1. |
Joyful Banner Blazing
03:43
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1. Joyful Banner Blazing
© Maria Dunn, 2016
In streets where no one’s path is smooth
Polish rare as Sunday shoes
Lined all along the road are we
One big heart on one big sleeve
And in the wake of the hearse
Our voices float in verse
Every buoyant phrase and melody
Cries, Sister you will ever be
Comin’ round the mountain
Over the rainbow
A joyful banner blazing
You are young
You are precious
You are loved
A young man’s thanks for all you did
So lads like him could just be kids
A safe place he could hang about
Drop the tough act, lose the lout
Single mom, determined gaze
Remembers how she freely played
And took to heart the stories, songs
That whisper still “girl, you are strong”
You’ll be
Comin’ round the mountain…
Your smiling eyes cut through it all
To our better selves did call
Confident that we were there
Coaxing us to dream, to dare
Challenging the deal in drugs
Raising money in the pubs
Pulling heartstrings, squeezing funds
Our shameless, selfless, flying nun
And we who line this road today
You nurtured, nudged along our way
Taught us skills to help us cope
Through the darkness into hope
You’re in the bustle of our streets
In the rain upon our cheeks
Your words a mantra we will keep
And pass to every child we meet
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2. |
Heart In Hand
04:08
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2. Heart in Hand
© Maria Dunn, 2015
It’s a bright June morning, beautiful day
And though it turned so ugly, I’ll remember it that way
Til those buses start in, like they’ll never stop
Coming for to carry some poor fool to my job
Then like a seamless dance where the partners glide
Or the graceful flow of stream and tide
We all moved, so instinctively
From the deepest well of our dignity
Heart in throat, heart in hand
Sitting arm in arm, you can see, here I am
I look so young, but I am strong, not scared
With my sisters, my brothers, I’m there
Do you think so little of me, do you think of me at all
As we slow your bus to a crawl?
As your boss tries to bring us to our knees
As the window smashes, do you think of me?
How I work hard, I’m good at my job
We saved this company, and all for what?
To be sneered at, sold out, undermined
Do you think of me when you cross the line?
One by one, they try to take us all away
But like pebbles on a beach, we shift and remain
You can grind your heel down into the sand
But your mark disappears when the next wave lands
Oh, heart in hand, our bodies on the line
We who never took a handout in our lives
Now the goodwill and the money pours in
It makes me weep, such a simple thing
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3. |
Waltzing With The Angels
03:04
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3. Waltzing With The Angels
© Maria Dunn, 2018
If you pause upon the pavement
And crane your neck to see
You can almost glimpse the angels
That waltzed along with me
As I stepped out on those high beams
My sidewalk in the sky
The city far below me
Sunshine in my eyes
We were strong at seventeen
Métis Ironworkers all
We danced between two worlds
Determined not to fall
It was us who raised this tower
Hanging from its side
One hook around your belt
Was all that kept you in this life
Floors slippery with the diesel
Winds that whip away your breath
You put it from your mind
‘Cause it’s not your date with death
And to all our fallen brothers
Who joined that angel band
Your courage so betrayed by laws
That failed the working man
So pause upon the pavement
Crane your neck, see
The wings of all those angels
That waltzed along with me
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4. |
Ontario Song
03:19
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4. Ontario Song
© Maria Dunn, 2002
Half a tank of gas ago
I left you in Ontario
I wish that setting sun would slow
The songs on my radio
Relentless passage of my car
Not content with where we are
Too intent on getting far
Before the day is done
Oh My Sweet Child
I miss you more and more
But we learn to cheat the miles
Always did before
Always did before
The mitten hand of Michigan
Propels me northward once again
All I can foresee now, friend
A yellow line without an end
Miles and miles of ragged rock
Hours and hours taking stock
If I believe the dashboard clock
I’ll never make it home
I pass through every kind of land
Start to sea the sky expand
My mind a rubber band
Stretched by Creation’s hand
A tiny dot just moving through
Connect the one from me to you
What’s a thousand miles or two
On the lifeline?
Someday I’ll be settled close
My rambling days a distant boast
We’ll gaze upon the same coast
The stars above the one host
For now it seems we’ll make do
With telephones and “how are you?”
