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Hi,

I've neglected posting here for the last little bit on account of having had a really busy time in my personal life, but I wanted to get back into the swing of things so I've something to show everybody.

I spent last summer up in the Yukon and the environment really affected me. Fireweed is a flower that grows wild everywhere up there.

There is a link to me performing the song here : http://youtu.be/efKtjTy-t44

You'll have to forgive the volume, it was quite late when I was recording this, and you'll also have to forgive the facebook dings at the end.

fireweed

one day in the depths of winter
maria came to me
complaining of an illness
she'd hid from me for weeks

she said my love it is not passing
all day i'm frail and weak
I fear i'll not survive the season
another spring i shall not see

i held her close to me then
pushed the fear i felt down deep
banished the quiver from my voice
and rocked my love to sleep

saying it's just the cold dear
wait 'til the snow's gone from our door
and spring comes to our valley
just as it always has before

i'll gather you flowers
from the hilltop there
they'll look so fine on the table
by the window and in your hair

but february came and went
and march offered no relief
one day i heard a crash in the bedroom
found my love rising to her knees

i helped her to her feet
her legs shivered as she rose
she was light as a feather
just bones underneath her clothes

but maria smiled for me then
saying spring can't come soon enough
won't you dance with me outside
in the sunshine my love

we'll gather us flowers
from the hilltop there
they'll look so fine on the table
by the window and in my hair

one day the frost it left my window
and the snow melted from my door
and spring came to our valley
just as it always had before

so i commenced my labour
now that my shovel would pierce the ground
and dug a new home for maria
and lowered her down

but i needed one more moment
before i gave her to the deep
so i stumbled up the hillside
one promise still to keep

and i gathered her flowers
from the hilltop there
and wove them 'round her casket
as though to weave them through her hair

Wonderful journey Colin...and you've turned it into a song.

So glad I listened. Choked me up. Powerful story man.

Hi Colin,

Sad, but beautifully sad and sweet!

Geneva

Thanks everyone, I'm glad to hear you enjoyed it.

This is so well written and touching. Aside from a few minor things, as far as the lyric itself, I think if you could find a way to actually place a flower or two IN her hair, it would make for a very 'teardrop moment', especially since you've already mentioned them looking "fine... and in your hair." The image of him placing them in his dead lady's hair is totally gripping.

As to the music, I think you need a distinctive chorus for a much-needed break. The music is fine, but after 4 whole verses, it begins to wear thin. Maybe some variance within the verses would help also.

Darn good writing.

You're right, the lyric would be more powerful that way. I'm thinking of something like...

and I gathered her flowers, from the hilltop there, and I gave her to the mountain, with flowers in her hair

I think I like that better, thank you for the advice.

Hi Collin,

You have just a power gift...love your singing and guitar~ you never disappoint to write a lyric that really touchs the listener. Beautiful!

~Jackie

Hi Jackie,

I'm glad to hear you liked it. You've always been very complimentary and encouraging towards me and I greatly appreciate it. I'm a very shy person in general so it takes a lot of positive reinforcement for me to continue showing my work to others.

Just cool to know you before you become famous : )

hey Colin,i really liked this one.Although that Fireweed up in the Yukon must be different from ours,if you brush up against ours,it will feel like a fire!Keep up the nice work!Mike

Hi Michael,

That's strange, so is what you call fireweed something like poison ivy? Up in the Yukon it's a purple flower that's everywhere during the spring and summer.

I don't think i ever seen a bloom on it,it has lots of bristles and can welp you up pretty bad,not a poison ivy or poison oak,just another plant you don't wanna wipe your butt with,LOL!Mike

Very poetic,sad and very moving. wonderfully written.

Peace
Joe

beautiful and sad colin. you grabbed me from the start and held me to the finish.

very, very well done.

douglas

Thank you very much Douglas and Joe, I'm glad to hear you liked it.

Here, just for fun, is an old one with a different take. It actually has a twin, Cannibal Chianti, and both were written for some dumb contest we were having here...

BTW, as I recall, doing the research for this lyric, I learned that they call it Fireweed because it's the first vegetation that comes back after a forest fire...


klondike Cabernet
©2001

I was late as usual
bonanza creek was dry
still we were all hopeful
cause it wasn’t us that died
on that journey to the yukon
in that rush for all that gold
when we got to dawson city
nothing's left 's what we were told


now I came from the land of grape
knew how to make the wine
but these northern regions
have never seen a vine
I found me a replacement
could do the job indeed
eight feet tall and everywhere
magenta fireweed


that purple flower it’s the best
I crush it in a pail
a tad or two of quillwort
winter green and beaver tail
I pour in boiling water
let it stand for just a day
with sugar n yeast it all ferments
it's klondike cabernet


had a kinda reddish glow
knocked me hindways in my tent
so I knew I had a winner
that would help me pay the rent
went to dawson city’s landmark
diamond gertie’s gambling hall
she asked me how I made it, I said
its everywhere and eight feet tall


that purple flower it’s the best
I crush it in a pail
a tad or two of quillwort
winter green and beaver tail
I pour in boiling water
let it stand for just a day
with sugar n yeast it all ferments
it's klondike cabernet


bonanza creek has long been gone
many’s yet searching, overdrawn
while I’ve grown rich, my gold is there
in that fireweed it’s everywhere


that purple flower it’s the best
I crush it in a pail
a tad or two of quillwort
winter green and beaver tail
I pour in boiling water
let it stand for just a day
with sugar n yeast it all ferments
into klondike cabernet


big pharma's come to use it
prescribe it for your pain
colds spasms, colic, and hiccups
and erections unsustained


that purple flower it’s the best
I crush it in a pail
a tad or two of quillwort
winter green and beaver tail
I pour in boiling water
let it stand for just a day
with sugar n yeast it all ferments
it's klondike cabernet

Hi Colin,

This gave me goosebumps -- just beautiful! I, too, wanted the flowers in her hair somehow...

Lisa

Thank you very much, and I agree with you.

Currently I have the lyric as :

And I gathered her flowers,
from the hilltop there,
and I gave her to the mountain,
with flowers in her hair.

Thats a perfect rewrite of the last verse. Wow!

Thanks Justin.

And John, I just noticed your post now sorry. I hadn't heard that origin of the name 'fireweed' before thank you for the information.

The klondike cabernet lyrics are clever, one thing I noticed while living in the Yukon is they'll put fireweed in everything so it might just exist.

colin... like the others said.... great job on this one! very touching dude!! :)))) scotty

Very touching song, Colin. I'd like to see you change the inverted phrase "another Spring I shall not see" to something like "I shall not see another Spring" which rhymes as well. I like your change in the last chorus. But I think it takes too long to get to the chorus in the beginning (for commercial value). If this is a true story, wow, and God bless you.

Thank you very much Richard.

Betty,I'd be curious to know why you'd change the phrasing on that particular line.

Cheers,
Colin