© 1991 Dave Goulder, Harbourtown Music
A fast year-in-the-life of a master drystane dyker (dry stone wall builder), writted by himself. On this song I play a big old Casals Spanish guitar that a shipmate rescued in Mexico City and brought back to me when I was living on a boat in Connecticut. I've strung it to play six frets low: it is very happy there.
Gordon – Spanish guitar
Now that autumn is returning and the garden fires are burning
And the summer beasts are learning how to cope with shorter days
There I labor all alone piling stone upon the stone
Feeling just a touch of sadness as the summer slips away
As I roll the stone upon the stone
Working in the frosty weather when the stones are stuck together
Lifting divots, soil and heather as I pries them from the ground
And a little work is done till the weak and wintry sun
Loosens up their icy grip and I can lay me hammer down
As I roll the stone upon the stone
The barometer is falling and the forecast is appalling
And the working folk are crawling through the January storm
Gales 8 to 10* all day almost blow the stones away
And my brain has turned to porridge by the time I head for home
As I roll the stone upon the stone
Now the winter storms are ending and the days are soon extending
And an early lark ascending has me looking round for spring
Stones taken from the land are warm under the hand
And my cup is running over with the pleasure of the thing
As I roll the stone upon the stone
Soon the wall is moving over belts of willow, herb, and clover
And the weasel and the plover watch me slowly pass them by
And the air is full of winds as a million stinging things
Set me yearning for October in the middle of July
As I roll the stone upon the stone
*On the Beaufort scale Force 10 is a whole gale