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The Man With The Cap

from These Quiet Places by Colum Sands

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lyrics

The Man with the Cap
Words and Music : Colum Sands © Elm Grove Music

They say he was the strangest man you’d ever want to meet
He didn’t like the towns at all and he kept to the quiet streets
But mostly he was in the fields, he always wore a cap
The same one for a Sunday as for briardin’ * up a gap

And no one has a photo of this man
No one seemed to know his plan
He was lonely as a baby and as gentle as a child
And it seems he often spoke of Oscar Wilde

I mind we used to see him on the quiet summer nights
Standing by the roadside like a rabbit in the lights
He’d never wave, just nod his head, he always wore a tie
Some people said that he was odd, others said just shy

And no one has a photo of this man

It seems he loved a girl one time but she must have gone away
Perhaps he was too quiet or too different in his ways
For he never bothered after that, got careless with his looks
Forgot to shave for seven years and took to reading books

And no one has a photo of this man

I saw him in the cornfield sowing with his hand
He understood the weather and he understood the land
He always wore what once had been a three-piece navy suit
The same one for the sowing as for standing up the stooks **

And no one has a photo of this man

They say he’d stand for hours gazing at the hills
His bicycle beside him, both of them were still
As statues in the sunset, and no one knew his mind
But when he died they said that he was kind

We laid him down this morning, the rain was falling fast
Those who thought they knew him were with him to the last
The priest was sprinkling prayers and holy water in the rain
And we said, “We’ll hardly ever see the likes of him again”

And no one has a photo of this man
No one seemed to know his plan
He was lonely as a baby and as gentle as a child
And it seems he often spoke of Oscar Wilde

======================================

*Briardin’ :: securing a hedge or a broken wall with cuttings of thorn bushes

**stooks : four sheaves of hay or oats,, stood up on their ends together to dry

credits

from These Quiet Places, released February 16, 2023
Colum Sands ; vocals & guitar, dulcimer, concertina, bowed bass
with
Anne Sands : backing vocals, Ben Sands : backing vocals, mandolin, piano, Brendan Monaghan : uilleann pipes.

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Colum Sands Newry, UK

Colum Sands is a universal storyteller who draws on a long Irish tradition of poetic musicality to weave songs for the world.
Drawing on countless performances, Sands uses humour and shrewd observation to celebrate what unites rather than what separates. His latest album “Song Bridge” includes many of the songs written for his extensive environmental campaigning over the past two years. ... more

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