Get all 16 Sarah McQuaid releases available on Bandcamp and save 25%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of If We DUB Any Deeper It Could Get Dangerous, The St Buryan Sessions, The Sun Goes On Rising (The St Buryan Sessions) - Single, Rabbit Hills (The St Buryan Sessions) - Single, Time To Love (The St Buryan Sessions) - Single, Sweetness And Pain (The St Buryan Sessions) - Single, The Day Of Wrath, That Day (The St Buryan Sessions) - Single, Charlie’s Gone Home (The St Buryan Sessions) - Single, and 8 more.
1. |
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There’s a boy in the garden
With a shovel and a spade
He’s going to dig himself a hole
That’s the biggest ever made
Boy in the garden
Shovel and spade
Biggest hole
Ever made
I say I know you’re having fun
I don’t want to make a fuss
But if you dig any deeper
It could get dangerous
Now we’re drilling through the earth
Building pressure all the time
Splitting cracks in the rock
To free the power inside
Drilling through the earth
Pressure all the time
Cracks in the rock
Power inside
Some things are better left buried
Down under the crust
And if we dig any deeper
It could get dangerous
Put your shovel away
Time to call it a day
Sometimes the way to fix a problem
Is to turn the pressure off
Cos if you dig any deeper
It could get dangerous
We’re bringing fire and flood
And trembling ground
See the pale horse
Hear the trumpet sound
Fire and flood
Trembling ground
Pale horse
Trumpet sound
I hope we can stop it
But we need to hurry up
Cos if we dig any deeper
It could get dangerous
Dig any deeper
It could get dangerous
Dig any deeper
It could get dangerous
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2. |
Slow Decay
03:12
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When I cry out
Does the wave roll on forever
Does it travel through the emptiness
Of space and time
The level falls
The edges draw together
Coming closer to the centre
Of an infinite line
It’s a slow decay
Like a note you hold till it fades away
The body fails
These bones won’t last forever
So I ask myself what are the things
I leave behind
I send them out
A bundle tied together
A present from the past
Left for the future to find
It’s a slow decay
Like a note you hold till it fades away
Watch it fall and rise and fall
Constantly returning
To the smallest point of all
When I cry out
Does the wave roll on forever
Does it travel through the emptiness
Of space and time
The level falls
The edges draw together
Coming closer to the centre
Of an infinite line
It’s a slow decay
Like a note you hold till it fades away
A note you hold till it fades away
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3. |
One Sparrow Down
02:26
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There’s a sparrow at my window
And he’s spoiling for a fight
He’s attacking his reflection
And he’s puffing out with pride
He doesn’t see the cat who’s watching
From the windowsill inside
She stares at him intently
With her gorgeous golden eyes
While he flaps and struts and chatters
In a futile exercise
He can’t banish the invader
Through he tries and tries and tries
He could have built himself a nest
Instead of battling the stranger
But the image in the windowpane
Is all that seems to matter
It’s his enemy and nemesis
To hate and fear forever
The cat is plump and glossy
She’s prepared to bide her time
Until the sparrow falls exhausted
To the ground
And then she stands
And stretches out her back
And takes herself outside
She pads across the grass to find him
And she never makes a sound
One sparrow down
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4. |
The Silence Above Us
04:51
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The silence above us
The comfort in darkness
Pale clouds in a blanket of sky
The light from my window
The trees lost in shadow
We’ll likely have frost later on tonight
I’m cold, I should go back
Inside, where I know that
It’s warm if I sit near the fire
And as I stand shivering
The mist from my breathing
Forms tendrils of smoke that drift lower and higher
Orion the hunter
Is low in the sky
The guiding star is blue
I ask myself yet again
What is this world coming to
The silence above us
The green earth beneath us
Abounding with power and life
The bushes are rustling
The small birds are settling
Hunkering down to be safe for the night
Orion the hunter
Is low in the sky
The guiding star is blue
I ask myself yet again
What is this world coming to
As the night becomes colder and darker
More stars will appear in the sky
Tiny pinpoints of light
Shining steady and bright
The silence above us
The comfort in darkness
Pale clouds in a blanket of sky
The light from my window
The trees lost in shadow
We’ll likely have frost later on tonight
Orion the hunter
Is low in the sky
The guiding star is blue
I ask myself yet again
What is this world coming to
And what can we do
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5. |
Forever Autumn
03:37
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6. |
Dies Irae
03:34
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Dies irae, dies illa
Solvet sæclum in favilla
Teste David cum Sibylla
Quantus tremor est futurus
Quando Judex est venturus
Cuncta stricte discussurus
Tuba mirum spargens sonum
Per sepulchra regionum
Coget omnes ante thronum
Mors stupebit et natura
Cum resurget creatura
Judicanti responsura
Liber scriptus proferetur
In quo totum continetur
Unde mundus judicetur
Judex ergo cum sedebit
