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the StorySinger set: Live in Germany

by Leslie Hudson

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The moon is risen, I can see your pebble path Leading brightly through the trees Stepping stones to safety Or at least to what is known But tonight there is nothing left to guide you Lose your way, my little children Build your fire higher May it keep you from the wolves Never fear, I will be your salvation Come near, eat your fill of my elation Nibble, nibble, like a mouse Who is nibbling at my house? Be ye friend or be ye foe Now you’ve come you’ll never go In the sunlight rosy windows sugar-spun Frosted eaves and ginger shingles Candy-petal gardens In the bright and dappled glade Come inside, oh, my poor diminished darlings Let me warm you by the hearth-flame Trust me, you’ll feel better When you’ve had a good night’s sleep While you’re sleeping I will weave for you a spell You are bound to my command, you will serve me well Never will you wander for this castle is a cage You can’t escape an orphaned fate and you’ve reached the final page You mistook the spider’s web for one last safety net Never fear, I will be your salvation Come near, eat your fill of my elation Nibble, nibble, like a mouse Who is nibbling at my house? Be ye friend or be ye foe Now you’ve come you’ll never go Nibble, nibble like a mouse Nibble, nibble like a mouse Nibble, nibble, like a mouse Who is nibbling at my house? Be ye friend or be ye foe Now you’ve come you’ll never go
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Nine hundred years ago living in Spain I married a man for his wealth and his name I worried his relatives, frightened his friends I angered his servants and made no amends I gossiped with neighbours, delighting in spite And never let on what I did every night They thought me a witch or a wandering waif But I kept my secret unbidden and safe I am ageless By the power of my skin I am seduction I can draw a lover in I am beauty So look deep into my eyes I’m your destruction But I will keep you tantalized My fury was potent and flattened my head My eyes they grew narrow and terror was spread Condemned if you crossed me, much worse than my bite Embrace me, my love, and I’ll wrap you up tight I am ageless By the power of my skin I am seduction I can draw a lover in I am beauty So look deep into my eyes I’m your destruction But I will keep you tantalized Don’t you want to play? Side to side I’ll sway I will haunt you night and day There is nothing you can do or say I am here to stay A woman by daylight, a snake in the dark As long as my skin doesn’t meet with a spark For all you would need to break free from my spell Is fire: a secret I never will tell I am ageless By the power of my skin I am seduction I can draw a lover in I am beauty So look deep into my eyes I’m your destruction But I will keep you tantalized I am ageless I am beauty I am seduction And I’m your destruction Look in my eyes I will keep you tantalized
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The Morrigan, in woman’s form Came looking for Cuchulainn To offer him her favour As a lover and a guardian “Be off with you, I do not need Your comp’ny or distraction It isn’t for a woman’s sake I fight as Ulster’s champion!” “Be careful what you say to me For I am no mere maiden And you will suffer greatly When you’re most in need of saving I’ll come against you thrice, I will Around your feet entangling To trip and trample, bite and tear Your entrails all a-dangling” Eel in the water And she-wolf I’ll be And hornless red heifer These shapes three For I am the Morrigan And you’re just a man Whose body will feed My corvid clan “I’ll be in the water when You’re fighting at the ford” Cuchulainn said, “I’ll crack your ribs And I won’t need my sword” “Then I’ll become a wolf and I will drive the beasts against you” He said, “I’ll sling a stone and blind Your eye, until I bless you” “Then I will be a blood-red cow To bring the herd stampeding Your enemy will fall upon you Broken there and bleeding” “I’ll throw a stone to break your leg” The bold Cuchulainn claimed “Until my blessing you receive You’ll be a woman maimed” Eel in the water And she-wolf I’ll be And hornless red heifer These shapes three For I am the Morrigan And you’re just a man Whose body will feed My corvid clan Yes, your body will feed My corvid clan All they promised came to pass The champion was spent He found a woman milking who was Squint-eyed, lame and bent “Woman, give me milk!” he cried Without a word she did “Good health to you” – a wound was healed As smiling face she hid Another drink, another blessing Then again, a third Whole at last the woman rose And then Cuchulainn heard: “You said you’d never heal me” As the Morrigan turned ‘round “If I’d known it was you,” he said “I’d not have made a sound!” Eel in the water And she-wolf I’ll be And hornless red heifer These shapes three For I am the Morrigan And you’re just a man Whose body will feed My corvid clan Yes, your body will feed My corvid clan For I am a raven And you’re just a man
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Long ago, when the sea was void of life, a vacant swell When the people hunted only on the land, the stories tell I was raised in an igloo by my father on the shore And refused to marry any of the hunters who implored me Kayak-borne, came a man to me one day who promised more And I sailed off with my chosen one beyond familiar shores But alas, he was a spirit-bird and not a man at all Island-bound and living lonely as the loon’s elusive call Oh, the sea she is churning Down where the medicine men go To comb out her long hair They comb out her long hair Her long, tangled black hair And soften her so So I prayed that my father would deliver me from there And he came and took me home from that cold place of my despair But the sea became a black and angry boiling underneath As our boat was tossed upon the waves that rose and fell beneath our feet All at once I felt my father push me hard and in I fell Overboard into the frigid Arctic waters of the swell “Father, please!” I screamed in terror as the sea-ice sucked me down But in his eyes I saw his fear and knew he’d rather let me drown Clawing, I clung to the edge of his kayak The storm would not be quelled Swinging his paddle he cut off my fingers In agony I yelled But the sea took me under To the dark ocean floor And I started to wonder What dying was for Surviving on rage I remember the pain For this water’s my cage And these animals stained They are pieces of me That were severed and bled All the creatures you see Are now my companions instead Oh, the sea she is churning Down where the medicine men go To comb out her long hair They comb out her long hair Her long, tangled black hair And soften her so They soften Sedna so
