Lyrics: Finn Anderson
Music: Finn Anderson
Prologue
Betty
My name’s Betty Carson. Ballad singin’s in my blood. I come from a long line of singers, whose songs have been runnin down my family for generations.
Strong are the roots and the branch of the tree.
Fierce is the flower that blooms.
Hidden away is the one silver key,
Leadin’ to unopened rooms.
O, women of earth, wind and flame,
Born under changin’ skies.
O, common in blood and in name,
With stories and songs in their eyes.
My ancestors came outta Scotland, through Ireland, carryin home in their hearts. They crossed that wild Atlantic, stepped off their boats and made their way here, into the Appalachian mountains.
Ancestors
Dark is the ink on the pages of white,
Dark as the sky at the time.
Deep is the grave where the ancestors lie,
Deep as the well in your mind.
O, women of water and air,
Born under changin’ skies.
O, in song and in story they share,
Betty
The future and past in their eyes.
The songs, tunes and stories them Scots-Irish brought with ‘em have been kept alive here in these hills, passed down through the years, one person to the next.
Ancestors
Down the line the blood runs red,
Betty
Fear the thorn, the bird and the berry.
Ancestors
Down the line the blood runs red,
Oh!
Betty
Down the line the blood runs hot.
Ancestors
Fuel the fire, a heart is a vessel.
Betty
Down the line the blood runs hot,
Ancestors
Oh!
O, to weather the storms every day
When you know they’ll return again…
O, to go when your god says to stay…
O, women of earth, wind and flame,
Born under changin’ skies.
O, common in blood and in name,
Betty
With stories and songs in their eyes.
Strong are the roots and the branch of the tree.
Fierce is the flower that blooms.
Hidden away is the one silver key,
Leadin’ to unopened rooms.