From: "Helen Hagemann" <[log in to unmask]>
> I saw Emmylou Harris perform at a Perth concert in April this year. She
was
> even better live, than I expected. She is an unfailing talent who just
gets
> better and better.
> She explained her song 'Bang the Drum Slowly' is about her father, a
soldier
> who died in the war.
>
> I meant to ask you how to plough that field
> I meant to bring you water from the well
> and be the one beside you when you fell...
As I have it to hand, here's the complete lyric.
(All the lyrics are transcribed on the cover-notes of _Red Dirt Girl_, which
is where I took this from.)
Robin
Bang the Drum Slowly
Emmylou Harris, Red Dirt Girl
(Grapevine, 2000. GRACD 103)
I meant to ask you how to fix that car
I always meant to ask you about the war
And what you saw across a bridge too far
Did it leave a scar
Or how you navigated wings of fire and steel
Up where heaven had no more secrets to conceal
And still you found the ground beneath your wheels
How did it feel
Bang the drum slowly, play the pipe lowly
To dust be returning, from dust we begin
Bang the drum slowly. I'll speak of things holy
Above and below me, world without end
I meant to ask you, how when everything seemed lost
And your fate was in a game of dice they tossed
There was still that line that you would never cross
At any cost
I meant to ask you how you lived what you believed
With nothing but your heart up your sleeve
And if you ever really were deceived
By the likes of me
Bang the drum slowly, play the pipe lowly
To dust be returning, from dust we begin
Bang the drum slowly, I'll speak of things holy
Above and below me, world without end
Gone now is the day and gone the sun
There is peace tonight all over Arlington
But the song of my life will still be sung
By the light
Of the moon you hung
I meant to ask you how to plow that field
I meant to bring you water from the well
And be the one beside you when you fell
Could you tell
Bang the drum slowly, play the pipe lowly
To dust be returning, from dust we begin
Bang the drum slowly, I'll speak of things holy
Above and below me. world without end
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