This City

Oh this city
Hearts and minds and stones
Crosses, crescents, stars, apart.

Oh this city
Arches cocoon bazaars,
Gates of victory triumph march.

Born of a deep belief,
History steeped without relief,
You have put all faith to shame.
Dwellings crushed and houses built,
Questions over blood that’s spilt,
Heavy burden deeply felt.

Oh this city
Sunsets over deserts arch,
Barriers more stop than start.

Oh this city
Crumbled dreams and visions new,
Compromise to please the few.

What a place to call a home,
Nothing’s sacred ‘til it’s gone,
Live in fear this may be blown apart.

I think on these things…

Words and music (c) Helen Turner
Published by Bad Bear ltd

Summer

I'm holding on to Summer
Like I'm holding on to us
I sense it disappearing
Like all the seasons must


Only when the sun goes down
Will I see what’s lost and found.


I’ve been a long time wondering
Is it passion? is it love?


I'm hunting the horizon
Like I'm hunting memory
I sense a new revealing
Of impossibility.


Only as the globe spins round
Will I feel this shifting ground


Move on summer breeze
Clear the air for me
I'm asking you please
For clarity.

Words and music (c) Helen Turner
Published by Bad Bear ltd

Hold on to

Run me over, sometimes I am not here
Sleep sober, chasing shadows in my fears

Gifted. Maybe. Throw it back into your face
Car crash baby – I have fallen form your grace

You are living, I am dying
Give me something I can hold on to
Over rated, understated
Give me something I can hold on to

Future’s certain. Comic timing holds it all
In the balance careful I would like to fall


Could love you if I tried. I could love you if I tried
I could love you if I tried to love you

God give me patience, Don’t let us come to harm

Words and music (c) Helen Turner
Published by Bad Bear ltd

All Night

Oh it started like cracks on my bedroom wall
When it stared it was hardly heard at all
Won’t forget what you said - These indelible word are all in my head


I could listen to you all night
I could listen to you all night

You have got me trying to catch ever word
Yeah you got me hanging on all I heard
But I can’t pin this down - Cos you layering the meaning not giving it out

I could listen to you all night (Depth of sky and drop of ocean)
I could listen to you all night (Speed of silcence still in motion)

I wan to be set apart, Fallen down and then picked right up
But the way you hold my gaze make me question all of my ways
Don’t want to be trapped in the tune with nothing to say

Words and music (c) Helen Turner
Published by Bad Bear ltd

Raynbird Street

Stolen thoughts insignificant rest inside me
You and me and the healing sea
Is my behaviour forgiven deceit?
I forgot who I was on Raynbird Street

Ooh, will I open my eyes to this?
Me and you , just a fantasy playfully missed
It so true – we are nothing but a tiny kiss of time,
Nothing but a tiny kiss of time


Borrowed for generations – the way it will be,
You and me shade beneath this tree
Is all my wonder stagnant belief?
Emerging to life – on Raynbird Street

And the place you exist is still strange to me
In the crossing of paths is out mystery
And I challenge the view to out-staring defeat
I opened my eyes on Raynbird Street

Words and music (c) Helen Turner
Published by Bad Bear ltd

Sisterhood

Keep the lights down low, make the fire glow when darkness comes around
Keep madmen at bay, keep the Terror away in this revolution town
We came to live our freedoms out, from England's wretched law
To the land where all men are equal and all women can stand tall

In a circle tight I found the fight and I wrote for all
To all womankind leaving weakness behind and to daughters yet unborn
I wrote from rage and certainty, on the pages I was free
Don't you read the scars on my heart or my own life's tragedy

And loneliness in a foreign place and fear of the guillotine
Made me lean too hard on a man's cold heart, I thought he would rescue me
I found myself betrayed and spent, a woman cast aside
I let the river take me down to the depths where I could forever hide

My life was spared I learned to care, I learned to carry on
My heart was healed by the goodness of time and I loved another man
We allowed our love to bring us peace, but the comfort it was brief
Though I bore him another life, in the end I brought him grief.

Though I have long been dead and gone my hope will never end
That you'll find the strength to rise again, my sisters and my friends
A woman's life is all her own, no man shall be her head
We will drink to our sisterhood, the living and the dead.

Words and music (c) Sharon Winfield
Published by Bad Bear ltd

Certainty

I must have seen your face a million times
In everyone who passed me by
Wonder how it feels to have such certainty

You tried so hard, you couldn't heal the world
But you knew your saints by name
There's nothing left now for you to give

It's never a waste when you live as only you can live
It's never a waste when you give the things that only you can give
And the years will prove it so
When you're going with the flow

If lives are doorways yours was open wide
You showed us body, mind and soul
In the blink of an eye you're at the end of life

It's never a waste....

I'll see you on the other side,
Though I'll row the boat upon a different tide
There's something of you in me I'm sure deep inside
But I'm too young to swap the gold for time

It's never a waste....

Words and music (c) Sharon Winfield
Published by Bad Bear ltd