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Black Mountain

by Pete Mullin

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  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    CD with Digital artwork by Pete Mullin

    Includes unlimited streaming of Black Mountain via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
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  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      £10 GBP  or more

     

1.
Starling Bridge (2.42) Autumn evening on the Albertbridge Road I’m looking at the Lagan and its heavy water flow Autumn evening I’m heading for the train I‘ve left by bridges burning I won’t be back here again Autumn evening and the sun is going down I’m lifted by the starlings as they swoop and sweep around Where you going little bird, is there something you have heard Wish that I could spread my wings and fly away with you Where you going little one, looks like you’re still having fun Like a million little voices changing my mind An Autumn evening and the light is changing And the lights are changing And I’m changing my mind
2.
Éalú 02:52
Éalú (2.50) He will not hear the bittern cry In the wild sky, where he’s lain Or the voices of the sweeter birds Above the wail of the rain Éalú Éalú an ein He will not know when March wind blows Through slanting snow so shrill That flame the weeping golden cup Of the upset daffodil Éalú Éalú an ein When the storm is over The fighting done We’ll heal our wounds in the morning sun And these broken bones and chains Won’t hold us Éalú
3.
Invisible 03:13
Invisible (3.11) Early morning another dead end street Wake to the sound of a million feet They’re wearing me down with every step they take Won’t look in my eyes for heaven’s sake They can’t see me Do don’t know who I am Invisible Everyday it’s the same routine Pack up my gear, get out of here I’m fading away, by the weather worn Looking at me with their pity and scorn But they don’t see me They don’t know who I am Invisible They can’t see me They don’t know me at all Invisible Maybe some day I'll get my life on track Maybe by then you will have me back O you are the one thing that I hold on to I'm slipping away here without you Can you see me Do you know where I am Invisible Fading, fading, fade
4.
Bees Wing 04:24
Beeswing (4.22) I was 18 when I came to town they called the summer of love They were burning babies, burning flags, the hawks against the doves I took a job at a steamy, way down on Caltrim Street And I fell in love with a laundry girl who was working next to me She was a rare thing fine as a beeswing So fine a breath of wind might blow her away A lost child, she was running wild She said as long as theres no price on love I’ll stay You wouldn’t want me any other way Brown hair zig zagged around her face and a look of half surprise Like a fox caught in the headlights, there was animal in her eyes She said to me Oh can’t you see I’m not the factory kind And if you don’t take me out of here, I’ll surely lose my mind She was a rare thing fine as a beeswing So fine a breath of wind might blow her away A lost child, she was running wild She said as long as theres no price on love I’ll stay You wouldn’t want me any other way We busked around the market towns fruit picking down in Kent We could tinker pots and pans or knives wherever we went We were camping down the Gower one time, work was pretty good She wouldn’t stay for the harvest, I thought we should I said that we should settle down, get a few acres dug Fire burning in the hearth and babies on the rug She said oh man, you foolish man that surely sounds like hell You might be lord of half the world you’ll not own me as well She was a rare thing fine as a beeswing So fine a breath of wind might blow her away A lost child, she was running wild She said as long as theres no price on love I’ll stay You wouldn’t want me any other way We were drinking more in those days, tempers reached a pitch Like a fool I let her run away when she got the rambling itch The last I heard she was sleeping rough, back on the Derby beat A bottle of white horse in her pocket, a wolfhound at her feet They say she even married once to a man named Romanie Brown Even a gypsy caravan was too much settling down They say her rose has faded, hard weather and hard booze Well maybe thats the price you pay for the chains that you refuse She was a rare thing fine as a bees wing And I miss her more than ever words could say If I could just taste, all that wildness now If I could hold her in my arms today I wouldn’t want her any other way
5.
Home 02:42
Home (2.40) A little lost a little confused Little more for me to lose And then I close my eyes and I dream of home Through the quiet of the gloam It carries me home And it carries me home Home When I’m home ooo When I’m home ooo And you’re there with me I can see The way it’s meant to be When I’m home ooo When I’m home ooo And you’re there with me I can see A little lost, a little confused Little more for me to lose And then I close my eyes and I dream of ways To make it through the haze It carries me home And it carries me home Home When I’m home ooo When I’m home ooo And you’re there with me I can see The way it’s meant to be When I’m home ooo When I’m home ooo And you’re there with me I can see
6.
Doaghbeg 03:08
Doaghbeg (3.06) Stand here on the Doaghbeg strand The wind blows me the memory of your face This has become a lonely place The sand it gently moves to cover Every trace of where you used to stand Before you left this broken land And as the sun sets over Mulroy Bay I think of you with the passing of each day It didn’t need to be this way The day begins to fade and I see The first star light shining in the west I know you thought it for the best The moon climbs over Fanad Head I watch your ghost pass gently out to sea Never to return, to me I pray this night will be the last As daylight breaks I finally sleep in peace Only then, am I released Stand here on the Doaghbeg
