In the lap of the mountain

Alas, another song of lament. I have always loved the old traditional English, Irish, Scottish and Welsh songs, like 'The Water is Wide' 'Danny Boy' and 'Red is the Rose'. Those songs always strike a nerve within me, to me they are the most powerful of all songs whenever someone sings them I get goosebumps up my spine.

I find it much easier to write an old folk song than a pop song, I think the lyrics are much simpler. My favourite of all songs is a song by Dolly Parton titled 'The Grass is Blue' it is one of the saddest song ever (and surprise a folk/bluegrass song) . When reading an article about Dolly's songwriting someone concluded her skills as "clever headed simplicity" (I cannot quote the source, I can't find it sorry), from that moment I thought that's how song should be...clever but simple. I feel this song is my own version of 'The Grass is Blue'

This song came to me randomly when I went back home to Kent for the summer. I believe the song talks about a relationship that has failed. Someone has been left by their lover and retreated to the mountains. I heard this saying at the time of writing this that no matter the environment a human is in, if they can survive it they will adapt to it. The person in the song has been waiting for so long for their lover to return, that they have started to adapt to the ways of the mountain. This is of course taken to the extremes because in the song they are slowly turning into the mountain. Or if you can't make heads or tails of this you could see the mountain as a metaphor for the person's loneliness.  

Verse 1
In the lap of the mountain there’s a silence bout’ the place,
Didn’t think I was the crying kind but it’s not for me to say,
Now I cry more than often and the tears they tell the pain
In the lap of the mountain I surrender to its ways.

Chorus

I am the mountains stillness

I am strong just like the base
Occasionally a stream runs south
Like the stain across my face

Verse 2

Most of the time I’m lonely I am first to feel the cold

Some marvel at my beauty, or find me hard to behold
I cry like the wild, like a wolf might do the moon,
I welcome any stranger, I am cut down and used.

Chorus 2

Feels like I’ve been here forever

I know how to lure you in
I know how to make you frightened
I know how to make you sing

Tag

From the lap of the mountain, well I know not to stray

Someday you might return to me, oh maybe someday.

Tag

I am the mountains stillness

I am strong just like the base
Occasionally a stream runs south
Like the stain across my face

Karl Smitherman © 2011 published 2012