Loreena McKennitt (83,01 %)
The Book of Secrets (73,59 %)
In collection
Released: 1997-09-30
Type: Studio
Type: Studio
Ranking:
Artist:
6
Year (1997):
10
Decade (1990's):
105
Overall:
653
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1.
Prologue
 04:25
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2.
The Mummer's Dance
06:11
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3.
Skellig
 06:11
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4.
Marco Polo
05:19
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5.
The Highwayman
 10:21
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6.
La Serenissima
05:10
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7.
Night Ride Across the Caucasus
 08:33
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8.
Dante's Prayer
07:11
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Album length:
53:21
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Lyrics |
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1.
Prologue
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| no lyrics yet |
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2.
The Mummer's Dance
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When in the springtime of the year When the trees are crowned with leaves When the ash and oak, and the birch and yew Are dressed in ribbons fair When owls call the breathless moon In the blue veil of the night The shadows of the trees appear Amidst the lantern light We've been rambling all the night And some time of this day Now returning back again we bring a garland gay Who will go down to those shady groves And summon the shadows there And tie a ribbon on those sheltering arms In the springtime of the year The songs of birds seem to fill the wood That when the fiddler plays All their voices can be heard Long past their woodland days And so they linked their hands and danced Round in circles and in rows And so the journey of the night descends When all the shades are gone "A garland gay we bring you here And at your door we stand It is a sprout well budded out The work of Our Lord's hand" |
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3.
Skellig
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O light the candle, John The daylight has almost gone The birds have sung their last The bells call all to mass Sit here by my side For the night is very long There's something I must tell Before I pass along I joined the brotherhood My books were all to me I scribed the words of God And much of history Many a year was I Perched out upon the sea The waves would wash my tears The wind, my memory I'd hear the ocean breathe; Exhale upon the shore I knew the tempest's blood Its wrath I would endure And so the years went by Within my rocky cell With only a mouse or bird My friend; I loved them well And so it came to pass I'd come here to Romani And many a year it took Till I arrived here with thee On dusty roads I walked And over mountains high Through rivers running deep Beneath the endless sky Beneath these jasmine flowers Amidst these cypress trees I give you now my books And all their mysteries Now take the hourglass And turn it one its head For when the sands are still 'Tis then you'll find me dead O light the candle, John The daylight has almost gone The birds have sung their last The bells call all to mass |
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4.
Marco Polo
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| no lyrics yet |
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5.
The Highwayman
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The wind was a torrent of darkness Among the gusty trees The moon was a ghostly galleon Tossed upon the cloudy seas The road was a ribbon of moonlight Over the purple moor When the highwayman came riding Riding, riding The highwayman came riding Up to the old inn door He'd a french cocked hat at his forehead A bunch of lace at his chin A coat of claret velvet And breeches of brown doe-skin They fitted with nary a wrinkle His boots were up to the thigh And he rode with a jeweled twinkle His pistol butts a-twinkle His rapier hilt a-twinkle Under the jeweled sky And over cobbles he clattered And clashed in the dark inn-yard And he tapped with his whip on the shutters But all was locked and barred He whistled a tune to the window And who should be waiting there But the landlord's black-eyed daughter Bess, the landlord's daughter Plaiting a dark red love knot Into her long black hair "One kiss my bonny sweetheart I'm after a prize tonight But I should be back with the yellow gold Before the morning light Yet if they press me sharply And harry me through the day Then look for me by the moonlight Watch for me by the moonlight I'll come to thee by the moonlight Though hell should bar the way" He rose up right in the stirrups He scarce could reach her hand But she loosened her hair in the casement His face burned like a brand As a black cascade of perfume Came tumbling over his breast And he kissed its waves in the moonlight Oh, sweet waves in the moonlight He tugged at his rein in the