: Northern Lights - Southern Cross © 1975 1976 Medicine Hat Music ----------------------------------------------------------------------------       Ring your bell       Change your number       Run like hell       You can’t hide from thunder       Oh no       Ring your bell       Get in the wind       You and me gonna make some medicine       Run that rebel across the tracks      With the Mounties on his trail       He was taught:       Don’t get caught at the mercy of the man       Land in jail       Meet me madam on the high road       We gonna blow the man down      I’ve been totin’ a heavy load       And I’m rarin’ to clown       Mess around Ring your bell                                      Shake your tower  Pump your well Turn on your power                                  I’m gonna ring your bell Glide on in            You and me gonna make some medicine     Smoky bars and souped-up cars Where we drowned all sorrow    Renegade woman  Love me like there’s no tomorrow              Left to borrow  Bloodhounds comb the back streets  With the ramrod close behind Asphalt justice you gonna find   My ass across              That border line  Ring your bell   Sound the chime  Open up your shell  Get on the line  Come on ring your bell Gimme some skin You and me gonna make some medicine ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Track 6. It Makes No Difference ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- by J.R.Robertson. Album: Northern Lights - Southern Cross © 1975 1976 Medicine Hat Music ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- intro /  /   |         |        |    |      |    It makes no diff’rence where I turn    I can’t get over you and the flame still burns    It makes no diff’rence   night or day                  /                        The shadow never seems to fade away   And the sun           don’t shine          anymore                                                 And the rains                fall down on my door     Now there’s no love     As true as the love     That dies untold                                                              But the clouds            never hung so low                before It makes no diff’rence how far I go Like a scar         the hurt will always show It makes no diff’rence who I meet They’re just a face in the crowd On a dead-end street                                                    And the sun             don’t shine        anymore And the rains            fall down on my door              These old love letters Well I just can’t keep ’Cause like the gambler says Read ’em and weep                                                           And the dawn           don’t rescue me           no more    Without your love   I’m nothing at all    Like an empty hall  it’s a lonely fall    Since you’ve gone   it’s a losing battle    Stampeding cattle   They rattle the walls             And the sun              don’t shine     anymore                                              And the rains            fall down         on my door Well I love you so much It’s all I can do Just to keep myself from telling you                                           That I never             felt so alone        before |   |     |      /  |   |   |     |     /   |    |         |            |    |     |           |            |    |     |             |            |        |     |           |            |    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Track 7. Jupiter Hollow ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- by J.R.Robertson. Album: Northern Lights - Southern Cross © 1975 1976 Medicine Hat Music See Peter Viney’s article on "Jupiter Hollow" for more about this song. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------   Jupiter Hollow   Northern Lights   Cast a glow through the window late last night   I went to follow through the sycamore   When I found myself in a place   I’d never been before   There was a unicorn and a dragon queen   Beneath the burgundy sky   I saw an old soldier singin’ a love song   He had the distance in his eye   Livin’ in another world   Livin’ in another time   Like a comet I was hurled   Oh livin’ in another world  Jupiter Hollow  So far so near  Like a time machine take you out to a different year  Phoebus Apollo played on his lyre   While we danced to the music of the sphere  And as the moon went down and the sun came up  With the mercury risin’ too  ’Twas then the prophet said the secret of the dead   I’ll whisper it to you  Livin’ in another world  Livin’ in another time Like a comet I was hurled  Oh livin’ in another world  Jupiter Hollow  In the midnight sun  Well no man of dreams was ever more outdone  Where the swallows circle over head  And muses gather by the river of the tears we shed  Just like a pioneer in the new frontier  I don’t know where to begin  Because nobody cares when a man goes mad  And tries to free the ghost within  Livin’ in another world  Livin’ in another time  Like a comet I was hurled  Oh livin’ in another world ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Track 8.  Rags And Bones ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- by J.R.Robertson. Album: Northern Lights - Southern Cross © 1975 1976 Medicine Hat Music ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Catch a taxi to the fountainhead          C#sus4/G# Blinking neon penny arcade A young Caruso on the fire escape Painted face ladies on parade The newsboy on the corner C#sus4/G# Singing out headlines And a fiddler selling pencils The sign reads: Help the blind Comin’ up the lane callin’ Workin’ while the rain’s fallin’ Ragman your song of the street Dmaj7             E7sus4 Keeps haunting my memory Music in the air I hear it ev’rywhere Rags bones and old city songs  Dmaj7              E7sus4   A Hear them how they talk to me Trolley car rings out the morning Whistle blows at noon              A cat fight breaks open the night While watch dogs bay at the moon A preacher on an orange crate      With a Salvation Army Band And clicking along the cobbled stones That’s the sound of the ice-cream man                      Comin’ up the lane callin’        Workin’ while the rain’s fallin’   Ragman your song of the street   Keeps haunting my memory Music in the air                   I hear it ev’rywhere Rags bones and old city songs Hear them how they talk to me                             The organ grinder and his monkey Still walkin’ the same old beat    The shoe-shine boy slappin’ leather He puts the rhythm in your feet Strollin’ by the churchyard        List’nin’ to the Sunday choir With voices rising to the heavens Like sirens screaming to a fire                            Comin’ up to the lane callin’ Workin’ while the rain’s fallin’ Ragman your song of the street Keeps haunting my memory Music in the air I hear it ev’rywhere Rags bones and old city songs Play them one more time for me ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Track 9. * Twilight ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- by J.R.Robertson. Album: The Best of The Band © 1976 Medicine Hat Music ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Over by the wildwood Hot summer night We lay in the tall grass til the mornin’ light If I had my way I’d never get the urge to roam A young man serves his country and an old man guards the home Never gave a second thought       Never crossed my mind              What’s right and what’s not       I’m not the judgin’ kind I could take the darkness oh       Storms in the skies But we all got certain trials burnin’ up inside                                          Don’t send me no distant salutations or silly souvenirs from far away Don’t leave me alone in the twilight Twilight is the loneliest time a day Don’t put me in a frame upon the mantel ’Fore memories turn dusty old and grey Don’t leave me alone in the twilight Twilight is the loneliest time a day ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Track 10. * Christmas Must Be Tonight ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- by J.R.Robertson. Album: Islands © 1977 Medicine Hat Music See Peter Viney’s article for more about this song. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------        Come down to the manger see the little stranger Wrapped in swaddling clothes the prince of peace Wheels start turning torches start burning And the old wise men journey from the East CHORUS: How a little baby boy bring the people so much joy                  /                    Son of a carpenter       Mary carried the light This must be Christmas must be tonight A shepherd on a hillside while over my flock I bide Oh a cold winter night a band of angels sing     In a dream I heard a voice saying "fear not come rejoice It’s the end of the beginning praise the new born king" CHORUS                              I saw it with my own eyes written up in the skies But why a simple herdsmen such as I And then it came to pass he was born at last         Right below the star that shines on high CHORUS ----------------------------------------------------------------------------