A folk song of mine written on several trains including one to Nuwarelya where I sat opposite a Sinhalese Father and his 3 sons. His attitude to life reflected British influence in post war Ceylon, an attitude I often encountered in the UK in the late Seventies where a Father decides the careers of his sons, but has no such concern for his daughters. Suffice to say I find that often or not t'is the people I meet on my travels and their stories I remember more than the destination.

Lyrics

The Four Corners

Must have travelled the four corners
to return again to find
That no matter where I'm travelling to,
You know I'm still
of a homecoming kind
homecoming kind
Refrain 1.
T'is not the destination,
it's not the only place you will find
Got to be the conversation that
frees up the borders of my mind

Caught the train up Madagascar,
along a ridge they call the spine
Met a man who'd fled from Lhasa
where freedom's still a heinous crime.
And the fruits of labor,
torn from the vine,
torn from the vine
Refrain 2.
And as I row upon the river
to see the salmon leap the fall
With their strong sense of survival
an instinct to move us all

Upon a train to Nuwarelya,
that climbs the clouds above the sea
Met a man who had 4 children
for whom he’d planned for honestly
One for law and one for medicine,
and one a monk,...
for a Monastery
Monastery

His wife and daughter were not with him,
They worked Kuwait for an Emir.
Sending money back for family,
You know the cost of love.
can be dear,
can be dear.
Refrain 1.

All tracks are written by David Mansell ©davidmansellmusic with All Rights Reserved. As such may not be reproduced or distributed without his permission.