Land Below the Waves

Bring to me the morning
And the dawning of the day
Speed up the sun and forward turn
The clocks that slow our way
Bring down the moon and shining stars
And hold the night time long
Wake up the larks and bittern, start
To sing tomorrow's song

Get the ferry, set for sea
As fast as can be done
Let go the ropes and free our hopes
Of western skies to come
The rising sun to starboard
As the boat leaves Oban Bay
Our homeland dreams return in streams
And fill the dawning day

For I want to go
Where the great Atlantic roars
From the cliffs of Kennavara
To majestic Skerryvore
And breathe again the air
My island body craves
And feel again the freedom
Of the land below the waves

Like barley in the wind
We've been scattered far and thin
From the cruelty of the Clearance
To the pressures we live in
No matter where we roam
Over land or over foam
The island pulls the children
Of the barley to come home

See Ben Hynish and Ben Hough
And the early morning glow
Then houses rising from the sea
As land begins to show
You know you're homeward bound
Steaming by the Gunna Sound
With passion then you stand again
Upon your island ground

For I want to go
Where the great Atlantic roars
From the cliffs of Kennavara
To majestic Skerryvore
And breathe again the air
My island body craves
And feel again the freedom
Of the land below the waves

The island of Tiree
And its land and soil and sea
Goes through the bone like fire and stone
And who you're born to be
On the world's fickle face
Unyielding anchors to a place
The guiding star of who you are
Your people and your race

Stand on (?)
Or the shores of Hudson Bay
The wilds of Argentina
Or New Zealand's earth and clay
Our seeds are growing wide
But the roots of island pride
Will bring us all together
On the flooding of the tide

And I want to go
Where the great Atlantic roars
From the cliffs of Kennavara
To majestic Skerryvore
And breathe again the air
My island body craves
And feel again the freedom
Of the land below the waves

For I want to go
Where the great Atlantic roars
From the cliffs of Kennavara
To majestic Skerryvore
And breathe again the air
My island body craves
And feel again the freedom
Of the land below the waves