By The Wind Sailor
(Final recording for the new album Into The Waves)

This song is now being sung around Cornwall by Will Keating and has been released on his new album 'A Remembered Walk'.


Written on the 5th of June 2022

The song is in memory of the crew of the barque Iota and the brave Cornish men who came to their rescue at Bossiney Haven, North Cornwall, in December 1893.

The story of the local community selflessly rushing to the aid of the Iota crew, left a big impression on me and inspired me to write the song.

If you are interested in reading more about the ship wreck, there is a post on my Instagram page. The original newspaper report and some photos of the ship, as well as a picture of Charles Hambly can be found in the Iota life buoy post.

If you would like to sing this song, I would love to hear the results sometime.

Please  message me if you need to download the track, the full lyrics are below.

link to instagram in bio/info

By The Wind Sailor 

Winter eighteen ninety-three a dozen souls set out to sea 
Well eleven men the crew would be and a cabin boy from Napoli 
Heading west for warmer seas carrying coal to the West Indies 
Iota and her crews journey crossed over into destiny 

By the wind sailor by the wind 
By the wind sailor by the wind 

Winter eighteen ninety-three a dozen souls were wrecked at sea 
Upon Lye Rock they clung to life off the coast of Bossiney 
A mounted man rode fast and tall into the port of Boscastle 
The coastguard heard the dreadful shout gathered some men an headed out 

By the wind sailor by the wind 
By the wind sailor by the wind 

Winter eighteen ninety-three the Iota was lost at sea 
Lowered down the cliffs Charles Hambly a rockman from Longrass quarry 
And through the wild winter squall he became a life-line for them all 
Before the storm was past and gone 
They hauled the men up one by one 

By the wind sailor by the wind 
By the wind sailor by the wind 

Winter eighteen ninety-three a dozen souls were wrecked at sea 
Nine saved by Cornish bravery three souls lost to the watery 
Winter eighteen Ninety-three a sailor died heroically 
Into the waves eternally with the cabin boy from Napoli 
Find a way home find a way home find a way home find a way home 

By the wind sailor by the wind 
By the wind sailor by the wind 
By the wind sailor by the wind 
By the wind sailor by the wind 

5th June 2022 

Jon Woode

Artwork: Original oil painting by Laura Terry lauraterry.co.uk

By The Wind Sailor (Barque Iota 1893)

Written on the 5th of June 2022.

(This song is now being sung around Cornwall by Will Keating and is to be included on his new album 'A Remembered Walk', which is due for release in May 2024)

This version is lower than I would usually sing the song but arranged here with harmony ideas for singers.

The song is in memory of the crew of the barque Iota and the brave Cornish men who came to their rescue at Bossiney Haven, North Cornwall, in December 1893.
The story of the local community selflessly rushing to the aid of the Iota crew, left a big impression on me and inspired me to write this song.
If you are interested in reading more about the ship wreck, there is a post on my Instagram page. The original newspaper report and some photos of the ship, as well as a picture of Charles Hambly can be found in the Iota life buoy post.
If you would like to have a go at this song with your shanty singers or solo I would love to hear the results sometime.

By The Wind Sailor

Winter eighteen ninety-three a dozen souls set out to sea 
Well eleven men the crew would be and a cabin boy from Napoli 
Heading west for warmer seas carrying coal to the West Indies 
Iota and her crew's  journey crossed over into destiny 

By the wind sailor by the wind 
By the wind sailor by the wind 
Find a way home find a way home 

Winter eighteen ninety-three a dozen souls were wrecked at sea 
Upon Lye Rock they clung to life off the coast of Bossiney 
A mounted man rode fast and tall into the port of Boscastle 
The coastguard heard the dreadful shout gathered some men an headed out 

By the wind sailor by the wind 
By the wind sailor by the wind 
Find a way home find a way home 

Winter eighteen ninety-three the Iota was Lost at sea 
Lowered down the cliffs Charles Hambly a rockman from Longrass quarry 
And through the wild winter squall he became a life-line for them all 
Before the storm was past and gone they hauled the men up one by one 

By the wind sailor by the wind 
By the wind sailor by the wind 
Find a way home find a way home 


