Nostalgia

I am in love. The new object of my affections is the music service Spotify; I just listened to a song that I haven’t heard in probably a decade, and one that (I discovered) still has the power to move me to tears – Meg Davis’ “Seamus and Ivy”. (Feral Boy knows whereof I speak, I’m sure…)

Davis is probably best known for her song “Captain Jack and the Mermaid” – that song and”Seamus and Ivy”, as well as a bunch of other delightful fantasy and neo-folk stuff, can be had on the recently (2009) reissued “Captain Jack” album.

I can’t find the lyrics to “Seamus” online anywhere, so here they are for your edification:

Come Seamus and Ivy
Your mother says you can come out to play
We can go down to the cobblestone streets in the city
and watch all the older folk passing the day away

Come Seamus and Ivy
I found an old box and a good stick of pine
We can pretend we are great fishermen out of Galway
We’ll sail a fine ship down the rain-guttered streets of St. Mary’s
Ah there’s no-one there, so we can be gods of the seas on the streets of St. Mary’s

Come Seamus and Ivy
My father’s too drunk and my mother’s asleep
I found fifty pence on the sidewalk for us to be sharing
We’ll buy us a kite and then up through the sky we’ll pretend
Ah there’s no-one out walking I know on the streets of St Mary’s
There’s no-one to care, we’ll be kings of the skies
On the streets of St. Mary’s

Come Seamus and Ivy
Your Ma is out working and your Dad’s fast asleep
Let’s go take a look at the bright colored glass in St. Mary’s
I heard that the sun makes a rainbow when glass colors meet
Ah there’s dust on the floor, and the old oaken door makes a creaking
There’s no-one inside, we’ll pretend it’s your wedding
And I’ll play the pipes down the streets of St. Mary’s

Come Seamus and Ivy
Your father is crying but I cannot tell why
I thought it was thunder that rolled down the streets of St. Mary’s
I thought it was lightning broke all the glass windows last night

Come Seamus and Ivy
Your mother tells me that you’ve gone on ahead
If I hurry along I can find you where we’re always playing
But it’s strange that today you both didn’t wait for me

Come Seamus and Ivy
Those fine clothes you’re wearing will get dirty and torn
And we can’t go out playing with kites or with boats in the morning
Ah your jacket’s too thin,
and that white dress you’re wearing won’t keep you too warm
Ah it’s nice how you’re smiling, I don’t get the joke
But we sure had some fun

You remember the times when we played on the streets of St. Mary’s
We’d pretend we were kings, we’d pretend we were gods of the sun
But today there’s no-one

Come Seamus and Ivy
Who will I play with now that you’re gone?

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