Category Archives: Songs

Babe in Babylon

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Madison arrives at dawn at the Greyhound Bus Station, Union Road, Memphis

Lyrics: Sabine Beissert

Music: Paul Christopher Walton

The Band: Second Light

Vocal and Keys Sarah du Feu

Acoustic Guitar Ed Murray

Piano Paul Christopher Walton

Babe in Babylon

(Words by Sabine Beissert, music by Paul Christopher Walton)

1

I watched the Greyhound _ pull away,

Babe alone in Babylon  –

I didn’t really__want to stay

Friendless in the_ dusty dawn –

But broke and shook up_ as I was

There really wasn’t__too much choice –

If you’re from Bucksnort_ Tennessee,

Memphis is the place to be.

Chorus 1

Babe alone in Babylon

I’m really on my own

Babe alone in Babylon

There’s no more road_ go_-ing_home

2

I slung my pack across_ my shoulder

Careful not to_hurt the bruise –

That was already_ changing colour

Scared  he’d seen__through my ruse –

‘Cause when he found he’d been__outsmarted

That was when  my troubles started –

But I had resolve__I had a plan

And far more brains__than my man.

Chorus 2

So this Babe alone in Babylon

Better make it on her own

’Cause for this Babe in Babylon

There’s no more road_go_-ing _ home

3

I ditched the phone when I_skipped town

Oh, I can also_ play that game

My blonde curls are_straight and brown

And now  I’ll  need _another name.

Who did I always_ want to be?

Madison, is  who I’ll think I’ll be now

Chorus 3 Outro

Babe alone In Babylon
Babe alone In Babylon

So Babe Alone In Babylon

There’s no more road_

Go-ing _home!

Hiding Just For Now?

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Cannes, London, Oxford

Sun sets on the côte

Pink clouds drift and hide

I paddle through the sea

Waiting for a tide

And your face

In this place

Now…

And your face 

In this place

Somehow

Still guiding

But hiding

Just for now?

2

Rain runs down the pane

Grey skies frame the scene

Your seat is empty now

A shadow where you’ve been 

And your face

In this place

Now…

And your face 

In this place

Somehow

Still guiding

But hiding

Just for now?

3

The light is fading now

Darkens all I knew

Too late for one last look

The train pulls out of view

And your face

In this place

Now…

And your face 

In this place

Somehow

Still guiding

But hiding

Just for now?

(With thanks to Martin Pickett for the exquisite piano!)

Let’s Walk The Bridge

14 Sunday Dec 2025

Posted by in Lyrics, Marians on the Mawddach, poems of place, Poetry, Songs

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(And think of some who’ve crossed)

Poems of Place: The Barmouth Viaduct

 First night in Hall with first night fear

You calmed the room and charmed all here

And later still when midnight chimed,

With notes compared our friendship primed.

            Let’s walk the ridge

            Let’s cross the bridge

            Let’s walk that bridge 

Together

It seems so long since we first met

But not as long as mountains yet

So many things we seemed to share

Both pilgrims with a friendship rare

            Let’s walk the ridge.

            Let’s cross the bridge

            Let’s walk that bridge 

Together

Somewhere beyond that darkened crest

Your stage is now where Quakers rest 

And sometimes lit by orange moons

We’ll speak your rhymes and sing your tunes

Let’s walk the ridge

            Let’s cross the bridge

            Let’s walk that bridge 

Together

That night with Thom and Gill and me,

The wind was strong sandblasting sea.

With ashes then we’d come to throw

You back to where the flowers grow

Let’s walk the ridge

            Let’s cross the bridge

            Let’s walk that bridge 

Forever.