01. Home Fires Burning

I left town age eighteen

Left the northern lights of Aberdeen

I went far enough from home

To find a place to call my own

Will you keep the home fires burning

While this big bad world keeps turning

While I go and dig for gold

And you shelter from the cold

Mum and dad had seen it all

Warned of all the ways that I may fall

Told me tales of people lost

Voyagers who’d paid the cost

Will you keep the home fires burning

Will you pray for my returning

That I will weather all the storms

Down this rocky road I’m on

Then one year

I came back and found

My old school

Flattened to the ground

The tree we first

Kissed beneath was gone

Taken by the last big storm

Will you keep the home fires burning

While the wheels of time are turning

For all the things that break and bend

Love will last until the end

I left town age eighteen

Left the northern lights of Aberdeen

It’s now been years I’ve been away

Now mum and dad are old and grey

But they keep the home fires burning

For they know my heart is yearning

And though the pipes may always play

They’ll call me home but I can’t stay

02. Brother I Never Had

I never had a brother

But I always wanted one

The sister of my mother

Had an older son

As close as two little boys could be

He would take a bullet for me

The brother that I never had

Together every summer

Laughing running free

I looked up to him with wonder

We’d hitch a ride down to the sea

We played there ‘til the sun went down

Then we’d back into town

The brother that i never had

End of summer warning bell

You dreaded going back to school

I knew the feeling all too well

Those north east boys could be so cruel

You told nobody but your mother

Bloody Fists and knuckles blue

Your bloody teacher shrugged and said

those bloody boys weren’t bad to you

I miss you like a brother

And I miss those summer days

A haven to each other

We could always hide away

Where men are like the cold north sea

You showed me how warm a boy could be

The brother that I never had

03. To All The Boys

To all the boys when you’re crying

Don’t turn your tears away

Cause hiding them is just denying

How you’re really feeling that day

Now tell me this

Could the world not be fixed

With a hug and a kiss

Not a flag and a fist

So fathers show your sons

The tears when they come

To all the boys when you’re crying

Don’t turn your tears away

Cause hiding them is just denying

How you’re really feeling that day

Cause when we fall

We feel nothing at all

Cause we’re tough

We don’t say a word

When our hearts get broken

The pain remains unspoken

Cause we’re strong

We never get hurt

So brother tell me when

You really need a friend

To all the boys when you’re crying

04. Golden Hour

The sun has almost set

The evening chill not started yet

The birds have words to say

About what happened here today

We sit among the blooming flowers

We know this is golden hour

Golden hour

A love so warm and sweet

The fate and fortune we should meet

The smile of our first child

Those tender nights so raw and wild

Mum and dad look down from their tower

They know this is golden hour

Golden hour

They all grow up so fast

We blink and then the time has passed

We fold away the baby clothes

We look in wonder at the old photos

Of all the things that time devours

We know this is golden hour

Golden hour

05. Eye Of The Storm

When the wind is rattling at your door

And it’s raining like it’s never rained before

Come in take off your coat

Sit down here where it’s warm

Out of the cold

Here in the eye of the storm

Out of the cold

Here in the eye of the storm

When you’ve lost a friend to better days

And your one true love has slowly faded away

We know you’ve done your best

Come and get it off your chest

Take a rest

Here in the eye of the storm

Take a rest

Here in the eye of the storm

There’s nothing more to say

There’s nothing more to do

No one will every know

The things that you’ve been through

It’s time to let it lie

Let your troubles walk on by

Don’t ask why

Here in the eye of the storm

Don’t ask why

Here in the eye of the storm

06. Leave The Hall Light On

In the town where I was born

Where the Ury meets the Don

There’s a house there in the square

Sits my mother in her chair

I know whenever I come home

No matter how love I’ve been gone

Even when the blinds are drawn

She will leave the hall light on

Leave the hall light on

So I know I’m not alone

From dusk til dawn

Leave the hall light on

All through the golden years

That we all now hold so dear

There was laughter, there was joy

A baby girl, a baby boy

We never stopped to count the days

Thought it would always be this way

We would stay out til the dawn

And would leave the hall light on

Leave the hall light on

So I know I’m not alone

From dusk til dawn

Leave the hall light on

When you’re old and need me there

I will come to love and care

When your bodie’s tired and frail

I will help you up the stairs

And when you stumble, when you fall

I will be there when you call

I will be your loving son

I will leave the hall light on

Leave the hall light on

So I know I’m not alone

From dusk til dawn

Leave the hall light on

So you know you’re not alone

From dusk til dawn

Leave the hall light on

07. The Girl From The Seaside Town

We met by shore

On the last summer’s evening

I held her in my arms

While the sky burnt down

I should have told her there and then

That I love her

The girl from the seaside town

Back at mum and dad’s

The autumn leaves were falling

Thed warned of a storm

That ripped trees from the ground

Then on new year’s eve

Shen said she’d come to see me

The girl from the seaside town

With frost under our feet

We both felt so much older

They’d boarded up the street

And the world was upside down

We spent the night

Searching for the summer splendour

The girl from the seaside town

She spoke of moving through

Working selling flowers

Back home the rent was due

And no jobs were to be found

I just got scared, I said

“We’re only summer lovers”

