Tiller's Folly: Music

• MP3 short clip, hi-fi play (broadband)

Beautiful song about one of Tiller's Folly and Bruce's fav places Orkney. The 2nd song on Bruce's new CD A Minstrel in Moray

Isles Of Stone 4:03
(Bruce Coughlan)

I guess it was fate, a fancy of fortune
That first brought me here to walk on your shores
I did not come, with notions about you
But charms so abound you, you’re hard to ignore

You islands fare, like picture book pages
The mystic reverie that burns in your veins
Your weathered face; a true rock of ages
Is cast in my memory, forever to remain

And I wish I was in Kirkwall's cathedral
I wish I was where the holy heroes lay
Dark, true tales; I’m thinking of St Magnus
With a solitude that stirs me to the bone
On isles of stone

And was it here, that the brave last provisioned
When they crossed the wild ocean centuries ago?
And Logan's Well on the high street of Stromness
Still watches the ships as they come and they go

And I wish I was in the Parish of Orphir
I wish I was in the Hall of Clestrain
Walking along and thinking of the Arctic
While the waining sun sets low on Scappa Flow
Over isles of stone

It's strange to miss a place that makes you feel lonely
It's sad to miss a place that can makes you feel small
A strange, uneasy feeling that your only passing through
Just a pilgrim in the scheme of it all

And I wish I was within the Stones of Brodger
I wish I was in the ruins of Scarra Brae
In a cold north rain, I'm thinking of the ages
And wishing I had something more to say

And I wish I was by Kirkwall's cathedral
I wish I was in the pubs along the quay
In dark, true ales, I'm drinking with St Magnus
While the haunting winds of waiting winter moan
Over isles of stone