Get all 8 Sam Carter releases available on Bandcamp and save 15%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Home Waters Live, Home Waters, How The City Sings, Live At The Union Chapel, The No Testament, Lumpy's Lullaby, Keepsakes, and Here In The Ground.
1. |
She Brings Me Home
03:17
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Standing room on the London train
Stag dos jostle and toddlers wail
But her spare key chimes with my pocket change
And I’m almost there
It can’t be far just a few more miles
Past long faces and cold turnstiles
Into outstretched arms and the widest smile
I’m almost there
Somehow she knows the way to bring me home
She grounds me like the last chord of a song
She’s the one who brings me home
Is she waiting by her front door
Falling out of the dress she wore
When we cracked her headboard the week before?
I’m almost there
Somehow she knows the way to bring me home
She grounds me like the last chord of a song
She’s the one who brings me home
I’ve tried and tried without success
To find a place I can come to rest
When she lays her head down here on my chest
I’m almost there
Somehow she knows the way to bring me home
She grounds me like the last chord of a song
Somehow she knows the way to bring me home
She grounds me like the last chord of a song
She’s the one who brings me home
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2. |
Slow Waves
04:10
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3. |
The Watersmeet
02:16
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4. |
Hold Back The Storm
03:36
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Flood sirens roar
And rip through the quiet life
Sandbag the doors
Brace for the rising tide
But if like the rising tide
We rise in time
We’ll save the yet unborn
If like the rising tide
We rise in time
We’ll hold back the storm
Out in the street
Loud hailers rouse the crowd
They cry: ‘We’re in deep but
Nothing will drown us out’
If like the rising tide
We rise in time
We’ll save the yet unborn
If like the rising tide
We rise in time
We’ll hold back the storm
It’s a brave new dawn
It’s only just begun
As the earth spins on
In spite of all we’ve done
If like the rising tide
We rise in time
We’ll save the yet unborn
If like the rising tide
We rise in time
We’ll hold back the storm
We’ll hold back the storm
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5. |
Surprise View
03:58
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On Surprise View on a clear day
When the sky opens wide
I can almost hear her breathing by my side
So I come here every summer
And I walk on till I stand
Where we’d lay down in the heather
Where I asked for her hand
And it’s how I’ll always see her
In a pair of walking boots
Soaking in the morning sun
Up on Surprise View
Now her old boots line the hallway
Gathering dust, laces loose
In the same place since the day she heard the news
I was shaking and the sunrise
Was the last thing on my mind
But she asked me if I’d drive her
To Surprise View one last time
And it’s how I’ll always see her
In a pair of walking boots
Soaking in the morning sun
Up on Surprise View
As the sun sinks and I’m leaving
I think back to those days
Though she’s gone now she’s not missing
’Cos I know where she stays
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6. |
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One morning in the month of June,
Down by a rolling river,
There a jolly sailor chanced to stray,
There he beheld some lover.
Her cheeks were red, her eyes were brown,
Her hair in ringlets hanging down;
Her lovely brow without a frown,
Just as the tide was flowing.
“My pretty maid,” to her he said,
“How come you here so early?
My heart by you it is betray'd
And I might love you dearly.
I am a sailor come from sea,
If you will accept my company
For to walk and view the fishes play,
Just as the tide was flowing.”
No more did stay, but on the way
They both did gang together;
The small birds sing, the lambs did play,
And pleasant was the weather.
They being weary both sat down
Beneath the trees with the branches round;
And what they said will never be known
Just as the tide was flowing.
Upon the grass she then did roll,
Her colour it kept changing.
This pretty maid called out: “Alas!
Don’t let your mind be ranging.”
She gave him twenty pounds in store
Saying, “Meet me when you will there's more.
For a jolly sailor I adore
Just as the tide was flowing.”
So they kissed, shook hands and then did part
The sailor drank his brandy
And to keep his shipmates in good cheer
The lady's gold came handy.