7.
Black Mountain (2.55) Dark cloud hangs over Black Mountain See this city lying in its shadow Thinking about it, that’s how it’s always been Cold cold wind blows in from the North side And tears apart this city and its people Thinking about it, that’s how it’s always been Nothing’s changed Nothings really changed See this river, see it flow like a cold knife Cut this city straight down the middle Thinking about it, that’s how it’s always been And the children they’re still leaving from the dock side Eyes so wide their faces full of wonder Thinking about it that’s, how it’s always been Nothing’s changed Nothings really changed Nothing’s changed Nothing Dark cloud hangs over Black Mountain
8.
The Garden 04:27
The Garden (4.25) Early, early morning through the half-light alone Through the tall gates and towers of this place they called home With the sun gently rising, like a moth to a flame I am drawn to the garden, to the garden of shame. We were young and in love, everything had made sense How would anyone imagine the consequence For they told us we must leave you, only had ourselves to blame Now I stand here old and weary in this garden of shame. Suffering young woman, such rejection and scorn And suffer little children from their mothers they were torn Taken from those loving arms, the strong were rehomed and renamed While the weak buried in limbo, in those gardens of shame ‘Cherish all the children of the nation equally’ These words were proclaimed, by a nation to be free And still our leaders, saints & scholars claim it wasn’t in their name While I stand here with the angels in the garden of shame They said times a healer, they said go to your mass, And pray for forgiveness, that the pain and sorrow pass But as my tears and dewdrops mingle in this garden without name Its only you my sleeping angel, tell me I am not to blame.
9.
Rarogan 05:09
Rarogan (5.07) Remember clearly all those early days Smell of grass as it turned into hay Sound of wood burning on an open fire Watching the sparks climbing higher higher Remember playing in the hazel glen Every field had a name and a game Chasing dreams around the fairy ring And we’d laugh Those were such precious times When we thought we were the Kings of Tyrone Maybe you have forgotten Summer days when we played in the fields of Rarogan Remember following you to the higher ground There we looked out over the land You told me you could see six counties there And we’d stare Those were such precious times When we thought we were the Kings of Tyrone Maybe you have forgotten Summer days when we played in the fields of Rarogan I remember walking in your footsteps Just a boy trying walk like a man We shared names and we shared quiet times And we’d dream Those were such precious times When we thought we were the Kings of Tyrone Maybe you have forgotten Summer days when we played in the fields of Rarogan And when you finally had to leave you Carried you to the head of the land Looked out over the six counties there And we stared Those were such precious times When we thought we were the Kings of Tyrone Maybe you have forgotten Maybe you have forgotten Do you remember those summer days just before The last September
10.
Belfast Mountains (4.20) Down by the banks of Clady I heard a maid complain Setting forth her lamentations, down by yon purling stream Saying here am I confined by constant binds of love All for a handsome sailor boy who did inconstant prove And oh you Belfast Mountains can you bring me no relief Have you got no tongue to flatter with or ease me of my grief Have you got no tongue to flatter with or ease me of my pain For it's hard to love an old sweetheart and not be loved again She twined her arms around my neck just as we were going to part She twined her arms around my neck saying you're my own sweetheart She twined her arms around my neck like the branches on yon vine Saying Jamie, cruel Jamie you have broke this heart of mine And oh you Belfast Mountains can you bring me no relief Have you got no tongue to flatter with or ease me of my grief Have you got no tongue to flatter with or ease me of my pain For it's hard to love an old sweetheart and not be loved again And may you never prosper and may you never thrive At any job that you take in hand at just as long as you're alive May the very ground you walk upon have the grass refuse to grow For you're the provocation for my sadness, grief and woe And oh you Belfast Mountains can you bring me no relief Have you got no tongue to flatter with or ease me of my grief Have you got no tongue to flatter with or ease me of my pain For it's hard to love an old sweetheart Hard to love an old sweetheart And not be loved again

about

Black Mountain

Musicians:
Rachel McCarthy Vocals
Patti Mullin Vocals
Pete Mullin Guitar & Vocals
Gareth Hughes Bass
John McCullough Piano
Dean Stevens Percussion
Cormac O Kane Keys

credits

released November 27, 2020

Recorded at Redbox Recording Studios & One 30 Two Studio
Produced & Mastered by Cormac O Kane & Dean Stevens

Tracks 1,2,3,5,6,7,8,9, - written & arranged by Pete Mullin
Track 4 - by Richard Thompson, arranged by Pete Mullin
Track 10 - Traditional arrangement by Pete Mullin

All artwork by Pete Mullin

Many thanks to the brilliant musicians and producers who helped to make this album happen, with special thanks to Cormac O Kane and Richard Brown at Redbox, and Jill McDermott at Arts for All. Also to all the fantastic people at the Sunflower Folk Club, Belfast where I cut my performing teeth and debuted many of these songs, Fergus O’Hare, Fergus Woods and Bill Rolston for their encouragement and a special mention for the much missed Maire O’Hare.

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