The Highwayman-Loreena McKennitt

[ti:The Highwayman] [ar:Loreena McKennitt] [al:The Book Of Secrets] [offset:500] [00:47.78]Music: Loreena McKennitt [00:52.78]lyrics: Alfred Noyes [00:57.78]abridged by Loreena McKennitt [01:02.78] [01:07.78]The wind was a torrent of darkness [01:10.42]among the gusty trees [01:13.33]The moon was a ghostly galleon [01:15.89]tossed upon the cloudy seas [01:18.85]The road was a ribbon of moonlight [01:21.82]over the purple moor [01:24.43]And the highwayman came riding, [01:27.44]Riding, riding, [01:30.34]The highwayman came riding, [01:32.73]up to the old inn-door. [01:35.94] [01:37.19]He'd a French cocked hat on his forehead [01:40.11]a bunch of lace at his chin, [01:42.91]A coat of claret velvet [01:45.48]and breeches of brown doe-skin [01:48.33]They fitted with never a wrinkle [01:51.05]his boots were up to the thigh! [01:53.91]And he rode with a jewelled twinkle, [01:56.74]His pistol butts a-twinkle, [01:59.68]His rapier hilt a-twinkle [02:02.22]under the jewelled sky. [02:05.09] [02:06.74]And over the cobbles he clattered [02:09.38]and clashed in the dark innyard [02:12.12]And he tapped with his whip on the shutters [02:15.01]but all was locked and barred; [02:17.81]He whistled a tune to the window [02:20.55]and who should be waiting there [02:23.41]But the landlord's black-eyed daughter, [02:26.50]Bess, the landlord's daughter, [02:29.40]Plaiting a dark red love-knot [02:31.84]into her long black hair. [02:34.51] [02:36.26]"One kiss, my bonny sweetheart, [02:38.91]I'm after a prize tonight, [02:41.72]But I shall be back with the yellow gold [02:44.66]before the morning light; [02:47.36]Yet if they press me sharply, [02:50.06]and harry me through the day, [02:52.89]Then look for me by the moonlight, [02:56.07]Watch for me by the moonlight, [02:58.90]I'll come to thee by the moonlight [03:01.39]though hell should bar the way. [03:04.08] [03:05.74]He rose upright in the stirrups [03:08.37]he scarce could reach her hand [03:11.23]But she loosened her hair i' the casement! [03:14.01]His face burnt like a brand [03:16.76]As the black cascade of perfume [03:19.54]came tumbling over his breast; [03:22.40]And he kissed it's waves in the moonlight, [03:25.55](Oh, sweet black waves in the moonlight!) [03:28.23]Then he tugged at his rein in the moonlight [03:30.88]and galloped away to the west. [03:34.53] [03:59.17]He did not come at the dawning; [04:01.85]he did not come at noon, [04:04.74]And out of the tawny sunset, [04:07.42]before the rise o' the moon, [04:10.18]When the road was a gypsy's ribbon, [04:13.26]looping the purple moor, [04:15.87]A red-coat troop came marching, [04:18.92]Marching, marching [04:21.53]King George's men came marching, [04:24.16]up to the old inn-door. [04:27.66] [04:28.58]They said no word to the landlord, [04:31.33]they drank his ale instead, [04:34.20]But they gagged his daughter and bound her [04:36.91]to the foot of her narrow bed; [04:39.71]Two of them knelt at the casement, [04:42.55]with muskets at their side! [04:45.32]there was death at every window [04:48.45]and hell at one dark window; [04:51.21]For Bess could see, through the casement, [04:53.78]The road that he would ride. [04:56.66] [04:58.13]They had tied her up to attention [05:00.81]with many a sniggering jest; [05:03.67]They had bound a musket beside her [05:06.44]with the barrel beneath her breast! [05:09.24]"now keep good watch!" And they kissed her. [05:12.07]She heard the dead man say [05:14.90]"Look for me by the moonlight [05:17.95]Watch for me by the moonlight [05:20.77]I'll come to thee by the moonlight [05:23.31]though hell should bar the way!" [05:26.31] [05:27.54]She twisted her hands behind her [05:30.29]but all the knots held good! [05:33.30]She writhed her hands till her fingers [05:35.97]were wet with sweat or blood! [05:38.73]They stretched and strained in the darkness [05:41.57]and the hours crawled by like years! [05:44.34]Till, now, on the stroke of midnight, [05:47.21]Cold, on the stroke of midnight, [05:50.32]The tip of one finger touched it! [05:52.82]The trigger at least was hers! [05:56.49] [06:11.29]Tlot-tlot! Had they heard it? [06:13.98]The horse-hoofs were ringing clear [06:16.77]Tlot-tlot, in the distance! [06:19.49]Were they deaf that they did not hear? [06:22.67]Down the ribbon of moonlight, [06:25.29]over the brow of the hill, [06:27.94]The highwayman came riding, [06:30.93]Riding, riding! [06:33.74]The red-coats looked to their priming! [06:36.21]She stood up straight and still! [06:39.18] [06:40.56]Tlot in the frosty silence! [06:43.36]Tlot in the echoing night! [06:46.45]Nearer he came and nearer! [06:48.96]Her face was like a light! [06:51.80]Her eyes grew wide for a moment! [06:54.50]She drew one last deep breath, [06:57.34]Then her finger moved in the moonlight, [07:00.46]Her musket shattered the moonlight, [07:03.29]Shattered her breast in the moonlight [07:05.86]and warned him with her death. [07:09.19] [07:10.24]He turned; he spurred to the west; [07:12.87]he did not know she stood [07:15.70]bowed, with her head o'er the musket, [07:18.38]drenched with her own red blood! [07:21.19]Not till the dawn he heard it; [07:24.10]his face grew grey to hear [07:26.79]How Bess, the landlord's daughter, [07:29.77]The landlord's black-eyed daughter, [07:32.50]Had watched for her love in the moonlight, [07:35.26]and died in the darkness there. [07:38.52] [07:39.71]And back, he spurred like a madman, [07:42.54]shrieking a curse to the sky [07:45.24]With the white road smoking behind him [07:47.90]and his rapier brandished high! [07:50.73]Blood-red were the spurs i' the golden noon; [07:53.62]wine-red was his velvet coat, [07:56.35]when they shot him down on the highway, [07:59.13]Down like a dog on the highway, [08:02.05]And he lay in his blood on the highway, [08:04.87]with the bunch of lace at his throat. [08:08.70] [08:24.81]Still of a winter's night, they say, [08:27.56]when the wind is in the trees, [08:30.21]When the moon is a ghostly galleon, [08:32.92]tossed upon the cloudy seas, [08:35.81]When the road is a ribbon of moonlight [08:38.85]over the purple moor, [08:41.50]A highwayman comes riding, [08:44.47]Riding, riding, [08:47.31]A highwayman comes riding, [08:49.90]up to the old inn-door [08:53.96] [09:36.41] [10:12.56]END