Released: October 21, 2009
Songwriter: Mary Macmaster Sting Robert Louis Stevenson
Producer: Robert Sadin
[Verse]
All day we fought the tides between the North
Head and the South
All day we hauled the frozen sheets to escape the
Storms wet mouth
All day as cold as charity, in bitter pain and
Dread
For very life and nature we tacked from head
To head
We gave the South a wider berth, for there the
Tide-race roared
But every tack we made we brought the North
Head close aboard
We saw the cliffs and houses and the breakers
Running high
And the coastguard in his garden, his glass
Against his eye
The frost was on the village roofs as white as
Ocean foam
The good red fires were burning bright in every
Long-shore home
The windows sparkled clear and the chimneys
Volleyed out
And I vow we sniffed the victuals as the vessel
Went about
The bells upon the church were rung with a
Mighty jovial cheer
For its just that I should tell you how (of all days
In the year)
This day of our adversity was blessed Christmas
Morn
And the house above the coastguards was the
House where I was born
And well I knew the talk they had, the talk that
Was of me
Of the shadow on the household and the son that
Went to sea
And, oh, the wicked fool I seemed, in every kind
Of way
To be here and hauling frozen ropes on blessed
Christmas Day
All day we fought the tides between the North
Head and the South
All day we hauled the frozen sheets to escape the
Storms wet mouth
All day as cold as charity, in bitter pain and
Dread
For very life and nature we tacked from head
To head
We gave the South a wider berth, for there the
Tide-race roared
But every tack we made we brought the North
Head close aboard
We saw the cliffs and houses and the breakers
Running high
And the coastguard in his garden, his glass
Against his eye
The frost was on the village roofs as white as
Ocean foam
The good red fires were burning bright in every
Long-shore home
The windows sparkled clear and the chimneys
Volleyed out
And I vow we sniffed the victuals as the vessel
Went about
The bells upon the church were rung with a
Mighty jovial cheer
For its just that I should tell you how (of all days
In the year)
This day of our adversity was blessed Christmas
Morn
And the house above the coastguards was the
House where I was born
And well I knew the talk they had, the talk that
Was of me
Of the shadow on the household and the son that
Went to sea
And, oh, the wicked fool I seemed, in every kind
Of way
To be here and hauling frozen ropes on blessed
Christmas Day
more tracks from the album
If on a Winter’s Night...
- The Hounds of Winter
- Bethlehem Down
- The Coventry Carol
- You Only Cross My Mind in Winter
- Hurdy Gurdy Man
- Lullaby for an Anxious Child
- Cherry Tree Carol
- Balulalow
- Now Winter Comes Slowly
- The Burning Babe
- Cold Song
- Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming
- Christmas at Sea
- The Snow It Melts the Soonest
- There Is No Rose of Such Virtue
- Soul Cake
- Gabriel’s Message
- Blake’s Cradle Song
From the albums
Sting popular songs
- Shape of My Heart
- Englishman in New York
- Desert Rose
- Fields of Gold
- Fragile
- Russians
- It’s Probably Me
- If I Ever Lose My Faith in You
- Brand New Day
- Seven Days
- Mad About You
- A Thousand Years
- Soul Cake
- I Can’t Stop Thinking About You
- If You Love Somebody Set Them Free
- All This Time
- When We Dance
- If It’s Love
- The Last Ship
- Fortress Around Your Heart
- Children’s Crusade
- Moon Over Bourbon Street
- Synchronicity I
- Giacomo’s Blues