Winter eighteen ninety-three a dozen souls were wrecked at sea 
Nine saved by Cornish bravery three souls lost to the watery 
Winter eighteen Ninety-three a sailor died heroically 
Into the waves eternally with the cabin boy From Napoli 

Find a way home find a way home find a Way home find a way home 
By the wind sailor by the wind 
By the wind sailor by the wind 
By the wind sailor by the wind 
By the wind sailor by the wind 
Find a way home find a way home find a way home find a way home 

5th June 2022 

Jon Woode

By The Wind Sailor (with harmony ideas for singers)

Hawker's Request is a song composed by Jon Woode for Lyrics by Robert Steven Hawker with the addition of a chorus by Jon Woode.

Written 6th Feb 2023
Recorded as a first take demo on the 21st Feb 2023

This song has been included in Del Osei-Owusu's  'Song Bird Session' at Islington Radio, Matt Hancock's BBC Introducing and Tom Brosseau's  'Great American Folk Show' in North Dakota, USA.

Hawker’s Request 

Sing from the chamber to the grave
Thus did the dead man say
A sound of melody I crave
Upon my burial-day
Bring forth some tuneful instruments
And let your voices rise
My spirit listened, as it went
To the music of the skies 

Chorus
Let’s sing a song for a passing 
One last song to lead us on
A Cornish song for our loved ones 
And to guide our spirits home

Sing sweetly while you travel on
And keep the funeral slow
The angels sing where I am gone
And you should sing below
Sing from the threshold to the porch
Until you hear the bell
And sing you loudly in the church
The Psalms I love so well

Chorus 

Then bear me gently to my grave
And as you pass along
Remember twas my wish to have
A pleasant funeral song
So earth to earth, and dust to dust
And though my flesh decay
My soul shall sing among the just
Until the Judgment-day Until the Judgment-day 

Chorus x2


Hawker's Request

Ode To Guido is a favourite childhood memory. I intended to write this song about ten years ago but never got around to it.
Written on the 18th August 2023 the album Into The Waves and played on the eight string ukulele.

                              Ode to Guido

Playing in the bonfire we built out on the green
Door to door we collected things you didn’t need
Old wooden bed posts cuttings from the trees
Boxes of newspapers old magazines

Down to the orchard scrumping from the trees
Upon the highest branches a crows nest out at sea
Falling when the call came with bruised and muddy knees
Running from the farmer dropping apples as we leave

Back to the safety of the den go scallywags and thieves
Sharing out the windfalls eyes bigger than bellies
Called home for tea before the flames engulf the scene
Not long before the fireworks they’ll burn your effigy

Off to the land of nod in forty winks
Be there pretty soon after warm milky drinks
A dream of the day and the days left to be
Down unforgotten pathways to innocent memories

Written by Jon Woode 18th August 2023 

Picture is Brabourne lees village green, where we used to have our bonfire nights, taken by Heidi Moxey

Ode To Guido

White Tern was written on the 14th April 2023 by Jon Woode for the up-coming album Into The Waves


White Tern

Little white sail bird
Out on the breeze
Little white sail boat
Over the blue
Little white sail bird
A sight to see
Little white sail boat
Waited for you
Little while bird sail on 
The wind of reason 
Little while bird sail on 
The wind of reason 

Little white sail boat
The waters wild
Your sails fly free now
Pure and true
Little white sail bird 
Your beauty filled arrival
Little white boat
Little while tern
Into the new
Little while bird sail on
The wind of reason
Little while bird sail on
The  wind of reason
Sail on the wind









White Tern

Into The Waves is the title track for my upcoming album, written on 8/8/2023 (Infinity day)

Into The Waves

Are you on the road less traveled 
In the search for self
Or lost within a shadow 
In pursuit of wealth
In all our time 
We’re rarely touching free will
After all that’s been and gone 
We’re drifting still

It’s August and they’re sleeping now
I’m not sure how we’ll wake them 
But perhaps some how
Change is in the wind and the rain
Into the waves 
Returning spectres once again

Are you on the road less traveled 
In the search for truth
Or living for the ever fading light of youth
Every now and every then 
We glimpse a chance
To move and flow 
In line with the eternal dance

It’s August and they’re sleeping now
I’m not sure how we’ll wake them 
But perhaps some how
Change is in the wind and in the rain
Into the waves returning spectres once again

Written by Jon Woode August 8th




Written by Jon Woode August 8th

Artwork: Original oil painting by Laura Terry
www.lauraterry.co.uk

Into The Waves

Backways Cove written 21st August 2021 for the album Into The Waves. 