10.
11.
We were written like a villain into story Notoriety, little glory We the victims of an evil allegory Impropriety, never sorry As the servant who would be a queen The unrequited lover The barren bride abandoned Or the secondary mother We are damned because it’s our fault That you never stop to think The way we do when we see weakness And she stops to take a drink I am bitter (I am bitter) I am bitterness as cold as ice I am jealous (I am jealous) I am jealousy as old as night I want better I want better than your charming life I am other (I am other) I am otherwise a carving knife We were written to be foils and to be foiling Ever burning, ever boiling We the reason for your necessary toiling Needful learning and recoiling As the succubus who drains and draws The faery who entices The witch who weaves in darkness Or the demoness of crisis We are terrifying spectres There beneath the milky sheen Of our flawless imperfection You have never really seen I am bitter (I am bitter) I am bitterness as cold as ice I am jealous (I am jealous) I am jealousy as old as night I want better I want better than your charming life I am other (I am other) I am otherwise a carving knife You use me to draw a line Pay attention, little heroine It matters more this time You abuse me, break me down In an endless sea of back story I never make a sound I am bitter (I am bitter) I am bitterness as cold as ice I am jealous (I am jealous) I am jealousy as old as night I want better I want better than your charming life I am other (I am other) I am otherwise a carving knife I am other (I am other) I am otherwise a carving knife
12.
13.
I fell in love with an ideal But I believed with all my heart that it was real And when we met he felt the same There in the light of love, true lovers we became Our other lives melted away We had no care but for ourselves from day to day We were consumed by our desire Of our embrace we promised never we would tire Until the moment she reminded you Who you had first been promised to Farewell, my love You have turned your back Without you, love I am painted black My greatest loss I am torn from bliss You’ve chosen, love Abandon this I will embrace oblivion The only place where you and I can be undone And when the veil between us falls We will be deaf to one another’s calls I could only say, “It will always be this way” I could only hope against inevitable slope I could only live with giving all I had to give I could only show the love I wanted you to know A line that’s permanent divides us now Yet life goes on, some way, somehow Farewell, my love You have turned your back Without you, love I am painted black My greatest loss I am torn from bliss You’ve chosen, love Abandon this Be happy, love As you forget me We may be broken, love But we are free
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Child of summer Flower-born Winter is coming You’re weary and worn Come share my hearth It’s safe underground And the leaves are falling down, my child The leaves are falling down Tell me about your adventures, child How did you come to this field? You must be hungry, you’re wasting away After your many ordeals Sit by the fire, tell me how does that feel? You won’t survive in this weather, child Stay here with me, earn your keep I have been gathering all summer long Close your eyes and go to sleep You nevermore will have cause to weep Child of summer Flower-born Winter is coming You’re weary and worn Come share my hearth It’s safe underground And the leaves are falling down, my child The leaves are falling down What a help you have been, child There is someone you should meet He’d make a wonderful husband As wealthy as you are sweet Go prepare dinner, you’re in for a treat Why do you bitterly cry, child? You’ll be a bride in the spring Life in the tunnels is safer You’ll never want for a thing All of our days will grow brighter when you sing Down in the darkness, you will sing Down in the darkness, you will sing Down in the depths of the darkness You’re the most beautiful sound Stay with us here, deep underground Child of summer Flower-born Winter is coming You’re weary and worn Come share my hearth It’s safe underground And the leaves are falling down, my child The leaves are falling down
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Underneath and below And caught in the undertow Water-weighed My seaweed hair long My voice like a siren song Underplayed Trade it in for a chance At a doomed romance My soul for a dance on the shore Take me, I’ve laid it all out at your feet And sold who I was for this moment I am walking on the points of swords Wrapped in a silent heat It’s too late to retreat from the wave line Far from home, on my own I am seafoam Look in my eyes I am living this pretty lie Masquerading Thinking you would see through it And know that I knew it Mutely fading Sister, your salvation is at hand Spill out his blood on the sand Leave him to die and recover your life Look, we have brought you the knife Leave me, I’ve laid it all out at his feet And lost who I was for this moment I am walking on the points of swords Wrapped in a silken sheet It’s too late to retreat from the wave line I will throw myself out beyond the wave line My sisters, won’t you go on home Leave me alone I am seafoam Oh, I am seafoam