And with some other young girl he’ll go
To the public bar where the brandy flows
Show me the lad who wouldn’t do so
Just as the tide was flowing.
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7. |
The Forge
03:28
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I grew up where the ground shook to the sound
Of the smith striking down on the anvil
And I saw my name in the furnace flame
When the day came to take up the mantle
Now I’ll stoke the fire, oh yes I’ll stoke the fire
And smoke will pour from the chimney
With a myth and a voice as my tools of choice
I’ll be down at the forge if you need me
Word gets around, I’m the talk of the town
’Cos I know what the folks here are after
Turn a phrase just right and it catches the light
Like a blade in the hands of a master
I’ll stoke the fire, oh yes I’ll stoke the fire
From far and wide they seek me
For a tale so sharp it could puncture the dark
I’ll be down at the forge if you need me
One line from me and the pauper’s king of all he sees
One line from me and the king’s swinging from the gallows tree
Now the smith’s hammer’s still and from up on the hill
I can take in the sounds in the valley
Every mercy plea, every curse on the breeze
Is a spark to the cinders inside me
I’ll stoke the fire, oh yes I’ll stoke the fire
Though the work will never be easy
Every true story told turns lead into gold
I’ll be down at the forge if you need me
Every true story told turns lead into gold
I’ll be down at the forge if you need me
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8. |
Bones
03:12
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Don’t wait behind for me he said, no don’t you stop to think
Just pray we come to land my love, before we start to sink
Yet I’m in no rush to get away before the ship goes down
The first of us to jump is just the last of us to drown
When they find our bones
I hope there’s no next of kin to be told
Ahah, ah ah
The stern had struck a rock that day, we ran aground that night
The captain’s wife made her way overboard and out of sight
I found the captain with the wreck but nothing could be done
He spoke his last on the deck from a father to a son
When they find our bones
I hope there’s no next of kin to be told
When they find our bones
I hope there’s no next of kin to be told
Ahah, ah ah
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9. |
Fly The Flag
03:19
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This old ship is sinking fast
We nail our colours to the mast for one more fight
And where the captain should be sat
A bulldog in a bowler hat is out to bite
Fly the flag and plunder
Why the flag again?
It’s the pride behind the blunder
A flag that flies in vain
The captain barks his last command:
‘Shoot every stranger where they stand to save our lives’
Friendly fire ignites the seas
As allies become enemies before our eyes
Fly the flag and plunder
Why the flag again?
It’s the pride behind the blunder
A flag that flies in vain
And this war we wage
And this aimless rage
Is not mine
And this war we wage
And this aimless rage
Is not mine
We can raise this tattered rag
And brag we’ve got our country back but what’s the cost
The twelve gold stars that led the way
Have vanished in the light of day and now we’re lost
Fly the flag and plunder
Why the flag again?
It’s the pride behind the blunder
A flag that flies in vain
A flag that flies in vain
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10. |
Grenfell Road
02:42
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Stunned and shattered
How do we move on?
And where will we end up
Now we have no home?
Now we have no home?
A promise broken
Months have come and gone
So where will we end up
Now we have no home?
Now we have no home?
’Cos it seems at best we’ve been left for dead
Sleeping four abreast in this hotel bed
Come on, look at us
It’s not good enough just to bow your head
More than ashes
Fell on Grenfell Road
And it’s no use to say we told you so
But yes we told you so
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11. |
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From the south bank to soho we stride through the night
And the fire between us never burned so bright
I pass her my jacket as we sidestep and twist
Through the streets and the masses but there's a turn we’ve missed
'Cos she’s a dream and still so young
With a whole world to discover
And I've been holding on in this town too long
I have to let her go because I love her
I’ve never felt such passion, I’ve never known such grace
As when we’re arm in arm and face to face
She says ‘oh take me home’ but I feel unsure
I can't think of this city as home anymore
I need to leave and begin to grieve
To make a change while I recover
It’s this wanderlust that bonded us
I have to let her go because I love her
Underground we stand between two platforms again
She'll soon be heading south while mine’s the northbound train
But I can't let it lie and she's clinging on too
I mouth a last goodbye as she slips from view
And if in time somewhere down the line
We come to run into each other
And she wants to know why I let her go
I had to let her go because I love her
How could I mend her? I was a broken man
How could she piece me together with those unsteady hands?
