Girl with a Hay Rake

 

 

 

 

RALPH, ALBERT & SYDNEY
Jack Harris

Visit Jack's Web Site

My friend Geoff, always good at keeping his ear to the ground, mentioned Jack Harris to me. He is a 20 year old from mid Wales, who did well at the Kerriville Festival last year. There are a couple of mp3s you can listen to on Jack's site, one of which, Girl with a Hay Rake, I have put on this page. I think he's worth checking out and seeing live if he comes your way. 
Jack has recently put out his first full length CD and it's great. 

Andy Langran

Jack Harris' new CD Broken Yellow is out now. You can contact Jude Harris for details on purchases or buy via PayPal direct from Jack's web site

Two shorter CDs, Plague on Both Your Horses and Pathfinder are also still available

Broken Yellow was recorded in the Summer of 2006 at Red Kite studios in Wales. It was produced Eric Taylor and features 12 songs, 11 of them Jack Harris originals and one reinterpretation of a traditional song.

Tracklist:
1. Oast Houses
2. The Dance
3. Bird Song
4. Pomegranate
5. Merciful Heavens
6. The Archer
7. See How the Bronze Horse Go
8. Tampa Red
9. Happy Song for Baltimore
10. Cotton Dress Love Song
11. Red's On the Bed
12. One by One, the Buffalo

Jack Harris - guitar, vocal
"One-take" Harry Harris - mandolin, French horn-dolin, glass-dolin
Ben Weisner - percussion
Julian Wilson - piano, Hammond organ
Anna Jenkins - violin
Jo Silverstone - cello

 

Girl with a Hay Rake - lyrics
inspired by the Winslow Homer painting Girl with a Hay Rake
Winslow Homer Paintings

And maybe it's autumn and she is stifled by a chill,
There's a girl with a hay rake walking up a hill,
And New England has borne its harvest unto she,
And you can't tell that she is walking wearily,

Her hand on her hip there, her face in shadow from her cowl,
Oh, but you can trace a fair hair or the snow-fall of her jowl,
A girl with a hay rake 'mid the crooked autumn lee
Of the wind in the sycamore, tired as can be,

Chorus:
And when the red wings fly through the evening by and by,
She will sit beside the cider mill and drink the apples dry.

There's certainly a hay field, her fatigue on which to blame,
Over yonder way there, through the trees from whence she came,
Maybe there's a father, from when first she had begun,
Kept his gaze upon her, making sure her work got done,

Chorus

And all around her kitchen, the siblings hurl themselves about,
There's a yearning inside her trying to get out,
But for the while there's gravy, mashed potatoes, boiling stew,
She will eat them in silence until eating time is through,

Chorus

And maybe it's autumn and she is stifled by a chill,
There's a girl with a hay rake walking up a hill,
There's a girl with a hay rake walking up a hill.

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