From the recording Traces
In memory of our cousin Ewan Polwart (1975 – 2008)
Lyrics
STRANGE NEWS
Strange news is at this table
Strange news and stranger still
In boots and a bobble hat I hap you up from the morning chill
One brother makes another call
One brother lets it ring
And at the head of the path you laugh as a lone blackbird begins to sing
And a mother does just what she must
And a father comes undone
In the not yet snow we wave and shout ‘hello!’ to a morning sun
Strange news arrives unbidden
Strange news and stranger still
Strange news is at this table
Strange news and stranger still
There are plastic strings of gold and ice-cold beer on the windowsill
Somewhere a boy is asking ‘when?’
Somewhere a woman ‘why?’
And in the field out back we wait for the crack of wings in a winter sky
And a mother does just what she must…
There’s a blood red mark upon my door
(You passed us over, passed us over)
Strange news is at this table
Strange news and stranger still
There's glitter on the dirt road, and a light slung low on Soutra hill
One brother makes another call
One brother lets it ring
And at the head of the path you laugh as a lone blackbird begins to sing
And a mother does just what she must …