Backways Cove

Head out to Backways 
Pass by the mill on the way
Savour the sunshine 
And the rainy day
Haunted the places 
Reflecting people and time 
A gentle reminder 
Transient lives 
As we unfold truth 
Hands cannot hold on to

Who sits in Jacks chair 
Where now the ring on the line
All that remains here
Letters on a sign
All that is gone now
All that is leaving still
Hands they unfold 
They cannot hold true
Hands they unfold
They cannot hold on to

Sat on the rocks now
Eyeing the stone and the line
Impermanence somehow
Shading the minds
Returning the pebbles
Gathered from a distant land
Free as the slow
Fall from the hands

Hands they unfold 
They cannot hold true
Hands they unfold
They cannot hold on to
Hands they unfold
They cannot hold true
Hand they unfold 
They cannot hold on to

Artwork: original oil painting by Laura Terry
www.lauradosremedios@hotmail.co.uk

Backways Cove

This song was featured on the Great American Folk Show in North Dakota, USA, hosted by Tom Brosseau. Originally written in 2019 for the alum Full Circle by JW

Ocean Reveries 

Sometimes I feel at home 
In these pastures of heaven 
Sometimes I think I know 
The roots and all the leaves 
When the ocean calls me 
And I feel unsettled 
When all the birds have flown
I'm dreaming of the Sea 

Chorus 
Standing in a harbour 
Watching as the boats leave 
A memory of Shady 
And what will never be 
Eyes across the bulwark 
Seated on the pier head 
One of many landsman 
Dreaming of the sea 

Sometimes I feel like breaking 
Things that have no meaning 
Sometimes I feel like throwing 
Useful things away 
When I lose my reason 
I feel the air descending 
Somewhere with a long view 
Is the only place to be 

Chorus x2

Sometimes I feel at home 
In these pastures of heaven 
Seasons come and go 
Like ocean reveries 

Artwork: Original oil painting by lauraterry.co.uk

Ocean Reveries

Written for Laura 4th September 2023
(we ebb and flow)

The Promise of Eternity

Let’s sleep out under the stars tonight
We’re beginning anew
On the cliff tops of this rugged coast
We’re a spirit of two
                                 
I’ll meet you in a time and place
Benoath in June
A coast path beneath a western sky
Overlooking the blue

All this and more we’re returning to shore
Just remember that we were before

The promise of eternity
Lies open and free
The way to cross infinity
Seems clear now to me

All this and more we’re returning to shore
Just remember that we were before
All this and more we’re returning to shore
Just remember that we were before


Written by Jon Woode 4th September 2023

Recorded with Barbara's little Spanish guitar, the Brook Tamar and the high strung guitar.

Artwork: Original oil painting by www.lauraterry.co.uk

The Promise Of Eternity

This is the first song written for 'Into The Waves' on the 23rd March 2021 
Recorded on the 21st September 2023 

Across The Way

Across the way 
Blue ocean
All that matters 
To be
Over the waves 
Way out to sea
White sails 
Fly the free

All down hill to the water
All down hill from here in
All down hill to the water
Across the way blue ocean

Across the way 
Blue ocean
Hills and valleys 
Beneath the sea
Awake the stay 
Soon too soon
While the sails 
Beyond degree

All down hill to the water
All down hill from here in
All down hill to the water
Across the way blue ocean

Artwork: Original oil painting by www.lauraterry.co.uk

Across The Way

Infinity is an instrumental guitar piece that will be track 8 on the album Into The Waves, it will be a little break from song to mark the halfway point in the album.

Artwork: taken from an original oil painting by www.lauraterry.co.uk

Infinity

This song is a tribute to all those who lost their lives when the Sarah Anderson was wrecked at Trebarwith Strand on the 17th October 1886.

