Banquet Hall Lyrics By Loreena Mckennitt

Loreena McKennitt
Recorded at Annaghmakerrig, Ireland
Loreena McKennitt: troubador and celtic harps, tambourine, finger cymbals

Full Circle Lyrics By Loreena Mckennitt

Stars were falling deep in the darkness
as prayers rose softly, petals at dawn
And as I listened, your voice seemed so clear
so calmly you were calling your god

Somewhere the sun rose, o'er dunes in the desert
such was the stillness, I ne'er felt before
Was this the question, pulling, pulling, pulling you
in your heart, in your soul, did you find rest there?

Elsewhere a snowfall, the first in the winter
covered the ground as the bells filled the air
You in your robes sang, calling, calling, calling him
in your heart, in your sould, did you find peace there?

Coventry Carol Lyrics By Loreena Mckennitt

Lully, lulla, thou little tiny child
By by, lully, lullay, thou little tiny child
By by, lully lullay


O sisters too, how may we do
For to preserve this day
This poor youngling
For whom we do sing
By by, lully lullay?


Herod, the king
In his raging
Chargטd he hath this day
His men of mightIn his own sight,
All young children to slay


That woe is me
Poor child for thee!
And ever morn and day,
For thy parting
Neither say nor sing
By by, lully lullay!

Samain Night Lyrics By Loreena Mckennitt

When the moon on a cloud cast night
Hung above the tree tops height
You sang me of some distant past
That made my heart beat strong and fast
Now I know I'm home at last

You offered me an eagle's wing
That to the sun I might soar and sing
And if I heard the owl's cry
Into the forest I would fly
And in its darknews find you by.

And so our love's not a simple thing
Nor our truths unwavering
But like the moon's pull on the tide
Our fingers touch our hearts collide
I'll be a moonsbreath from your side.

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen Lyrics By Loreena Mckennitt

God rest ye merry, gentlemen,
Let nothing you dismay
Remember Christ our Saviour
Was born on Christmas Day
To save us all from Satan's power
When we were gone astray.
O tidings of comfort and joy,comfort and joy;
O tidings of comfort and joy!

From God our Heavenly Father
A blessed angel came
And unto certain shepherdsBrought tidings of the same
How in that Bethlehem was born
The son of God by name


"Fear not," then said the angel
"Let nothing you affright
This day is born a saviour
Of a pure virgin bright
To free all those who trust in him
From Satan's pow'r and might"


The shepherds at those tidings
Rejoiced much in mind,
And left their flocks a-feeding
In tempest, storm and wind
And went to Bethlehem straightaway
This blessed babe to find


But when to Bethlehem they came
Whereat this infant lay
They found him in a manger
Where oxen feed on hay
His mother Mary kneeling
Unto the Lord did pray


Now to the Lord sing praises
All you within this place
And with true love and brotherhood
Each other now embrace
This holy tide of Christmas
All others doth deface

Courtyard Lullaby Lyrics By Loreena Mckennitt

Wherein the deep night sky
The stars lie in its embrace
The courtyard still in its sleep
And peace comes over your face

'Come to me' it sings
'Hear the pulse of the land
The Ocean's rhythms pull
To hold your heart in its hand'

And when the wind draws strong
Across the cypress trees
The Nightbirds cease their songs
So gathers memories.

Last night you spoke of a dream
Where forests stretched to the east
And each bird sang its song
A Unicorn joined in a feast

And in a corner stood
A pomegranate tree
With wild flowers there
No mortal eye could see

Yet still some mystery befalls
Sure as the cock crows at morn
the world in stillness keeps
The secret of babes to be born

I heard an old voice say
"Don't go far from the land
The seasons have their way
No mortal can understand."

Dickens' Dublin (the Palace) Lyrics By Loreena Mckennitt

I walk the streets of Dublin town
It's 1842
It's snowing on this Christmas Eve
Think I'll beg another bob or two
I'll huddle in this doorway here
Till someone comes along
If the lamp lighter comes real soon
Maybe I'll go home with him.

Maybe I can find a place I can call my home
Maybe I can find a home I can call my own.

The horses on the cobbled stones pass by
Think I'll get one one fine day
And ride into the countryside
And very far away.
But now as the daylight disappears
I best find a place to sleep
Think I'll slip into the bell tower
In the curch just down the street.

Maybe I can find a place I can call my home
Maybe I can find a home I can call my own.

Maybe on the way I'll find the dog
I saw the other night
And tuck him underneath my jacket
So we'll stay warm through the night
And as we lie in the bell tower high
And dream of days to come
The bells o'er head will call the hour
The day we will find a home.

Maybe I can find a place I can call my home
Maybe I can find a home I can call my own.

Dickens Dublin Transcript
Joyful mystery, the birth of our lord... This night our Lady and St. Joseph
was going up to get registered and um they were going down the road and
they met his man... and he said have you any room and he said 'Not but
there's an old stable over there that I owned... If yous want to get into
it...And they went over and the Lord came down from heaven at twelve
o'clock and loads of beautiful angels was with them... and when they were
walkin....

These three wise kings... um... they were all from different countries. And
they always looked up at the sky and they looked up this night and saw this
beautiful star up in the sky... and when they were going they all meeted
together... and they had to pass King Herod's, not that we much care for
him... and they went in and he said 'Where are ye going with your best
stitches on ye.'

