This is a playlist of original and re-imagined folk songs that I have released to date, from the Treasures of Earth and Sea collection NOW on Soundcloud.  Enjoy!

Treasures of Earth & Sea

Check out the video here: https://bit.ly/novascotiadream

Nova Scotia Dream
Written by Susan McBride (a lyrical soundscape of Nova Scotia)

On the wharf, the lobster traps are waiting
For fishermen to take them out to sea
There’s a tall ship out on the horizon
And in salmon skies, it will carry me
Through the islands, the coves and the beaches
Granite cliffs and the lighthouse beams
The mermen and the mermaids are a’waving
The waves and whales are calling me.

Nova Scotia I hear your ocean calling
Nova Scotia I see you in my dreams
Nova Scotia you whisper in the morning
Forever in my heart you’ll be
Forever in my heart you’ll be.

The leaves in the silver birch are quivering
As gusts of winds are dancing on it’s bows
The doe and her fawn nestled below them
Beside a river bubbling in song
And the bears in the forest gathering berries
Hurry to their hungry little cubs
Nearby there is crackling fire and laughter
A crow gives a warning cry above.

Nova Scotia I hear your ocean calling
Nova Scotia I see you in my dreams
Nova Scotia you whisper in the morning
Forever in my heart you’ll be
Forever in my heart you’ll be

On the lake, the busy little beaver
Gnawing at the trees to build their dams
A canoe cuts through the glassy water
As the spotted trout around them swiftly scram
Up ahead, on the bank, the moose are feeding
A pair of loons are resting in the reeds
In the treetops there are chickadees and bluebirds
In the sky there’s an eagle flying free

Nova Scotia I hear your ocean calling
Nova Scotia I see you in my dreams
Nova Scotia you whisper in the morning
Forever in my heart you’ll be
Forever in my heart you’ll be (repeat Forever in my heart you’ll be).
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Nova Scotia Dream is an original composition  it is literally a soundscape of Nova Scotia through descriptive lyrics and instrumentation. It paints beautiful vignettes of Nova Scotia’s ocean, rivers and lakes, the wildlife that abounds in them, and the peaceful lifestyles and activities they support. This song really hits a nerve with the listeners particularly those living away. They have been known to cry when listening to it.

Nova Scotia Dream

Hills & Glens
(traditional)

V1
'Tis Nova Scotia is my home
I love it as no other
Where man is free to ply his trade
And each to each his brother.

Chorus
The hills and glens that I love well
The rolling surf that charms me
The lake with speckled trout lie still
And all is peace around me.

V2
In summer warmth and winter cold
In fog and storm and sunshine
What 'ere it's mood my heart is here
And will remain for all time. (Chorus)

Repeat V1 +Chorus

Ending
My home... Nova Scotia... is... my home.

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This track is a  performance of a re-imagined, Nova Scotia folk song, arranged and performed by Susan McBride. The traditional version of 'The Hills and Glens' was collected by Helen Creighton and is part of the famed Helen Creighton Collection. In providing Nova Scotia content in her curriculum during her teaching career, Sue taught this song to many children in the province.

Hills And Glens

Un Canadien Errant (A Wandering Canadian)

V1 French
Un Canadien Errant
Banni de ses foyers
Un Canadien Errant
Banni de ses foyers
Parcourait en pleurant
Des pays etrangers
Parcourait en pleurant
Des pays etrangers.

V2 English
Once a Canadian lad
Exciled from hearth and home
Once a Canadian lad
Exciled from hearth and home
Wandered alone and sad
Through foreign lands unknown
Wandered alone and sad
Through foreign lands unknown.

(Flute Interlude)

Repeat French
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Un Canadien Errant is a beautiful, traditional, French folk melody adopted by the Acadians. I adapted and arranged the instrumentation with snare drum, violin, and flute to reflect the history of the song and connection to Nova Scotian History. Antoine Gérin-Lajoie’s lyrics were informally adopted by the Acadians beginning in 1844, in the context of the Acadian deportation 1755-62.