Ghost Ship

Sometimes the cart is too big for the bull
Sometimes the fog is too thick through to crawl
Sometimes the winds from the north shall blow
Under mizzen and main the ship will slow

Chorus
It’s like we’re on the Sarah Anderson and there's no one left to know
It’s like we're on the Sarah Anderson only one way left to go
Go a ghost ship is waiting
Go go a ghost ship is waiting
Go go a ghost ship is waiting
Waiting to carry us on

Sometimes it feels like we took the wrong turning
Sometimes it feels like the pathways have closed
Into the waves crying blow the man blow
Under mizzen and main the ship will slow

Chorus

Sometimes a soul grows old and world weary
Sometimes the spirit is low and dimpsy
When the time comes to all that we know
Under mizzen and main the ship will slow

Chorus x2


Written by Jon Woode on the 9th September 2023, for the album Into The Waves.
Recorded at home with the Nashville high strung guitar tuned down a whole tone to D.
This record also has Laura singing a harmony line on the chorus.

Art work: Original commissioned oil painting by Laura Terry

Ghost Ship

Shady live take with Laura for the album Into The Waves

Shady (Live recording with Laura)

'The Flow' 
Written by Jon Woode 

This is still my most played song on SoundCloud and one of my most precious recordings.

I actually wrote the lyrics to 'The Flow' whilst walking around Waitrose in Canterbury, Kent. The guitar part came later that day. 
I didn't think it suited my voice and really wanted my daughter Sophia (pictured above) to sing it but she was studying for her GCSE exams at the time. I pestered her until eventually she said she would have one go at it in her break. This was the first and only time she sang it.

The Flow was included in Tom Robinson's Fresh On The Net and has had a fair bit of airplay since then, it is still available on SoundCloud and Spotify etc, there is also an instrumental version of the song available.

Sophia's is now an F2 Doctor, so no harm was done in making this recording 🙂

"As soon as this intricately played track gets going, you get a creeping suspicion that Canterbury’s Jon Woode is not supplying the vocals. Deft investigative journalism (reading the track info) reveals the voice actually belongs to his daughter, Sophia, who sings of being an uncontrollable fire that consumes all, then a waterwheel, perpetually pushed around, and finally the air, wind and breeze, “Delivering kisses and scattering seeds”. It’s really as beautiful as that sounds, and proved immensely popular with Listening Post readers this week. 


Steve Harris  Freshnet favs: Batch 140



Songs of Land and Sea

The Flow

Here's a first take demo of Laughs Like Lucy, recorded on a lovely old nylon string guitar for my first album Into The Wildness - 2006. The album is available on Spotify and all the other main sites including Tiktok, Facebook and Instagram for reels.

Laughs Like Lucy (first take demo 2005)

Lamorna's Lullaby is the first recording for my new album 'Songs of Land and Sea', which will be available sometime in 2025. 

Featuring Laura Terry singing main vocals with additional vocals by Jon Woode 

Lamorna's Lullaby  by Jon Woode
(written on the 8th June 2024).

Inspired by Lamorna Birch's (a member of the Newlyn Art Society) love of Lamorna Cove and his infatuation with Greta Valentine.

This is a simple song that finds the artist Lamorna Birch searching for inspiration in the eyes of his muse Greta Valentine and the beauty of his surroundings. Once he has completed his work he is totally at peace and the sea sings him to sleep.

                          
Lamorna’s Lullaby

Somewhere in your eyes
In the valley of the trees
Tranquility of blue endless blue
Of the open seas
Something in your smile
Reminds me of the sky
Inspiration comes to my open mind

The sea will sing Lamorna
The sea will sing Lamorna
She will sing Lamorna’s lullaby

Somewhere on the wind
Far beyond the rye
I sometimes hear you singing me to sleep
Where the angels fly
A voice upon a wave
A whisper on the tide
And the sea will sing Lamorna’s Lullaby

The sea will sing Lamorna
The sea will sing Lamorna
She will sing Lamorna’s Lullaby

Across the waters far and wide
On gentle winds on softly ebbing tides

The sea will sing Lamorna
The sea will sing Lamorna
She will sing Lamorna’s Lullaby


Written by Jon Woode 8th June 2024







Lamorna's Lullaby

East from the City, performed by Sylvia Fletcher and Rowena Metters for the album Songs of Land and Sea.
Sylv and Row have been singing together for over 50 years, it's a real honor to know these two lovely ladies and to have them put their magic into one of my songs

Written by Jon Woode and arranged by Sylv and Row.

