Queen of Waters
by Nancy Kerr
Nancy Kerr & James Fagan played the main stage of the Shrewsbury Folk Festival on Sunday 29th August 2010.
This footage is from the feed that was sent to the screens in the main stage and also webcast as a live event.
Well away my love away,
For we're sailing home today
On a boat called memory
Hail home, hearts that long for the land
Oh she's like some Persian queen,
With her opal robes serene
In the lamplight shimmering
Hail home, hearts that long for the land
Chorus :
On a blue jay morning
Feathering thorny memories
Hail home, hearts have been too long away
On a well-worn byway travelling
Magpie gathering
Farewell queen of waters
Well it's hard to roll in mirth,
When your feet don't touch the earth
And the wolf comes hungering
Hail home, hearts that long for the land
Folly never foots the bill
And we all shall pay in full
For the love of melody
Hail home, hearts that long for the land
Well I should have sowed my corn,
But I danced until the dawn
Like an ant grasshoppering
Hail home, hearts that long for the land
Oh there must be better ways
For to keep the debts at bay
And the whiskey trickling
Hail home, hearts that long for the land
So we'll bid our ship adieu
There's a mooring in the blue
Where the gulls are gathering
Hail home, hearts that long for the land
Oh she's like some Persian queen,
And her like shall ne'er be seen
Only in our reverie
Hail home, hearts that long for the land
'Queen of Waters' was written by Nancy Kerr and recorded on the album 'Twice Reflected Sun' by Nancy Kerr and
James Fagan, Navigator Records (2010). In the sleeve notes it says 'A farewell to the Kennet and Avon Canal'. For a
time Nancy Kerr and James Fagan lived on a narrowboat on that canal near Bath. This song was nominated in the Best
Original Song category at the BBC Folk Awards in 2011.
'Queen of Waters' is also the title of a book by Kirsten Elliott which is subtitled 'A Journey in Time along the Kennet and
Avon Canal' (Akeman Press 2010).