Love Is A Voyage

I am a sailor and you're my first mate
We signed on together, we coupled our fate
We hauled up our anchor determined not to fail
For the heart's treasure together we set sail
Withnomaps to guide us we steered our own course
We rode out the storms when the winds were gale force
We sat out the doldrums in patience and hope
Working together we learned how to cope

Life is an ocean, love is a boat
In troubled waters it keeps us afloat
When we started the voyage
There was just me and you
Now gathered around us we have our own crew

Together we're in this relationship
We've built it with care to last the whole trip
Our true destination is not marked on any chart
We're navigating for the shores of the heart

Life is an ocean, love is a boat
In troubled waters it keeps us afloat
When we started the voyage
There was just me and you
Now gathered around us we have our own crew

Life is an ocean, love is a boat
In troubled waters it keeps us afloat
When we started the voyage
There was just me and you
Now gathered around us we have our own crew

Oh rowan tree, oh rowan tree
Thou'lt aya be dear to thee
Entwined thou art wi' many ties
O'hame and infancy
Thy leaves were aye the first of spring
Thy flowers the summer's pride
There was nae sic a bonnie tree
In a' the country side
Oh rowan tree

How fair was thou in summer time
Wi' a'thy clusters white
How rich and gay thy autumn dress,
Wi' berries red and bright!
On thy fair stem were mony names
Which now nae mair i see
But they're engraven on my heart,
Forget they ne'er can be
Oh rowan tree

We sat aneath thy spreadin' shade
The bairnies round thee ran
They pu'd they bonnie berries red,
And necklaces they strang
My mither, oh! i see her still,
She smil'd our sports to see
Wi' little jeannie on her lap,
And jamie on her knee
Oh rowan tree

Oh there arose my father's pray'r
In holy ev'ning's calm
How sweet was them my mother's voice,
In the martyrs' psalm
Now a'are gane!
We meet nae mair aneath the rowan tree
But hallow'd thoughts around thee twine
O'hame and infancy
Oh rowan tree

We had an apartment in the city
Me and loretta liked living there
Well it's been years since the kid's have grown
A life of their own and left us alone

John and linda lived in omaha
And joe is somewhere on the road
And we lost davey in the korean war
And i still don't know what for
Don't matter anymore

(chorus)
You know that old trees just grow stronger
And old rivers grow wider everyday
And old people just grow lonesome
Waiting for someone to say
Hello in there hello

Me and loretta we don't talk much more
She sits and stares
Through the backdoor screen
And all the news just repeats itself
Like some forgotten dream
That we'd both seen

Someday i'll go and call up rudy
We worked together
At a factory
But what do i sya?
If he asks what's new?
Nothing what's with you?
Nothing much to do

(chorus)

If you're out walking
Down the streets of town
And spot some hollow ancient eyes
Well please just don't
Pass them by and stare
As if you didn't care
Say hello in there hello

(chorus)

You could shoot off a cannon
Down the middle of bond
And attract no attention in downtown st. john's
This getting nowhere is getting to me
Wondering where can you go
To be all you can be

No regular joe wants to pull up and go
And wind up homesick
Where there's no one you know
Just a smoke and a beer
And the sports on tv
Being sorry you left
With no choice but to leave

(chorus)
No change in the weather
No change in me
I don't want to leave
But i can't live for free
Can't eat the air, can't drink the sea
No change in the weather
No change in me

You could shoot off a cannon
From the top of long's hill
And a gulliver's taxi might be all that you'd kill
We were promised the sun
And the moon and the stars
We got weathered old clapboard and salt-rusted cars

So i'll join in the leaving like all of the rest
Montreal, calgary, vancouver west
Lay down on the sidewalk
Kick off and die
And watch people not looking
As they hurry by

(chorus)

(chorus)
Sonny don't go away, i am here all alone
And your daddy's a sailor who never comes home
And the nights get so long and the silence goes on
And i'm feelin' so tired, i'm not all that strong

Sonny lives on a farm, on a wide open space
Where you can take off your sneakers
And give up the race
And you can lay down your head
By a sweet river bed
But sonny always remembers
What it was his mama said

(chorus)
Sonny carries a load, though he's barely a man
There ain't all that to do, still he does what he can
And he watches the sea from a room by the stairs
And the waves keep on rollin'
They've done that for years

(chorus)

It's a hundred miles to town,
Sonny's never been there
And he goes to the highway
And stands there and stares
And the mail comes at four,
And the mailman is old
Oh but still dreams his dreams
Full of silver and gold

Sonny's dreams can't be real,
They're just storieshe's read
They're just stars in his eyes,
They're just dreams in his head
And he's hungry inside for that wide world outside
And i know i can't hold him though i've tried, and
I've tried, and i've tried

(chorus)

Time and time again i am asked the same questions:
"john where did you study?"
"are you professionally trained?"
"is it difficult to stay in voice?"

I come by my voice by virtue of my birth. i can honestly say, with great pride, that i have inherited my dear father's voice. "the last rose of sumer", the last track on this album, is
A tape recording of my dad, made in the cabin bar in glasgow, scotland on august 31, 1957.

--john mcdermott

I wandered today to the hills maggie
To watch the scene below
The creek and the creaking old mill maggie
Where we used to long long ago

The green growth is gone from the hills maggie
Where first the daisise spring
The creaking old mill is still maggie
Since you and i were young

Oh they say that i'm feeble with age maggie
My steps are much slower than then
My face is a well written page maggie
And time all along was the pen

Oh they say we have outlived our time maggie
As dated as songs that we've sung
But to me, you're as fair as you were maggie
When you and i were young

Oh they say we have outlived our time maggie
As dated as songs that we've sung
But to me, you're as fair as you were maggie
When you and i were young
When you and i were young

Here, making each day of the year
Changing my life with a wave of her hand
Nobody can deny that there's something there
There running my hands through her hair
Both of us thinking how good it can be
Someone is speaking but she doesn't know he's there

I want here everywhere
And if she's beside me i know i need never care
But to love her is to need her

Everywhere, knowing that love is to share
Each one believing that love never dies
Watching her eyes and hoping i'm always there

I will be there and everywhere
Here there and everywhere
I will be there and everywhere
Here there and everywhere

I don't have to look any further
Like i always used to do
No searching for some other unknown mystic lover
Now i've found the perfect friend in you
There are those i've known for a lifetime
Others, they're brand new
They come through lucky chance,
Some from brief romances
They'd all love to have a friend like you

But you took me by suprise
I wasn't ready for you
Something flashed before my eyes
Suddenly i adored you, adored you

I was never terminal lonely
From my sheltered point of view
My life was kind of simple, i hadn't built a temple
Dedicated to a friend like you

On the way from cradle to tombstone
There may be a lucky few
Who sail through life untroubled,
Floating on the bubbles
In the wake of special friends like you

When you took me by surprise
I couldn't help but allow
One day vague, the next day wise
To love you beyond tomorrow, tomorrow

You took me by surprise
I wasn't thinking of you
Suddenly realized
How much i really loved you, i love you

Now i don't need to look any further
Like i always used to do
No searching for some unknown mystic lover
Now i've found the perfect friend in you
Now i've found the perfect friend in you
Oh my perfect friend how i love you