She turned and disappeared into the crowd

The girl from the seaside town

Then a letter came

She was living round the corner

She never called it love

But they had settled down

From then on I’d often see her holding flowers

The girl from the seaside town

Then one day she’d gone

And no one seemed to know where

I went back to the shore

There I wrote this vow

If I see her again

I will tell her that I love her

And promise that I’ll never let her down

The girl from the seaside town

08. Glasgow Kiss

Headed south on the late night train

Things will never be the same

I take a job in a back street club

Picking broken bottles up

I’ve been waiting so long for a Glasgow Kiss

Someone sweet and dangerous

I’ve been watching my back on abandoned streets

Wondering when you and I would meet

A man gets killed on the barroom floor

Come that night to a kicked down door

Waiting for you in an empty

Will you love me tender or find me dead

I’ve been waiting so long for a Glasgow Kiss

Someone sweet and dangerous

I’ve been watching my back on abandoned streets

Wondering when you and I would meet

I’m in the corner

Back of the bar

Staying out of trouble

Wondering where you are

I’ll fight for something

Don’t with my fists

But for your lovin

I’ll take any kind of risks

Waiting so long for a Glasgow Kiss

Someone sweet and dangerous

I’vebeen watching my back on abandoned streets

Wondering when you and I would meet

Waiting so long for a Glasgow Kiss

For two long years I’ve dreamt of this

I’ve been watching my back on abandoned streets

Wondering when you and I would meet

11. Rainy Morning Late November

A rainy morning, late November

Here’s all that I remember

They found you lying in the road

At the back of the garden grove

Your mum and dad were out that night at some do

You were fifteen years old

They found you lying in the cold

Your little sister had slept the whole night through

They say you didn’t mean to

You just slipped in muddy ground like you do

And the gun just flipped around like it does

And you died that night just because

You were like a big brother to me

You told me tales from school so proudly

Kisses from the girls you’d had your share

Oh you’d gotten in some brawls

And had taken a fair few falls

But in the end you had won them fair and square

I know you didn’t mean to

You just slipped in muddy ground didn’t you?

And the gun just flipped around like it does

And you died that night just because

A rainy morning, cold November

There’s one more thing I now remember

The last time I came by

You showed off your big black eye

You said they came in numbers but you’d won

And the last thing that you said

Was “things will be easier when we’re dead”

And I didn’t know what you were saying but then you were gone

They say you didn’t mean to

But I’ve never known if it’s true

Cause the people round here never talk things through

And you died that night just because

Just because

Big Bad World

My mother told me about

the big bad world

From the bosom of the home

you’re gonna get hurled

Into the wild

With the lions and bears

In the big bad world

You’re gonna die out there

They’re fighting for silver

They’re killing for gold

They’re blowing up mountains

They’re digging coal

The battleships game

Never grows old

They’re fighting like kids

In the big bad world

The big bad world

She said there’s bombs and guns

There’s people on the run

There’s droughts and floods

They want rivers of blood

There's a big bad man

And he won't play fair

In the big bad world

You’re gonna die out there

They’re fighting for silver

They’re killing for gold

They’re blowing up mountains

They’re digging coal

The battleships game

Never grows old

They’re fighting like kids

In the big bad world

The big bad world

My mother told me I’d be safe and sound

Just come straight home

Try to keep your head down

First day back at school I was black and blue

Still no one said a word about the trouble here too

They’re fighting for silver

They’re killing for gold

They’re blowing up mountains

They’re digging coal

The battleships game

Never grows old

They’re fighting like kids

In the big bad world

The big bad world

Silver City

A cold day for busking

In the old grey town

There’s a street sweeper shuffling

And he throws me a pound

He looks down at me smiling

With tears in his eyes

This is no place for dreamers

Like you and I

And he told me

Of Silver City

Where they’re dancing

And living free

Where you can be you

And I can be me

This old grey town

It’s time to leave

The very next morning

I packed my bags

Took an old wedding photo

Of my mum and dad

And they warned me

It’s gonna be hard

When you run out of money

You can sell that guitar

And I told them of Silver City…

Met those on my journey

Walking the other way

They spoke of my hometown

As golden not grey

I guess we’re all looking

For something more

Over the next mountain

On a distant shore

We’re all going to Silver City…