moonlight And galloped away to the west He did not come at the dawning He did not come at noon And out of the tawny sunset Before the rise of the moon When the road was a gypsy's ribbon Looping the purple moor A redcoat troop came marching Marching, marching, King George's men came marching Up to the old inn door They said no word to the landlord They drank his ale instead But they gagged his daughter and bound her To the foot of her narrow bed Two of them knelt at the casement With muskets at their side There was death at every window Hell at one dark window For Bess could see through the casement The road that he would ride They had tied her up to attention With many a sniggering jest They had bound a musket beside her With the barrel beneath her breast "Now keep good watch" and they kissed her She heard the dead man say "Look for me by the moonlight Watch for me by the moonlight I'll come to thee by the moonlight Though hell should bar the way" She twisted her hands behind her But all the knots held good! But she writhed her hands 'til her fingers Were wet with sweat or blood They stretched and strained in the darkness And the hours crawled by like years Till now on the stroke of midnight Cold on the stroke of midnight The tip of her finger touched it The trigger at least was hers Tot-a-lot, tot-a-lot had they heard it The horse's hooves rang clear Tot-a-lot, tot-a-lot in the distance Were they deaf they did not hear? Down the ribbon of moonlight Over the brow of the hill The highwayman came riding Riding, riding The redcoats looked to their priming She stood up straight and still Tot-a-lot in the frosty silence Tot-a-lot in the echoing night Nearer he came and nearer Her face was like a light Her eyes grew wide for a moment She drew a last deep breath Then her finger moved in the moonlight Her musket shattered the moonlight Shattered her breast in the moonlight And warned him with her death He turned, he spurred to the west He did not know she stood Bowed with her head o'er musket Drenched with her own red blood Not till the dawn he heard it His face grew grey to hear How Bess the landlord's daughter The landlord's black-eyed daughter Had watched for her love in the moonlight And died in the darkness there And back he spurred like a madman Shrieking a curse to the sky With the white road smoking behind him And his rapier brandished high Blood-red were the spurs in the golden noon Wine-red was his velvet coat When they shot him down in the highway Down like a dog on the highway And he lay in his blood in the highway With a bunch of lace at his throat Still on a winter's night they say When the wind is in the trees When the moon is a ghostly galleon Tossed upon the cloudy seas When the road is a ribbon of moonlight Over the purple moor A highwayman comes riding Riding, riding A highwayman comes riding Up to the old inn door |
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6.
La Serenissima
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| no lyrics yet |
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7.
Night Ride Across the Caucasus
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Ride on Through the night Ride on Ride on Through the night Ride on There are visions, there are memories There are echoes of thundering hooves There are fires, there is laughter There's the sound of a thousand doves In the velvet of the darkness By the silhouette of silent trees They are watching, they are waiting They are witnessing life's mysteries Cascading stars on the slumbering hills They are dancing as far as the sea Riding o'er the land, you can feel it's gentle hand Leading on to it's destiny Take me with you on this journey Where the boundries of time are now tossed In cathedrals of the forest In the words of the tongues now lost Find the answers, ask the questions Find the roots of an ancient tree Take me dancing, take me singing I'll ride on till the moon meets the sea |
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8.
Dante's Prayer
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When the dark wood fell before me And all the paths were overgrown When the priests of pride say there is no other way I tilled the sorrows of stone I did not believe because I could not see Though you came to me in the night When the dawn seemed forever lost You showed me your love in the light of the stars Cast your eyes on the ocean Cast your soul to the sea When the dark night seems endless Please remember me Then the mountain rose before me By the deep well of desire From the fountain of forgiveness Beyond the ice and fire Cast your eyes on the ocean Cast your soul to the sea When the dark night seems endless Please remember me Though we share this humble path, alone How fragile is the heart Oh give these clay feet wings to fly To touch the face of the stars Breathe life into this feeble heart Lift this mortal veil of fear Take these crumbled hopes, etched with tears We'll rise above these earthly cares Cast your eyes on the ocean Cast your soul to the sea When the dark night seems endless Please remember me Please remember me |