Un Canadien Errant

Watch YT music video here: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cD1sVV_G1Bw

"If I Were a Blackbird" is a timeless, classic Nova Scotia folk song about forbidden love between a young maiden and a sailor re-imagined by Sue McBride. This beloved folk song of Nova Scotia was collected by Helen Creighton from the Armstrong twins, Alister and Judson, around 1950 in Lunenburg County, Nova Scotia. It appears to have originated in Ireland. In this variant of  the folk song, Sue pushes the boundaries of traditional folk music in instrumentation with mainly computer generated instruments and effects other than piano and tin whistle to create a melancholy atmosphere.

Lyrics:
If I Were a Blackbird - Traditional 

Verse 1:
I am a young maiden, a maiden so fair
Fell in love with a sailor, a young sailor boy
And we courted in secret,  by night and by day
'Til at length that young sailor, oh he sailed far away. 

Chorus:
If I were a blackbird, I'd whistle and sing
I'd follow the ship that my true love sails in
And in the top rigging, there I'd build my nest
And flutter my wings o'er his broad golden chest. 

Verse 2:
My true love is handsome, in every degree
And my parents despise him, because he loves me
Well,  let them despise him and say what they will
For as long as I'm living, I'll love that boy still. (Chorus)

Verse 3:
And if I were a scholar who could handle a pen
A secret love letter unto him I would send
And I'd tell him my sorrows, my pain, and my woes
Should the day come I find him, I'll crown him with gold. (Chorus)
Verse 1:  (repeat and fade)

Treasures Of Earth And Sea

If I Were A Blackbird

If I Were I Blackbird

This upbeat, catchy song tells the story of the infamous 'money pit' of Oak Island, Nova Scotia.
Check out the video here: https://bit.ly/oakislandgold

OAK ISLAND GOLD
Copyright April 4, 2018

Chorus:
Come and listen to the story of the Money Pit
On Canada's Atlantic Coast
Has driven poor men to an early grave
Diggin' for buried gold
Diggin' for gold
Treasure and gold
Deep in Oak Island's Money Pit
Off Nova Scotia shores. (2X)

Verse 1:
They say three lads first found the pit
In 1795
Saw lights on old Oak Island
Such a strange and mysterious sight
The lads first found a clearing
Block and tackle on a tree
A 13 foot impression
Where they imagined treasure be
Did pirates land and hide their spoils
On Nova Scotia shores?
Captain Kidd was known to sail its seas
With pirate spoils galore. (Chorus)

Interlude: (Loops)
Dig, dig, dig, diggin' for gold
Dig, dig, dig, diggin' for gold. (2x)

Treasure and gold, treasure and gold
Gimme, gimme, gimme but you can't dig down.

Boobytrap ground, Boobytrap ground
Dig, dig, dig but you can't get down. (2X)

Money Pit, Money Pit
Ooh ooh ooh, Oh the Money Pit. (2X)

Verse 2:
Soon they started digging
With shovel and with pic
Through charcoal clay and putty
Deep in the muddy pit
Dug through coconut fiber
And oak to 90 feet
Hit a stone with curious markings
Water started seeping in
The booby trap they call it
Lined to a waterway
Five hundred feet to The Money Pit
Treasure seekers kept at bay.

Verse 3:
Attempts to dam the waterway
And drain the Money Pit
Failed 'cause the pit's designers
Long ago prepared for it
Who engineered this masterpiece
That puzzles us today?
Was it pirates or Knights Templar?
Will the pit give up it's tale?
Secrets like within the pit
Is it treasure, is it gold
Well the mystery keeps men digging
In Oak Island pit of old. (Chorus)
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Oak Island Gold

'Phantom Ghost Ship' was inspired by the story of the sinking of a pirate ship, the Young Teazer, in Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia, in 1812.  Folklore has it that the phantom ship has been sighted coming out of the fog in flames to avenge the death of it's privateers in 1812.

Phantom Ghost Ship

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