Ralph McTell - The Ferryman Lyrics

Lyrics Directory >> R >> Ralph McTell Singer Lyrics >> The Ferryman Song Lyrics

Artist: Ralph McTell
Ralph McTell Author

Song Title:	The Ferryman
Visits:	1074

Print Version

Oh, the traveller moving on the land, behold I give you, I give you the travelling man.

And he's very heavy laden with the questions in his burden.

Lo, and I give you the travelling man.

He has crossed the mountains, he has forded streams.

He has spent a long time surviving on his dreams.

Many times he's tried to lighten up his heavy load.

But his compromises fail him and he ends back on the road.

Oh the traveller he is weary, the travelling man he is tired.

For the road is never ending in his fear he has cried aloud for a saviour

And in vain for a teacher, someone to lighten up the load

And he's heard the sounds of war in a gentle shower of rain

And the whisperings of despair that he could not explain.

The reason for his journey, or the reason it began

Or was there any reason for the travelling man.

At last he reached a river so beautiful and wide

But the current was so strong he could not reach the other side

And the weary travelling man looked for a ferryman strong enough to row against the tide,

And the ferryman was old but he moved the boat so well,

Or did the river move the boat? The traveller could not tell.

Said the ferryman, "You're weary and the answers that you seek,

Are in the singing river, listen humbly it will speak."

Oh, the traveller closed his eyes and he listened and he heard

Only the river murmuring and the beating of his heart.

Then he heard the river laughing, and he heard the river crying

And in it was the beauty and the sadness of the world

And he heard the sounds of dying, but he heard the sounds of birth

And slowly his ears heard all the sounds of earth.

The sounds blended together and they became a whole

And the rhythm was his heartbeat to the music his soul.

And the river had no beginning, as it flowed into the sea

And the seas filled the clouds and the rains filled the streams

And as slowly as the sunrise, he opened up his eyes

To find the ferryman had gone, the boat moved gently on the tide.

And the river flowed within him, and with it he was one

And the seas moved around the earth, and the earth around the sun.

And the traveller was the river, was the boat and ferryman,

Was the journey and the song that the singing river sang.

The Ferryman Lyrics at Lyricstrue

E-Mail, IM, Text :
Websites & Blogs :
Forums :


Other Ralph McTell song Lyrics
Streets Of London "Have you seen the old man In the closed down market Kicking up the papers with his worn out shoes In his eyes you see no pride..."	Michael In The Garden "Out in the garden, amongst the bushes, Michael is crying. Caught in a spider's web, its broken wings beating, a butterfly dying. Oh la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la..."
You Make Me Feel Good "Don't care for gardenias Rather have a dandelion Don't like weddings much either now And things that you can't rely on...."	Grande Affaire "Take a bus, who needs a car We'll eat here, take this seat near the door. Well I'm not hungry much now, are you? Is it ok if I share yours with you?..."
Seeds Of Heaven "Give me sweet forgiveness And I think that it might If not relieve all the pain that I feel At least help me to sleep tonight...."	Country Boys "I woke up this morning, I got booze on my breath And around my brain from the night before There's a cigarette burned out upon the table And a glass smashed out on the floor..."
Heron Song "And once I walked a million miles All the way to Yugoslavia And I carried you all of the way For where I was then there you are...."	Pity The Boy "Pity the boy who marries for money Or wealth and position Thinking his troubles will fade out of mind. Pity the boy who marries for beauty..."