Check out Sylvia Fletcher's SoundCloud page 



East from the City

Written for and performed by Kevin Brinn for the album Songs of Land and Sea.
Written by Jon Woode and arranged here by Kevin Brinn 

The Boscastle Busker

Down in the harbour you’ll find him at home
Singing a song about horses
Though Copper and May and the ploughman have gone
They’re remembered by Boscastle John
Singing the songs unforgotten
Singing the songs of a place to be
Singing the songs of the old times
Singing the songs of land and sea

Through the valley his bees will make their way home
If Hawker could taste of the finest
No other would make it to table or rhyme
Tis the honey of Cornish time.
Singing the songs unforgotten
Singing the songs of a place to be
Singing the songs of the old times
Singing the songs of land and sea

From Yorkshire to Cornwall and over the sea
Across to the emerald isle
Passing on songs with a pint in his hand
Melodies echoing over the land
Singing the songs unforgotten
Singing the songs of a place to be
Singing the songs of the old times
Singing the songs of land and sea

Repeat vs1 & Chorus x2 

Written by Jon Woode 14th January 2025

The Boscastle Busker

The East and West Divide

I walked out on the moor
Out by old Hawk’s tor
Sat among the Stannon stones
To think of those gone before
Climbed the highest point
To see things from both sides
Where the ocean meets the sea
The east and west divide

I walked out on the moor
In the shadow of Rough Tor
Where Allen waters weave and wind
Sparkle in the light
Dymond’s on the mind
Sorrows of another time
Where the sun crosses the sky
The east and west divide

I walked out on the Moor
Across those old granite tors
To feel what others felt before
To bring it all to mind
Passages of time
Murmurations in the sky
I will never understand
The east and west divide

I walked out on the moor
Like so many long before 

Written by Jon Woode 3rd March 2025

Artwork: Original  painting by Laura Terry. Brooding Sky, Dartmoor, oil on canvas 80 x 80cm

The East and West Divide

By the Wind Sailor 

Love this new version of my song, performed and produced by the very talented Séamus Mckenna for the album Songs of Land and Sea.





By the Wind Sailor

The Hollow Ways

Brook Lamorna and the Cedar Rose

When I Go To Sea

The Brothers of Backways Cove

Beneath the Western Sky

Far side of the Bay

Horatio's Trees

Songwriter/Composer


Songs of Land and Sea
This is an album of my songs with other singers performing them, it will hopefully be released sometime in August 2025

Latest release:

Modern Traveller 
Released on the Factual label by Lift Music, published by Boost Music for use in TV and film.
My titles include:
1. Sitar Sunrise 

Beneath the Western Sky (21/06/2025)

Gone Fishing 
Released on the POKE music label by Lift Music and Boost Music library, for use in TV and film.
My titles include:
1. The Brook
2. Backwaters
3.  Castin' a Line
4. The Fishermen
5. Still Waters
6. Tales of the River Bank
7. Gone Fishing
8. Off the Beaten Track
9. Ripples

Whispers From A Pink Moon,
Released on The Box label at Bibliotheque Music, Published by Cavendish Music.
Tracks include:
1. Rolling Along 
6. Maybe Today 
9. Summer Skies 
link below (aka JGKT)

By The Wind Sailor, released by Will Keating on his album A Remembered Walk

Discography: 
(All available on Spotify and all the others)

Albums:

Beneath the Western Sky (2025) downloadable on Bandcamp see links

Into The Waves (2023)

Dystopian Landscapes (2020)

Little Hollow Farm, Instrumentals (2020) 

Full Circle (2020)

Dangling (2019)

The Rook (2012)

Country Roads (2008) 

Into the Wildness (2006) 

Dance To I love You (1990 -2005, very early rough demos from another lifetime J T).

Jon Woode

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