How at its worst was it all for the best?
How could it be such a curse when I felt so blessed?
I won’t pretend we were a perfect blend
It would’ve died one way or the other
But I feel regret and I won’t forget
How I let her go because I love her
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12. |
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Now that I don’t see you it isn’t the things we did I’ll miss
It’s the things we didn’t do before it came to this
So I’ll say it for all the difference that it makes
It’s a shame we never made it to The Lakes
Sure there were daytrips, walks in the wood and on the Downs
Weekends in cities and little market towns
But somehow we just couldn’t raise the stakes
It’s a shame we never made it to the Lakes
Over the Seven Sisters, and out to the sea at Beachy Head
That day the rain just missed us, and we showered in the sunlight instead
It’s a memory that outshines our mistakes
Still it’s a shame we never made it to The Lakes
One regret, one regret, in all the years I spent with you
One regret, one regret, that you’re not here to see this view
Now I’m standing here reeling on the edge of Windermere
And you won’t believe how much I wish you were here
In the end we didn’t quite have what it takes
It’s a shame we didn’t make it
It’s s shame we never made it to The Lakes
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13. |
Bushes & Briars
03:18
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I can’t believe that it’s so cold
And there ain’t been no snow
The sound of music it comes to me
From every place I go
Sunday morning, there’s no one in church
But the clergy’s chosen man
And he is fine I won’t worry about him
He’s got the book in his hand
There’s a bitter east wind and the fields are swaying
The crows are round their nests
I wonder what he’s in there saying
To all those souls at rest
I see the path which led to the door
And the clergy’s chosen man
Bushes and briars, you and I
Where do we stand?
I wonder if he knows I’m here
Watching the briars grow
And all these people beneath my shoes
I wonder if they know
There was a time when every last one
Knew a clergy’s chosen man
Where are they now? Thistles and thorns
Among the sand
I can't believe that it’s so cold
And there ain’t been no snow
The sound of music it comes to me
From every place I go
Sunday morning, there’s no one in church
But the clergy’s chosen man
Bushes and briars, thistles and thorns
Upon the land
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14. |
One More River
02:58
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Oh father did you die in chains and am I shackled still?
I have but one more river to cross and then I’ll be at rest
And should I spill my master’s blood to break these bonds and flee?
I have but one more river to cross and then I’ll be at rest
And must I leave Virginia fair and sail across the sea?
I have but one more river to cross and then I’ll be at rest
And will I walk on England's soil in sweetest liberty?
I have but one more river to cross and then I’ll be at rest
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15. |
Ships In The Night
03:43
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It’s good to see you old friend
We’re like ships in the night since I moved away
And now finally the stars have aligned
Let’s not leave it so long next time
You’ve changed again my old friend
Your two sons have grown, you’ve a place of your own
With a garden to watch the boys climb
Let’s not leave it so long next time
Drunk on the bypass at quarter to three
Belting out ‘Cinnamon Girl’
We sang so loud that I almost believed
We had all the time in the world
Last glass my old friend
Then the evening is done and I’ve got to run
But whatever’s to come down the line
Let’s not leave it so long next time
Drunk on the bypass at quarter to three
Belting out ‘Cinnamon Girl’
We sang so loud that I almost believed
We had all the time in the world
Last glass my old friend
Then the evening is done and I’ve got to run
But whatever’s to come down the line
Let’s not leave it so long
Let’s not leave it so long next time
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Sam Carter Sheffield, UK
‘Sam Carter is a brilliant guitarist and songwriter who combines the observational with social comment and personal reflection’ Songlines
2010 BBC Folk Awards Horizon Award Winner
Sam Carter recommends:
My folk-rock adventures with Jim Moray
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