| Twas the third of November in 79
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| When I crossed Bowden moor in a flurry of snow
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| And the heat of the warm in the old transit truck
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| And the fuel gauge leaned over on low
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| Away to the southwest the winter rolled in
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| A swirl of white flakes caught the pale evening glow
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| And the pinpoint of light from the farm on the hill
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| Flickered bright through the trees and the snow
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| 'Cause many’s the pillow where I’ve lain my head
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| From a bunk on a ship to my coat on the ground
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| And there’s many the door that I’ve closed at my back
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| From a shack to the best place in town
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| But there’s a feeling you get when you’re heading for home
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| Be it ten thousand miles or a trip to the town
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| And it came to me then as the winter sun set
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| And the curtain of twilight came down
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| The more that you win then the more there’s for losing
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| The more that you love then the more you’ve to fear
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| And I changed down to third as I climbed to the farm
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| Trying to silence that voice in my ear
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| 'Twas the 15th of March, 83 was the year
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| On the west headland motorway spattered with rain
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| In a beat-up old Volkswagen headed for north
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| When I next heard that voice once again
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| I remembered the hopes that had been in my heart
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| When I crossed Bowden moor back in 79
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| And the years in between that had ripped me apart
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| And the lightning that struck down the pine
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| I numbered each fence-post from roadside to berm
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| And counted each rock in the dry sandstone wall
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| And I numbered the golden-coiled flowers on the winds
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| And I counted the autumn beads fall
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| I looked to the northerly Yewden hills crest
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| And south to the crags of the Rubislaw crown
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| And I heard the black crows flying in from the west
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| AS the farm in my dreams tumbled down
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| The more that you lose then the more there’s for gaining
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| The less that you ask for the more you don’t mind
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| Any road that you travel’s a long lonely way
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| When you know you’ve left nothing behind
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| I came down from a grandmother bound to the land
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| On a West Island croft on the Battersea shore
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| And was named for a grandfather went to the see
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| And now I must wander once more
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| And there isn’t a trade where I won’t try my hand
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| There’s never a hill I’m not ready to crime
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| And there isn’t a grief that I don’t understand
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| As I empty the fullness of time
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| And still when the autumn’s glow silvers to frost
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| And the sweet scent of wood smoke is sharp in the air
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| I remember the loves and the hopes that I lost
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| And a part of me wants to be there
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| So now when I cross Bowden moor in the snow
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| And the light beckons me there’s a game that I play
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| I pretend to the crossroads that it’s homeward I go
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| And I turn to the east and away
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| The more that you win then the more there’s for losing
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| The longer you love then the more you’ve to fear
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| The more of the choice then the more of the choosing
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| And the voice that rings in the gale |