Quidquid latet apparebit
Nil inultum remanebit
The day of wrath, that day
Will dissolve the world in ashes
David being witness along with the Sibyl
How great will be the quaking
When the judge will come
Investigating everything strictly
The trumpet, scattering a wondrous sound
Through the sepulchres of the regions
Will summon all before the throne
Death and nature will marvel
When the creature will rise again
to respond to the judge
The written book will be brought forth
In which all is contained
From which the world shall be judged
When therefore the judge will sit
Whatever lies hidden will appear
Nothing will remain unavenged
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7. |
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8. |
Cot Valley
04:24
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So much has changed in my lifetime
And mostly for the best
Even when the morning news is frightening
It doesn’t set me yearning for the past
There’s a valley near my home
Where children run among the stones
Instead of giving up their lives
For copper and tin
Cot Valley is green today
Where the slag heaps used to smoulder
Now a child is free to wander
And I know things could be better
But we’ve come a long, long way
There was a time when choice was something made for us by others
For some the pick and shovel, some the sword and some the veil
No difficult decisions, no surprises to discover
Just take the road that’s laid for you and hope it treats you well
And for far too many children
That’s still the way it happens
The cards you’re dealt
Are all you have to play
I’m glad I know the valley as it is now
And not the way it was before
I’m glad we don’t send children down the mines now
Or set them burning arsenic from ore
I go there with my daughter
The world is open to her
She can gaze out at the sea
And watch her dreams roll in
Cot Valley is green today
Where the slag heaps used to smoulder
Now a child is free to wander
Yes I know things could be better
But we’ve come a long, long way
Cot Valley is green today
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9. |
New Beginnings
02:43
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10. |
Time To Love
03:39
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What are we doing here now
What are we dreaming now
Up and down the street
If we only had time
If we only had one more day
If we only had time
Time to love
How can we take this moment now
And try to make it better now
Then let it go
If we only had time
If we only had one more day
If we only had time
Time to love
Time to love
I woke up laughing
I don’t know why
To see you sleeping
Beside me
What are we doing here now
What are we dreaming now
Up and down the street
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11. |
Break Me Down
04:39
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You can keep your oaken coffin
You can keep your funeral urn
I don’t want any stone above me
I don’t want my body burned
Don’t want to wind up like a pharaoh
Mummified in a museum
I don’t want to be a prisoner
In some marble mausoleum
Let me return to the earth
When I end my days
I want the sweetest flowers
Growing over my grave
Let me crumble, dust to dust, underground
Break me down
If my organs are of use
I hope they find a happy home
Now put away that heavy makeup
I won’t need it where I’m going
When I die just dig me under
Let my bones enrich the soil
I’ve got some prime organic matter on me
Shame to let it spoil
Let me return to the earth
When I end my days
I want the sweetest flowers
Growing over my grave
Let me crumble, dust to dust, underground
Break me down
Break me down till I am nothing
Break me down till I am one
With the good earth
Bringing better growth in time to come
You can keep your oaken coffin
You can keep your funeral urn
I don’t want any stone above me
I don’t want my body burned
Don’t want to wind up like a pharaoh
Mummified in a museum
I don’t want to be a prisoner
In some marble mausoleum
Let me return to the earth
When I end my days
I want the sweetest flowers
Growing over my grave
Let me crumble, dust to dust, underground
Break me down
Break me down
Break me down
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12. |
The Tug Of The Moon
03:59
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The tug of the moon
Is slowing us down
Drawing the tide
Buckling the ground
Little by little as centuries pass
It stretches our days
The years growing longer by such small degrees
We don’t notice the change
Until noon comes a moment too late
So we make an adjustment in time
At the end of the countdown
Before Auld Lang Syne
One second to add before midnight
And then we all cheer
With tears and with kisses
We greet the new year
While the moon passes over us
Ever more distantly pulling away
As we turn toward the sunrise
And night becomes day
We count up the lengthening hours
That remain till the end comes too soon
For an earth spinning under
The tug of the moon
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Sarah McQuaid Penzance, UK
“One of the most instantly recognisable voices in current music … Shades of Joni Mitchell in a jam with Karen Carpenter and
Lana Del Rey.” —Neil March, Trust The Doc
“Captivating, unorthodox songwriting … layered satin vocals ... enthralling, harrowing arrangements … a gateway into a true innovator’s soul.” —PopMatters
See sarahmcquaid.com/about for more info.
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