album cover
Axe Mountain
22
On Tour
Contemporary Folk
Axe Mountain was released on November 15, 2009 by Barp as a part of the album Map or Direction
album cover
Release DateNovember 15, 2009
LabelBarp
Melodicness
Acousticness
Valence
Danceability
Energy

Credits

PERFORMING ARTISTS
John Smith
John Smith
Performer
COMPOSITION & LYRICS
John Smith
John Smith
Songwriter

Lyrics

Sit down here beside me
Come and hear a sad old tale
Of lonely old Axe Mountain town
Of Lester Joseph Gale
In a place where men work all day
And women work all night
They come together evening time
To love and then to fight
Long hours did the women work
So hard their burden was
Doubly hard they worried
When young Lily May was lost
Lily May was mourned, another week passed in the rain
Until the day of harvest come and we are missing Jane
Did another season's toil bring another season more?
Yes, Lily Jane and dozens still are buried on the moor
What did their husbands say?
Did they cower? Were they weak and frail?
None had dared to speak that name
Then Lester Joseph Gale
Axe Mountain I let my woman die on a knife
I love her did I have for sure, I'll love her all my life
He'd come out of the darkness with a rucksack made of skin
And as soon as he was seen he was gone again
I heard he'd been a murderer fifty years or more
I heard he killed whole villages all across the moor
I heard he had a family, a child and a wife
But now no woman here was safe from Lester Joseph Gale's knife
"Stand up, be strong, we'll take him!" said the bravest man
Dead in bed is found that night in pieces
He is ten or shall be bled, it's in red, it's on the bedroom wall
Helena she saw this and she fled across the moor
Axe Mountain I let that woman die on a knife
I love her did I have for sure, I'll love her all my life
She flew up old Axe Mountain, she raised her hand and cried
"Grant me a weapon, God of mine
Lester Gale must die!"
And the sky it cracked and split the mountain, she reached inside
And pulled out an axe so terrible any man would die
She screamed with rage and flung herself down into the town below
Tore off her clothes and waited for Lester Joseph Gale to show
So he did, he came and laughed, he
Said "Little girl, what is your plan?
You're alone here, it's you and me, I butchered your old man"
She said "Bastard! Don't speak his name! Don't mention my man!"
She struck him in the face, cut off both his hands
Cut him once, twice, three, she could cut no more
Fed his meat and bones to wild dogs upon the moor
Axe Mountain I let my woman die on a knife
I love her did I have for sure, I'll love her all my life
Now the years went on, Helena remained there 'til she died
The men went off in search of better jobs and living bribes
But a woman there was mine and I loved her more than life
But so scared was I, so scared of Lester Joseph Gale was I
So scared was I that I could not protect my wife
Axe Mountain I let my woman die on a blade
I love her did I know for sure, regret it every day
Axe Mountain I let that woman die on a knife
I love her did I have for sure, I'll
Love her and I'll miss her all my life
Written by: John Smith
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