For Dana and John on their 25th wedding anniversary
Words and music by Shannon Heaton, c. 2003

Winter winds hushed the day we met,
My eyes aflame with your radiant smile.
And the snow kissed our new romance.
As the short days of Winter
Grew lazy into Summertime,
We set forth, roads calling us on

CHORUS:
From the mining towns to the city streets
From East, to West, to Heartland;
The anchor of my heart
Is your smile, it still brings me round
You're my earthly joy, my anchor, my home.

Through December our love deepens.
Down frosty highways in midnight blue
Days and nightimes run easy by your side
While the rooftop sings with soft night rain.
As you dream beside me, as the stars dissolve
Into daybreak, the road unfolds anew

CHORUS

As the blustery day when we first met
Is marked again this sweet new year,
Sun-warm stillness this morning here at home
As we walk through seasons yet to come -
Through moody changes, through peaceful days
Oh what fortune to share this life with you.

CHORUS

Words & Music traditional, adapted by Matt & Shannon Heaton

It’s of a merchant’s daughter
That lived down yonder lane
She fell in with William Dempsey,
The keeper of the game
Said he unto that fair young maid
‘If it were not for the law,
I would steal you from your mammy
And have you once for all’

‘Go away young man’ said she
‘And do not trouble me -
Seven questions you must answer
If you would marry me
Before I be your love
And leave my father’s hall
or run away from mammy
And be yours once for all’

‘What’s rounder than a ring,
what’s higher than the tree
What’s worse than any woman’s tongue,
what’s deeper than the sea
What tree buds first, what bird sings best
And where does dew find fall
Answer me & I’ll go with you this night
And leave my father’s hall’

‘The globe is rounder than a ring,
Heaven’s higher than a tree
The devil’s worse than any woman’s tongue
Hell’s deeper than the sea
The Yew buds first, the thrush sings best
The dew on earth finds fall
So now you must come with me this night
And leave your father’s hall

‘It’s for my breakfast you must have
a cherry without a stone
For my dinner you must find,
a chicken without a bone
For my supper find for me
a bird without a gall -
Before I am your sweetheart
And leave my father’s hall’

‘Oh when the cherry’s in full bloom
It really has no stone
When the chicken’s in the egg,
It really has no bone
The dove she is a gentle bird
that flies without a gall
So now you must come with me this night
And leave your father’s hall’

Now this couple they’ve been wed
I hear the people say
This couple they’ve been married
And right well do agree
He was a clever fellow
He did her games well play
And from her mammy this fair young maid
The keeper stole away

Words: Lady Anne Lindsay (c/o The Scottish Orpheus), adapted by Shannon Heaton
Music: Shannon Heaton

Fair Jamie loved me well, And sought me for his bride;
But save a single crown, He’d nothing else beside.
To make the crown a pound, My Jamie went to sea.
And the fortune that he’d win, He’d bring back home to me.

He’d been gone not 40 days, misfortune came our way:
My mother’s sight went dim, and our cow was stolen away.
My father he fell ill, And my Jamie at the sea.
And from the town old Robin Gray, he came a-courtin’ me.

My father couldn’t work, And my mother could not spin.
I toiled both day and night,, But their bread I could not win.
Old Robin he maintained them both, Then turned an eye to me.
Saying Jenny, for your parents’ sake, My bride you’ll surely be.

My heart refused old Robin, and I looked for Jamie back.
But stormy seas washed ship ashore,, The ship it was a wreck.
The ship it was an empty shell - Why was I left ashore?
Condemned to marry Robin, For a day and ever more.

My father urged me silently, My mother did not speak.
I wed the old man Robin Gray, Alas, within the week.
Though we share a wedding bed, My heart is still at sea.
Tho robin is a kind old man, he’s not my fair Jamie.

I hadn’t been old Robin’s wife, Ten seasons, maybe more
When a vision of my heart’s delight , Appeared at my front door.
I thought it Jamie’s ghost, For I could not think it he,
‘Til he said, jenny, I’ve come home For to marry thee.

With sorrow I told Jamie I’d wed old Robin Gray.
We stole one kiss, then mournfully We tore ourselves away.
I cried myself to sleep that night, I’m no like to lie:
I’ll ne’er forget my heart’s true light til the day I die.

I live in quiet loneliness, Weeping while I spin.
I dare not call on Jamie For that would be a sin.
I’ll do my best & will not stray, a tru wife I shall be
Though Robin is a kind old man, He’s not my fair Jamie.