(Words and music: (c) Robin Hill except where stated)
"For even when you know you should, It's so hard to remain"
"Faces And Places" was my sixteenth completed collection. The collection is loosely themed, but at its grandest is intended to reflect a journey through life, and the changes in aspirations and attitudes which accompany each stage.
At a less grand level, it also highlights (and tries to resolve) the conflicts which can sometimes arise between the wish to retain friendships, and the desire to move on.
PAGE HISTORY:
Page added May 2018 - Scores and Tabs added October 2018 - Notes added March 2019 - Audio Samples added December 2024
All words (and music) are copyrighted. Any adaptation or duplication without consent is a breach of copyright.
LONG LONG JOURNEY (Part 1)
(Words and Music: Robin Hill)
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So say goodbye,
It’s a long, long journey,
Towards your dreams
Is a long, long way.
It must be hard
To be forever leaving,
But clearly not as hard
As it is to stay.
(Contents)
BEFORE THE DAYS WENT BY
(Words and Music: Robin Hill)
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A breath of wind that
skates across a millpond,
Ripples dance beneath a cloudless sky,
In swirling thoughts of endless Summer passion:
Echoes of before the days went by;
Faces flushed with soft anticipation,
Smiles that catch the twinkle in the eye,
Hands that slip so easy into greeting,
Spectres of before the days went by;
How we laughed and held the stage like lovers,
Noble thoughts and deeds could never lie,
Vaguest shapes of fondly called nostalgia,
Memories of before the days went by.
(Contents)
THE LIGHT TRAVELS OF CANOES
(Words and music: Robin Hill)
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Drifting calm beneath the
sunny skies,
Traversing lazy pools where salmon rise
To catch the summer day that never dies;
Paddling soft along the gentle stream,
Rippling patterns where the waters gleam,
Within a never-ending childhood dream;
The dream that never unravels,
The innocence never to lose,
Still locked in the lightness of travels
Of canoes;
The canyons that tower above us,
The waterfall somewhere ahead,
Still lost in a world that will love us
Instead;
Time’s immortal now, and all is dreams,
Sunshine plays with us in gentle themes,
And dances where the summer water gleams.
(Contents)
WHATSMYNAME
(Words and music: Robin Hill)
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Do you ever hear from
whatsmyname?
Does he ever write to say
Quite where he is today?
So what became of whatsmyname?
Did he ever let you know
Just why he had to go?
Moving on,
The eye that blinks, and then we’re gone,
The tides we turn our lives upon,
And then we’re gone.
You and me,
The people that we used to be,
The force that shapes us endlessly,
So endlessly.
Do give my love to whatsmyname,
Wherever he may be,
Please say hello from me.
(Contents)
AND THEN THERE WAS YOU
(Words and music: Robin Hill)
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So, first of all, was the
emptiness,
The vast hollow space,
Lit black with the dark of the night;
No candlelight, no echoes there,
No vague lingered trace
Of long distant pinpricks of light;
And then came the brightness
That lit up the skies,
A brilliant explosion of hue:
So, first of all, there was the emptiness –
Then there was you.
So, first of all, was the loneliness,
The vast yawning hole,
Dug deep in the pit of despair;
No comfort there, no solace,
No sharing of soul,
No soft tears of laughter or care;
And then came the radiance
That lit up my life,
The meaning to all that I do:
So, first of all, there was the loneliness –
Then there was you.
(Contents)
WHEN A BOY BECOMES A MAN
(Instrumental: music: Robin Hill)
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No
lyric
(Contents)
OPEN ROAD
(Words and music: Robin Hill)
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A scribbled note, an
empty bed,
Leave whispers that you’ve gone,
While stirring echoes up ahead
Call loud to lure you on;
The briefest friendship might be good
To ease a heavy load,
But times like this you never could
Resist an open road.
The twisted trails of parting tears
Mark less the things you do
Than signposts dotted through the years
Which point to somewhere new;
For even when you know you should,
It’s so hard to remain:
And when all’s done, you never could
Resist a winding lane.
(Contents)
SAFE HARBOUR
(Words and music: Robin Hill)
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Goodbye, winter darkness,
Good morning, April grey:
May the trade winds find your back,
And smile down on you today;
And may the dolphins dance for you
To guide you on your way;
Easing you through the storm,
Singing you through the rain,
Bringing you safe and warm,
To safe harbour again
Easing you through the swell,
Helping you take the strain,
Guiding you safe and well,
To safe harbour again
(Contents)
A LARGE HOTEL BED
(Words and music: Robin Hill)
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There’s a dark
falling over this city,
You can see it descend from the sky,
To dance with the traffic below me,
In lights that stream silently by,
As I close back the curtains and consider instead
The soft invitation of a large hotel bed …..
….. The thought that I desperately cling to,
The longing from which I can’t hide,
Is to wake once again in the morning
With you lying by my side,
Smiling by my side.
The late night chat of the telly,
Though vague and largely inane;
Competes for my wandering attention,
Distracting me now and again;
As I click the remote and lie back, outspread,
To sample the sheets of a large hotel bed …..
….. The hope I relentlessly cling to,
A yearning that gnaws me inside,
Is to wake once again in the morning
With you lying by my side,
Smiling by my side.
There’s a whisper from out in the lobby,
A footfall that fades down the hall,
A distant key in a doorway,
Then finally, nothing at all;
As I reach for the light switch and lay down my head
On the welcoming pillow of a large hotel bed …..
….. The wish that I frantically I cling to
When everything else is denied
Is to wake once again in the morning
With you lying there by my side,
Smiling by my side.