And they said 'Did you not hear the news' and say he says 'What News' he
says 'This day the Savious is born' and he said to them 'When you find him
come back and tell me cause I want to go and adore him too' and he was only
coddin' them. He wanted to kill him and when they were going, they stopped
and they said 'Surely not this old stable that our King is born in. We were
expecting a palace.'

There was these shepards and shepards are fellas that mind the foals and
cows and sheeps and little lambs and all um they hears this beautiful music
up in the sky and they were wondering what was so fun... an angel
disappated them and he said 'I was wonderin' what was so fun' and he said
ye, and he said 'The Saviour is born. If you want to go see him follow that
star up in the sky,' and it was a beautiful star.

Introduction Lyrics By Loreena Mckennitt

I looked back and forth through the window of 15th century Spain, through
the hues of Judaism, Islam and Christianity, and was drawn into a
fascinating world: history, religion, cross-cultural fertilization... From
the more familiar turf of the west coast of Ireland, through the
troubadours of France, crossing over the Pyrenees and then to the west
through Galicia, down through Andalusia and past Gibraltar to Morocco...
The Crusades, the pilgrimage to Santiago, Cathars, the Knights Templar, the
Sufis from Egypt, One Thousand and One Nights in Arabia, the Celtic sacred
imagery of trees, the Gnostic Gospels... who was God? and what is religion,
what spirituality? What was revealed and what was concealed... and what was
the mask and what the mirror?

Je regarde par le vitrail de l'Espagne du XVe siecle, j'observe les reflets
du judaisme, de l'islam et du christianisme, et je suis attiree dans un
monde fascinant: l'histoire, la religion, l'inter-fecondation des
cultures... Partant du terreau plus famil ier de la cote ouest de
l'Irlande, en passant par les troubadours de France, traversant les
Pyrenees et allant vers l'ouest par la Galice, vers le sud a travers
l'Andalousie, puis a Gibraltar pour arriver au Maroc... Les Croisades, le
pelerinage a Saint-J acques-de-Compostelle, les Cathares, les Templiers,
les Soufis d'Egypte, les Mille et une nuits d'Arabie, l'imagerie celtique
de l'arbre sacre, les chants gnostiques... qui etait Dieu? et qu'es-ce que
la religion, la spiritualite? Ou est la relevation, et ou est le mystere?
Ou est le masque, et ou est le miroir?

Ich liess den Blick wie durch ein Fenster ins Spanien des 15. Jahrhunderts
schweifen, durch die Schattierungen von Judaismus, Islam und Christentum
und fuehlte mich in eine faszinierende Welte entfuehrt: Geschichte,
Religion, interkulturelle Befruchtung.. . Von den vertrauten Wiesen der
irischen Westkueste, vorbei an den Troubadoren Frankreichs, die Pyrenaeen
ueberquerend und dann Richtung Westen durch Galizien, hinunter nach
Andalusien und an Gibraltar vorbei bis nach Marokko... Die Kreuzzuege, der
Tempel ritter, die Sufis von Aegypten, Tausend und Eine Nacht in Arabien,
die heilige keltische Bildsprache der Baeume, das agnostische Evangelium...
Wer war Gott? und was ist Religion, was Vergeistigung? Was wurde enthuellt
und was war verborgen... und was war die Maske und was war der Spiegel?

Mire de un sitio a otro a traves de la ventana del siglo XV espanol, por
todos los matices del Judaismo, el Islam y el Cristianismo, y me senti
atraida por un mundo fascinante: historia, religion, la fertilidad de aquel
cruce de culturas... Desde los fami liares prados verdes de la costa oeste
de Irlanda, hasta los trovadores de Francia, cruzando los Pirineos, pase
por Galicia, baje hasta Adalucia y atravese Gibraltar hasta llegar a
Marruecos... Las Cruzadas, el peregrinaje a Santiago, Los Cataros, Los Tem
plarios, los Sufis de Egipto, Las Mil y Una Noches de Arabia, la sagrada
imagineria Celta de los arboles, los Gospels gnosticos... quien era Dios?
Que es religion y que espiritualidad? Que fue revelado y que ocultado?...
Y que fue mascara y que espejo ?

Breaking The Silence Lyrics By Loreena Mckennitt

I hear some distant drumbeat
A heartbeat pulsing low
It is coming from within
A heartbeat I don't know
A troubled heart knows no peace
A dark and poisoned pool
Of liberty now lost
A pawn an opressor's tool

Oh my heart must be strong
And guide when eyes grow dim
When ears grow deaf with empty words
When I know there's life within

A gunfire shatters silence
Where birds once sweetly sang
A mother cradles a child now dead
Now death where life began

From the troubled heart of South Africa
Nicaragua's festering sore
The turmoil on the streets of China
Death crying out for more

A change is slow in coming
My eyes can scarcely see
The rays of hope come streaming
Through the smoke of apathy

Oh my heart must be strong
And guide when eyes grow dim
When ears grow deaf with empty words
When I know there's life within

May the spirit never die
Though a troubled heart feels pain
When this long winter is over
It will blossom once again.