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Loreena McKennitt

The Book Of Secrets

Track list:

Prologue
Mummers' Dance
Skellig
Marco Polo
Highwayman
Serenissima
Night Ride Across the Caucasus
Dante's Prayer

Genre:

New Age

CD released:

1997

Number of tracks:

Album length:

00:00 minutes

How I rate The Book Of Secrets (out of 5):

Have I seen a live performance by Loreena McKennitt?

The Book Of Secrets Lyrics

Prologue
The mummers' dance: When in the springtime of the year; When the trees are crowned with leaves; When the ash and oak, and the birch and yew; Are dressed in ribbons fair; When owls call the breathless moon; In the blue veil of the night; The shadows of the trees appear; Amidst the lantern light; chorus; We've been rambling all the night; And some time of this day; Now returning back again; We bring a garland gay; Who will go down to those shady groves; And summon the shadows there; And tie a ribbon on those sheltering arms; In the springtime of the year; The songs of birds seem to fill the wood; That when the fiddler plays; All their voices can be heard; Long past their woodland days; chorus; And so they linked their hands and danced; Round in circles and in rows; And so the journey of the night descends; When all the shades are gone; "A garland gay we bring you here; And at your door we stand; It is a sprout well budded out; The work of our Lord's hand"; Chorus (2x)
Skellig: O light the candle, John; The daylight has almost gone; The birds have sung their last; The bells call all to mass; Sit here by my side; For the night is very long; There's something I must tell; Before I pass along; I joined the brotherhood; My books were all to me; I scribed the words of God; And much of history; Many a year was I; Perched out upon the sea; The waves would wash my tears; The wind, my memory; I'd hear the ocean breathe; Exhale upon the shore; I knew the tempest's blood; Its wrath I would endure; And so the years went by; Within my rocky cell; With only a mouse or bird; My friend; I loved them well; And so it came to pass; I'd come here to Romani; And many a year it took; Till I arrived here with thee; On dusty roads I walked; And over mountains high; Through rivers running deep; Beneath the endless sky; Beneath these jasmine flowers; Amidst these cypress trees; I give you now my books; And all their mysteries; Now take the hourglass; And turn it one its head; For when the sands are still; 'Tis then you'll find me dead; O light the candle, John; The daylight has almost gone; The birds have sung their last; The bells call all to mass
Marco Polo: Part I; The wind was a torrent of darkness among the gusty trees,; The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas.; The road was a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor,; And the highwayman came riding,; Riding, riding,; The highwayman came riding, up to the old inn-door.; He'd a French cocked-hat on his forehead, a bunch of lace at his chin,; A coat of the claret velvet, and breeches of brown doe-skin.; They fitted with never a wrinkle. His boots were up to the thigh!; And he rode with a jewelled twinkle,; His pistol butts a-twinkle,; His rapier hilts a-twinkle, under the jewelled sky.; And over the cobbles he clattered and clashed in the dark inn-yard.; And he tapped with his whip on the shutters, but all was locked and barred.; He whistled a tune to the window, and who should be waiting there; But the landlord's black-eyed daughter,; Bess, the landlord's daughter,; Plaiting a dark red love-knot into her long black hair.; And dark in the dark old inn-yard a stable-wicket creaked; Where Tim the ostler listened. His face was white and peaked.; His eyes were hollows of madness, his hair like mouldy hay,; But he loved the landlord's daughter,; The landlord's red-lipped daughter.; Dumb as a dog he listened, and he heard the robber say:; "One kiss my bonny sweetheart, I'm after a prize to-night,; But I shall be back with the yellow gold before the morning light;; If they press me sharply, and harry me through the day,; Then look for me by the moonlight,; Watch for me be the moonlight,; I'll come to thee by the moonlight, though hell should bar the way."; He rose upright in the stirrups. He scarce could reach her hand,; But she loosened her hair i' the casement. His face burnt like a brand; As the black cascade of perfume came tumbling over his breast;; And he kissed its waves in the moonlight,; (Oh, sweet waves in the moonlight!); He tugged at his reins in the moonlight, and galloped away to the west.; Part II; He did not come at the dawning. He did not come at noon;; And out of the tawny sunset, before the rise o' the moon,; When the road was a gypsy's ribbon, looping the purple moor,; A red-coat troop came marching,; Marching, marching,; King George's men came marching, up to the old inn-door.; They said no word to the landlord. They drank his ale instead.; But they gagged his daughter, and bound her, to the foot of her narrow bed.; Two of them knelt at her casement, with muskets at their