about

Leslie Hudson may not sound like a folk singer, but she has a storyteller's heart and it beats to whatever rhythm the story demands.

For the first time, and upon request, the stories she tells at her live shows have been included as tracks in their own right on an album available to everyone.

From 19th c. Germany and Denmark, to Medieval Spain, Ancient Ireland, and the birth of the Inuit Nation, tales passed on through generations of storytellers live on in literature, folk and sacred memory, and inspired the songs on this set list.

A snapshot in time, captured in all its natural and heartfelt energy, this album brings to life the experience of a solo concert for a warm and wonderful crowd, and now you can join in the magic.

"the StorySinger set: Live in Germany" is a live recording of Leslie Hudson's Guest of Honour Concert at CONtrapunkt, Wernigerode, Germany, 15 September 2018.

Recorded in one take, the stories she tells and the songs inspired by them make up this 18-track, fully mastered performance of a storyteller, a songwriter, and a grand piano.

All songs performed in this set were originally recorded in studio and released on "The Wanderlings Volume One" (2015) and "The Wanderlings Volume Two" (2016).

credits

released May 1, 2020

Performer: Leslie Hudson (grand piano, vocals)
Piano: K. Kawai (pictured in photo by Leslie Hudson)

Live Sound and Recording Engineers: Rika Körte, Steve Macdonald
Mixing and Mastering by Steve Macdonald
Produced by Leslie Hudson and Steve Macdonald

All songs written by Leslie Hudson

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Leslie Hudson Stratford, Ontario

Leslie Hudson is a Canadian singer songwriter and pianist. Their albums range from storytelling styles to bluesy bar rock to dialed-up, full-band homages to pop culture. With lyrical piano skills and a voice that cuts through the crowd, their songs dive deep into archetype and folklore, modernizing ancient voices & shining a spotlight on the shadowy paths we walk through life, myth and media. ... more

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