3.8. The Big Wheel (1991 Chrysalis)

3.8.1. Headlights
3.8.2. Healer in your Heart
3.8.3. Abhainn an T-Sluaigh - The Crowded River
3.8.4. Always the Winner
3.8.5. This Beautiful Pain
3.8.6. An Cuibhle Mor - The Big Wheel
3.8.7. Edge of the World
3.8.8. Hearthammer
3.8.9. I'll Keep Coming Home
3.8.10. Flower of the West

 

   
   

3.8.1. Headlights
The headlights swing across the naked heath
Through the silent miles the empty spaces
With the drinking boys
The dancing wine
Somewhere outside the laughing glass burns in your eye
Elvis is still the king the long road home
The flushed caress the trembling heart
She's in your arms electric chord's accordian bands
3.8.2. Healer in your Heart
There's a watcher waiting on the edge of the world with the
thoughts that never darken when the lights go down
In the rhythm of living and the shifting tribe through the cities of
destruction in these graceless times
For the universe and the stars are around you now
But the healer in your heart is only a breath away
In the smallness of one heartbeat power overthrow
In the oneness of the journey for a homing soul
With the spirits of the mighty here since day began
A shadow rushes through the grasslands to the dying sun
For the universe and the stars are around you now
But the healer in your heart is only a breath away
For there's silence and there's blindness in a raging world
But the healer in your heart is only a moment away
(Repeat)
(Repeat)
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3.8.3. Abhainn an T-Sluaigh - The Crowded River
Chan eil an t-adhar os cionn Lunnainn
A-nochd soileir no dorch
Fada bho abhainn an t-sluaigh
Gun sgial air coinneal mor latha
No reultan na h-oidhche
Fada bho abhainn an t-sluaigh
An sea s'am baile gun chadal
Gun fhois is gun saorsa
Fada bho abhainn an t-sluaigh
Casan a' gluasad
An abhainn an tuil
Fada bho abhainn an t-sluaigh
Na cuibhlichean, 's cabhaig
A’ tionndaidh gun sgur
Fada bho abhainn an t-sluaigh
Cus ag adhradh beairtas
Air altair an tshaoghail
Fada bho abhainn an t-sluaigh
Cach gun dochas gun dachaidh
Air sraidean gun ghaol
Fada bho abhainn an t-sluaigh
Leis gach dath s'gach creideamh
Gach cainnt as gach cearn
Fada bho abhainn an t-sluaigh
Gach ceist is gach freagairt
sios an abhainn gu cuan
Fada bho abhainn an t-sluaigh
The skies above London
Are neither clear nor dark
The need to be far from the crowded river
Neither the great candle of daylight
Nor the stars of the night can be seen
The need to be far from the crowded river
In this city that never sleeps
there is stillness, no quiet
The need to be far from the crowded river
Footsteps keep moving
The river in full flood
The need to be far from the crowded river
The relentless wheels
Keep turning without pause
The need to be far from the crowded river
Many worshipping wealth
At the world's altar
The need to be far from the crowded river
Others without hope or home
On streets that hold no love
The need to be far from the crowded river
Races creeds and tongues
From all corners of the globe
The need to be far from the crowded river
All questions and answer
Rushing down the river to the ocean
The need to be far from the crowded river
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3.8.4. Always the Winner
When you close your eyes there's a frightened pride that lives for you
That your mother’s life and your father’s eyes can't hide
You had no choice didn't ask the dice too fall for you
Still your courage comes like thunder through the skies
Always the winner, the victor and the giver
Somewhere through that winter you'll never be alone
For evermore the winner
The taker and the giver
Somewhere through that winter you will not grow old
So you carry time down the tortured line where mysteries show
Well hidden from life’s learned and life’s wise
Mans useless ways and worthless conversation
Lie well exposed and humbled in your smile
(Chorus)
Still you run out in the morning with the boys and the girls
The miracle of innocence on a head of curls
We'll search every reason wherever we roam to find a place
For these broken hearts and bones
We'll keep a fire on the hillsides after the summers gone
And we'll wait here till the war-wounded come home
(Chorus)
(Chorus)
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3.8.5. This Beautiful Pain
Day was young and desire was stirred
Summer was all but gone
Light was fading from the side of your face
Sinking low in the corn
All that's constant and wise I still see in your eyes
It was always this way from the start
Right here whre I stand on the last of the land
Bur you're still breaking the heart
Now all I have is rushing right through my hands
Sailing over the seas
Down that tide where fresh and salt combine
All victories are released
We who wrestle the years have traded our fears
for a glimpse of ecstasy in the dark
Turning ice in the fire but still we're denied
But you're still breaking the heart
The skies turned red without failure
They held their promise and dread till the last
You put all of my youth in my future
You put the future back into my past
So shine a light and shine it brightly now
You know it all takes it's course
And all the many ways I've tried so hard to reach this potent source
On the day behind time across the divide
Along the cord came all light out of dark
Now I stand amaze in this beautiful pain
But you're still breaking the heart
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3.8.6. An Cuibhle Mor - The Big Wheel
Na cuibhlichean a' tionndadh
An rathad deas agus tuath
Na cuibhlichean a gluasad mar tha'
saoghal iad a tionndadh mun cuairt