side!; There was death at every window;; Hell at one dark window;; For Bess could see, through the casement, the road that he would ride.; They had tied her up to attention, with many a sniggering jest.; They had bound a musket beside her, with the barrel beneath her breast!; "Now, keep good watch!" and they kissed her. She heard the dead man say-; 'Look for me by the moonlight;; Watch for me by the moonlight;; I'll come to thee by the moonlight, though hell should bar the way!'; She twisted her hands behind her; but all the knots held good!; She writhed her hands till her fingers were wet with sweat or blood!; They stretched and strained in the darkness, and the hours crawled by like years,; Till, now, on the stroke of midnight,; Cold on the stroke of midnight,; The tip of one finger touched it! The trigger at least was hers!; The tip of one finger touched it. She strove no more for the rest.; Up, she stood up to attention, with the muzzle beneath her breast.; She would not risk their hearing; she would not strive again;; For the road lay bare in the moonlight;; Blank and bare in the moonlight;; And the blood of her veins, in the moonlight, throbbed to her love's refrain.; 'Tlot-tlot; tlot-tlot!' Had they heard it? The horse-hoofs ringing clear;; 'Tlot-tlot, tlot-tlot,' in the distance! Were they deaf that they did not hear?; Down the ribbon of moonlight, over the brow of the hill,; The highwayman came riding,; Riding, riding!; The red-coats looked to their priming! She stood up, straight and still.; 'Tlot-tlot,' in the frosty silence! 'Tlot-tlot,' in the echoing night!; Nearer he came and nearer. Her face was like a light.; Her eyes grew wide for a moment; she drew one last deep breath,; Then her finger moved in the moonlight,; Her musket shattered the moonlight,; Shattered her breast in the moonlight and warned him with her death.; He turned; He spurred to the west; he did not know she stood; Bowed, with her head o'er the musket, drenched with her own red blood!; Not till the dawn he heard it, his face grew grey to hear; How Bess, the landlord's daughter,; The landlord's black-eyed daughter,; Had watched for her love in the moonlight, and died in the darkness there.; And back, he spurred like a madman, shrieking a curse to the sky,; With the white road smoking behind him and his rapier brandished high.; Blood-red were his spurs i' the golden noon; wine-red was his velvet coat;; When they shot him down on the highway,; Down like a dog on the highway,; And he lay in his blood on the highway, with the bunch of lace at his throat.; 'Still of a winter's night, they say, when the wind is in the trees,; When the moon is a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas,; When the road is a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor,; A highwayman comes riding,; Riding, Riding,; A highwayman comes riding, up to the old in-door.; Over the cobbles he clatters and clangs in the dark inn-yard.; And he taps with his whip on the shutters, but all is locked and barred.; He whistles a tune to the window, and who should be waiting there; But the landlord's black-eyed daughter,; Bess, the landlord's daughter,; Plaiting a dark red love-knot into her long black hair.'
La Serenissima
Night ride across the Caucasus: chorus; Ride on - Through the night - Ride on; Ride on - Through the night - Ride on; There are visions, there are memories; There are echoes of thundering hooves; There are fires, there is laughter; There's the sound of a thousand voices; Chorus; In the velvet of the darkness; By the silhouette of silent trees; They are watching, they are waiting; They are witnessing life's mysteries; chorus; Cascading stars on the slumbering hills; They are dancing as far as the sea; Riding o'er land, you can feel its gentle hand; Leading on to its destiny; chorus; Take me with you on this journey; Where the boundaries of time are now tossed; In cathedrals of the forest; In the words of the tongues now lost; Find the answers, ask the questions; Find the roots of an ancient tree; Take me dancing, take me singing; I'll ride on till the moon meets the sea; Chorus (2x)
Dante's prayer: When the dark wood fell before me; And all the paths were overgrown; When the priests of pride say there is no other way; I tilled the sorrows of stone; I did not believe because I could not see; Though you came to me in the night; When the dawn seemed forever lost; You showed me your love in the light of the stars; Chorus:; Cast your eyes on the ocean; Cast your soul to the sea; When the dark night seems endless; Please remember me; Then the mountain rose before me; By the deep well of desire; From the fountain of forgiveness; Beyond the ice and the fire; Chorus; Though we share this humble path, alone; How fragile is the heart; Oh give these clay feet wings to fly; To touch the face of the stars; Breathe life into this feeble heart; Lift this mortal veil of fear; Take these crumbled hopes, etched with tears; We'll rise above these earthly cares; Chorus; Please remember me; Please remember me...