The dream I remorselessly cling to
When the hope upon hope has all died
Is to rise once again in the morning
With you lying there by my side,
Smiling again by my side.
(Contents)
LONG LONG JOURNEY (Part 2)
(Words and music: Robin Hill)
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So say goodbye,
You’ve a long, long journey,
I wish you well,
No matter where it ends;
And along the way
May you find safe haven
In the heat of lovers
Or the warmth of friends.
(Contents)
CRIMES OF FASHION
(Words and music: Robin Hill)
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Did we see you on the
dance floor,
Trying not to look too old,
A little mix of bad lambada
Staying alive with Abba gold?
Did we see you in the High Street
Statement loud and boldly made,
Cool cat, suited, young and trendy,
Give or take the odd decade?
We noticed you’d got older
Long before today,
But somehow, no-one ever thought to say,
We spotted youth had left you
A long long time ago,
But sadly, it forgot to let you know.
Did we see you telling strangers
Just who they’re dancing with today?
And do they vaguely shrug their shoulders,
Or turn to look the other way?
(Contents)
GREAT ESCAPES
(Words and music: Robin Hill)
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There you are,
Skulking in the attic out of sight,
Working on some covert plan that lives within your head,
Fashioning a glider from the sheets which lined your bed,
Lost in dreams of full and soaring flight,
Clear across these rampart walls, then off into the night.
There you go,
Lurking in the cellar on your own,
Working there in secret on some scheme that never stalls,
Digging out a tunnel which will span beneath the walls,
Wide enough for you and you alone,
To take you from this dingy place, and off to worlds unknown.
To forge civilian papers,
Or build a Colditz Cock,
To overpower and kill the guards,
Or deftly pick a lock;
To climb out through a window,
Or steal a prison van,
The aim’s the same, to make it out
In any way you can.
There you are,
Hiding in the bushes near the wall,
Dreaming still of great escapes, by any means at all…..
(Contents)
ALIBIS
(Words and music: Robin Hill)
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Did you think you were
young, and therefore knew it all?
Standing at the cliff top, with your arms held outwards to the
sea,
Did you feel a cocksure swagger running through it all,
Pulling you closer to an edge you clearly didn’t see?
Did you think that middle age gave cause to what had gone before?
Standing at the crossroads, wondering just which way to go,
Did you see the signposts pointing out just what your life was
for,
Luring you onwards down a road you plainly didn’t know?
Did you think old age gave truth to all your self-held lies?
Gazing from your hilltop at the well-worn paths of right and
wrong,
Did you find their criss-cross patterns running through your many
alibis,
Ready-made excuses for the errors you were making all along?
(Contents)
SAPPHIRE
(Instrumental: music: Robin Hill)
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No
lyric
(Contents)
FACES AND PLACES
(Words and music: Robin Hill)
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There are places,
There are faces,
And spaces between the two;
But more fond
That space beyond;
And I’m coming home to you
There were dangers
There were strangers,
And the strangers helped me through;
So I survived,
I’m alive,
And I’m coming home to you
There are gleanings,
And leanings,
And meanings to what we do;
But that’s grand,
I understand,
And I’m coming home to you,
Coming home to you.
(Contents)
WINTER
(Words and music: Robin Hill)
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Shall we walk the lanes
again
And dodge the April showers,
Sit beside the hedgerow
And pick the wild Spring flowers,
Or lie down in the meadow,
To while away the hours?
Shall we tread the fields again
Beneath the Summer skies,
Sit beside the river
And watch the brown trout rise,
Or lie down in the long grass,
A sparkle in our eyes?
Shall we climb the hills again,
And sit awhile to gaze,
Pick out familiar places
In the gentle Autumn haze,
Or lie in contemplation
Of soft September days?
Shall we draw the curtains now,
And shun the winter cold,
In huddled celebration
Of someone else to hold,
The warm and rich contentment
Of sharing growing old?
(Contents)
MAY YOUR DAYS (A SONG FOR ANNE)
(Words and music: Robin Hill)
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May your days fill you
with the warmth you crave,
May you stay both strong and brave,
May the sunbeams, warm and bright,
Cover you with light.
May your nights hold you in a peaceful sleep,
May your dreams be long and deep,
May the moonbeams, soft and white,
Bathe you in their light.
May your life be just what you want it to,
May your wishes all come true,
May your hopes be full and bright,
Your burdens soft and light.
(Contents)
WHERE YOU'LL FIND ME
(Words and music: Robin Hill)
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You won’t find me in
the splendour of the Seychelles,
Sipping drinks in some exotic beachside bar:
You will find me on the rainy streets of England,
Looking for a place to park the car.
You won’t find me in the sunshine of Barbados
Treading barefoot on the Caribbean sand:
You will find me in a damp suburban driveway
With a bunch of soggy flowers in my hand.
You won’t find me on the brave Hawaiian shoreline,
Boldly stepping up to surf and swell:
You will find me in the shelter of your doorway,
My finger reaching, nervous, for the bell.
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You can offer me the treasures
That the jet set life style brings:
Thirty cans of lager
Two hundred Silk Cut Kings;
You can offer me the pleasures
Of a sun drenched Southern land:
White sand and bikinis,
Young bodies, firm and tanned,
Yet by any of life’s measures
There is nowhere quite as grand
As here and now, precisely where I stand.
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You won’t find me in some fine Moroccan palace,
My footfall echoed on the marbled floor:
You will find me trudge the hall towards your kitchen
To make a cuppa for the lady I adore.
(Contents)