Na cuibhlichean a tionndadh, gach
duthaich muir agus tir
Tro ghleanntan tro' bhailtean a
dh'ionnsaigh an aite agaibh fhein'
An cuibhle mor nach stad gu brath
Tionndadh oganaich gu aois
A' nochd tha'n rathad mor n'ar
coinneamh
Gu am ann acg an drasda
'S ioma la chaidh seachad
A ghaoth a sedeadth tro an uir
'S ioma la bha 'ghrian ag eirigh oirnn
Seasamh anns an eorna nuair a bha sin
og
Aghmhor. Aghmhor. Aruith tro na
raointean 's iad a'fas
Abaich. Orach. Coimhead ri na speuran
'S ioma la 'S ioma la. Feitheamh 'son a
chuairt
Glaschu. Dun Eideann. Inbhirnis.
Sruighlea. Steornabhagh
Obar Dheadhain. An Gearasdan. Dun
Deagh. Lunnainn. A'Ghearmailt
Eirinn. Ameiriga. An cuibhle mor cuibhle
mor
The wheels keep turning
The road stretches north and south
The wheels keep moving
Like the globe they keep turning around
The wheels keep turning
Through each country land and sea
Through the glens and the cities towards the
place that you call your own
This is the big wheel that never stands still
Turning our youth to old age
Tonight the road reaches out before us and
the present time is the only time we have
Many are the days that have gone
The wind blowing through the dust of the
earth
Many are the days that the sun rose on us
Standing in the barley when we were young
Joyful. Joyful
Running through the fields as they grew
Ripe. Golden
Looking towards the open skies waiting for the
journey
Glasgow Edinburgh Inverness Stirling
Stornoway Aberdeen
Fort-William Dundee London
Germany Ireland America
The big wheel The big wheel
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3.8.7. Edge of the World
All the homes on the globe are like the television in your eyes
A cross guarding your heart the living years a sacrifice
A shiver at the door in the night, clouds cross a black moonlight
Rushing on down to the sound of a turning world
There's a south by sou'westerly force eight coming in strong
Across the continental shelf from the cold grey Malin beyond
The need to keep control
The need to stand alone at the edge of the world
On the edge of the world
On the edge of the world
The adrenalin infrastructure bringing on it's troubles some more
All the laws of the jungle stranded on your latest shore
But the waves hold the healer force
The years disappear like a ghost
Somewhere out of the sight of the night and the light of day
Now civilisation groans and the news reel cries
Like a drowning man his life in front of his eyes
Oh the need to keep control
The need to bare the soul at the edge of the world
On the edge of the world
On the edge of the world
And the man from St. Kilda went over the cliff on a winter's day
On the edge of the world
On the edge of the world
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3.8.8. Hearthammer
With the eyes of a child the wonder of it all
I used to search the stars at night and I felt so safe and small
Sweet sounds from a Merseytown and my nursery God
I wanted to ride with Yuri Gagarin as he circled all around my world
Hearthammer and I lose control
Hearthammer
Lying under the covers. Radio on
Settle down with Caroline as she sailed all summer long
Sweetheart of the Rodeo
Mining Hearts of Gold
I think it was somewhere post Rubber Soul
Hearthammer and I lose control
Hearthammer
Hearthammer and I lose control
Hearthammer
There was the first caress
There were the Labour years
There was the man that walked the moon something I never really believed
The Di Stefano twists the Charlton goals
Now I'm still here with the eyes of a child the wonder never grows old
Hearthammer and I lose control
Hearthammer
Hearthammer and I lose control
Hearthammer
Hearthammer and I lose control
Hearthammer
The wonder never grows old
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3.8.9. I'll Keep Coming Home
When I'm away please take good care of my heart
And when I'm gone say a prayer for love
'Cause there's cities and clouds in my eyes
The empty streets and the raining nights
Wherever the highway unwinds
I'll keep coming home
Love on a wire
Strangers walk out on the town
Long distance words
Outside leave the night to the young
Cause its touchdowns runways and roads
The bright lights the silver and gold
Wherever the moment goes cold
I'll keep coming home
I'll keep coming home to you
3.8.10. Flower of the West
Sunburst
The morning moar
The light of God
The heart of youth
I look around me
My eyes find their rest on this garden
The flower of the west
The silent skies
An innocent heart
Holding the moment away
From time in the dark
All I see. All I know
Is touching the sacred earth
Warming the hallowed ground
Walk on
Walk on
Walk on
Sunrise
The colour frontier
The ageing light
The sight that knows no fear
I look over Orinsay to the Trumisgarry shore
To Aloter
And the road to Ahmore
The silent skies
An innocent heart
Holding the moment away
From time in the dark
All I see. All I know
Is touching the sacred earth
Warming the hallowed ground
I survive the childhood universe
And I step the naked heath
Where the breathing of the vanished
Lies in acres round my feet
Past Loch Scadavagh Loch Fada
And the flatlands to the east
Where the dark blue mass of Eval
Meets the rising Rock of Lee
Between the Crogary and Maairi
I started to descend
Loch Aongais on my left hand side
I look across to Clett
Collies barking on the outrun
Dunlin dancing on the sand
Breakers show round Corran Vallique
And empty the Atlantic on the strand
The silent skies
An innocent heart
Holding the moment away
From time in the dark
All I see. All I know
Is touching the sacred earth
Warming the hallowed ground
Flower of the west