Won’t be long ‘til I’m back through
Singing on your porch
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5. |
Love Carries Me
03:39
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5. Love Carries Me
© Maria Dunn, 2019
I had years before I learned of hate, war and poverty
I had only love and lullabies upon your knee
Nothing I had chosen, nothing I had earned
Just everything that every child born to the earth deserves
Oh love, oh love, oh love carried me
Your love, your love, oh love carries me
And when, in time, I came to know of lies, shame and fear
You taught me truth, compassion, overcome, persevere
A hope I could nourish, a compass I could heed
Everything that every youth upon the path so needs
My childhood bracelets in a box, spark a vivid memory
Before I had the words, the vital message given me
Nothing you had spoken, but ringing crystal clear
Everything that every soul in struggle ought to hear
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6. |
Secondhand Skates
02:54
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6. Secondhand Skates
© Maria Dunn, 2016
Ever since I remember, I took to the ice
Skates two sizes big, I’d stumble then glide
Falling each time in a snowbank’s embrace
I picked myself up on my secondhand skates
If the rink was too busy, we’d play in the street
Frozen manure all the puck we would need
Or we’d scrimmage out back in the yard until late
The crisp echo of ice under secondhand skates
He caught my eye across the café
And we walked to the rink, feeling shy all the way
But I knew that I’d found a boy I could date
As we soared round the oval on secondhand skates
Too young to sign up and ship over to France
How lucky were we to live by chance
Where schoolyard scuffles evaporate
With a good game of hockey on secondhand skates
When our friend Johnny Bucyk he made the big league
Boy we couldn’t be prouder, we all did succeed
To imagine first class coming out of this place
And remember his grace on secondhand skates
If you turned up your nose at us, we didn’t care
In our hand-me-down coats, so neatly repaired
Knowing what comes from hard work and kind fate
Never mind that you started on secondhand skates
When I look back upon it, I’d never erase
All the friendship and joy on my secondhand skates
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7. |
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7. Declan’s Song (The Good Life)
© Maria Dunn, 2004
When your daddy sings you lullabies
Your mommy smiles into your eyes
They cradle you, keep you warm
They're smitten by your tiny form
Then you know it's a good life
Oh it's a good life
There's wonder in the way you move
How every day brings something new
Your personality revealed
Hey baby, you're the real deal
And you know it's a good life
Oh it's a good life
When you're sleeping sound
Or waking loud
Breathing in the world
Your fingers curled
It'll never be the same
Now you’re in the game
And hearts have been unfurled
When your mommy sings you lullabies
Your daddy smiles into your eyes
They cradle you, keep you warm
They're smitten by your tiny form
Then you know it's a good life
Oh it's a good life
Welcome to the good life!
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8. |
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8. Don’t Think You Are Forgotten
© Maria Dunn, 2017
Don’t think you are forgotten for a moment
Though you wonder if you’ll ever make it home
You are here, dear
In my heart, dear
Know that you have never been alone
Not a morsel to my lips, not a drop to my mouth
Not a sunrise or a sunset’s colours pass
I don’t see you
Feel you
As keenly as I feel this emptiness
I don’t care if you return to me exhausted
Wounded or penniless, in debt
Let me hold you ‘til the awful spell is broken
Let me hold you ‘til all our tears are wept
Even the lowliest soldier goes on leave
Even the mightiest boxer heeds the bell
Catch your breath now
Come on home now
Here you are loved just as yourself
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9. |
From Dublin With Love
04:43
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9. From Dublin With Love
Words & Music written by Ron Hynes
© Ron Hynes, 2003 (SOCAN)
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10. |
Beautiful Fools
02:39
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10. Beautiful Fools
© Maria Dunn, 2018
We are all that girl on the bicycle
Who wobbles and scrapes her knee
Leaping back in the saddle, she learns to soar
Then crashes, singing “I’m free!”
We are all beautiful fools
We are all that boy running swiftly
Who tumbles, head over heels
He picks himself up, propels himself on
Then dives to see how it feels
We are all beautiful fools
Beautiful, beautiful fools
I’m a fool
You’re a fool
We are all beautiful fools
Beautiful, beautiful fools
We are all absorbed in the details
Like children constructing in sand
Mesmerized by the antics of spiders
Intent in our wonderland
We are all naked as truth
Though we cover ourselves by degrees
Shiny layers of fabric, manners so fine
Adventures, artifice, deeds
We are all tempted to stray
By the flask or the flash or the flesh
We are all your wisest advisor
We are all emotional wrecks
We are all one at the heart
For all of our polish and pride
So simply, we long to be loved
For who we are inside
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Maria Dunn Edmonton, Alberta
2022 Juno Winner for Joyful Banner Blazing! A true preserver of the spirit of folk music, 3x Juno-nominated Maria Dunn is often compared to Woody Guthrie for her keen social awareness & unvarnished melodic songs about ordinary people. On 2016 Gathering & 2021 Joyful Banner Blazing, she celebrates the love of family, community, humanity that fires our actions to make the world a better place. ... more
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