Nightvisiting
Jim Moray Lyrics
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And i will sail back tot the sea, and I'll,
Listen at the window,
To see if my love's mind's on me.
And when i come into the harbour,
The burning Thames i have to cross,
And I'll whisper at the window,
Are you alone?"
'Cos im here and im outside your window,
The rain is soaking to the skin,
Prison walls I'm scalin',
Chains that bind me down,
The clay will not contain me,
And keep me from your arms.
Where is the colour,
I used to know.
Your cheeks' they look oh so pale,
Mary, the ground has changed me,
And I'm just the ghost of your Willy, oh...
I'm here and I'm outside your window,
The rain is soaking through the skin,
Prison walls I'm scalin',
Chains that bind me down,
The clay will not contain me,
And keep me from your arms.
So hold out your hands, to the joy, to the kiss from me now
For i must return, to the dark, to the dead before light.
And so i sing unto the morning,
Oh sun don't rise before it's day,
And birds hold your tune a bit longer,
For dawn comes to steal my sweet boy away.
The song "Nightvisiting" by Jim Moray is a haunting ballad about a man who died at sea and returns to visit his true love. He sings of putting his ship in order and sailing back to the sea, but not before stopping to listen at her window to see if her mind is on him. The imagery of the burning Thames that he has to cross and the rain soaking through his skin creates a sense of urgency and finality in his visit.
He continues by whispering to her through the window, asking if she is alone. The man uses vivid imagery to describe the lengths he will go to be with her, including scaling prison walls and breaking free of chains. He declares that the clay will not contain him and keep him from her arms. He notes the change in his appearance and the paleness of her cheeks, indicating that he has been transformed by death.
In the final verse, the man sings to the morning, asking the sun not to rise before it's day and for the birds to hold their tune a bit longer, knowing that dawn will soon come to steal him away. This final plea for more time with his love creates a sense of desperation and sadness in the listener, leaving us to wonder if the man will ever find peace.
Overall, "Nightvisiting" is a poignant and emotional song that touches on themes of love, loss, and the afterlife. Jim Moray's haunting vocals and the sparse instrumentation help to create a haunting atmosphere that draws the listener in.
Line by Line Meaning
I'll put my ship in order,
I am preparing to sail back to the sea.
And i will sail back tot the sea, and I'll,
I will return back to the sea and try to win back my love.
Listen at the window,
I will listen outside my love's window.
To see if my love's mind's on me.
To see if my love still thinks of me.
And when i come into the harbour,
When I return to the harbor,
The burning Thames i have to cross,
I will have to cross the burning Thames.
And I'll whisper at the window,
I will whisper outside my love's window.
"Oh my true love,
I call out to my true love,
Are you alone?"
Wondering if my love is alone.
'Cos im here and im outside your window,
I am here outside your window.
The rain is soaking to the skin,
The rain is soaking me through.
Prison walls I'm scalin',
I am climbing prison walls to reach you.
Chains that bind me down,
I am bound by chains and cannot get to you.
The clay will not contain me,
I will break free of the earth that holds me back.
And keep me from your arms.
So that I can finally hold you in my arms.
Where is the colour,
Where has the color gone,
I used to know.
That I used to see in you.
Your cheeks' they look oh so pale,
Your cheeks look pale to me.
Mary, the ground has changed me,
I have been changed by the earth and my experiences.
And I'm just the ghost of your Willy, oh...
I am just the memory of your Willy.
So hold out your hands, to the joy, to the kiss from me now
Reach out your hands to me, so that we can share joy and kisses.
For i must return, to the dark, to the dead before light.
I must return to the darkness of death before the light of day.
And so i sing unto the morning,
I sing to the morning,
Oh sun don't rise before it's day,
I hope the sun does not rise before it's time.
And birds hold your tune a bit longer,
Birds, please hold your singing for a little while longer.
For dawn comes to steal my sweet boy away.
Dawn will come and take my love away from me.
Writer(s): JIM MORAY, . TRADITIONAL
Contributed by Chloe Y. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Cooler King
If you like this track I would urge you to listen to more Jim Moray because a) most of his music is of this high standard, and b) he deserves to be massively popular.
Sharon Mos
This is the most perfect song I've ever heard! It is so sad and mournful, and so beautiful and yearning. Why is this guy not more famous??
Ian Davies
He's been hugely popular on the British folk music circuit for about 10 years. He was initially regarded as the "enfant terrible" of Folk for his use of electronica and dance beats, and is still an innovative and influential musician. It's also worth checking out his folk-rock band False Lights - great music!
Gallinor
So beautiful. This version is the most beautiful
Frank Caruthers
It's also the only one I've found on YouTube that's the version actually used in the Class episode.
Mᴥāz Kalīm
Is “first heard” any different than OST? Fact is well known that this is a folk song, but the lyrics has been reworked upon for this release. Else, Mr Moray already got ‘Nightvisiting’ released much before ‘Class™’. It's most likely that unsurprisingly, the uploader will not heed to my comment like others [in spite of such a low # of comments here], but the facts are here: *Mr Jim Moray was asked to and "wrote" 2 different songs for the webseries. Episodic sequence-wise, this is the first [which released as a Single on the day the episode in question premiered], and the other, where Mr Moray made his "acting" debut [as an unnamed character] in the [S] Finale, he did Tutti act in April's (portrayed by Ms Sophie Hopkins) performance by "playing" violin, and then immediately after the title sequence, performed on the ‘Folk Cafe Version’ of that song. Later on, another recording ‘feat. Sam Sweeney’ was played as a "non-diagetic" (read background) music for few seconds in a emotionally-charged sequence (uh-oh, [I] don't wish to "spoil") [in the very same episode, of course]. Unlike Mr Blair Mowat who's a regular TV music composer, Mr Moray had special arrangements with BBC® where he was allowed to release his OST recordings with his own label rather which BBC® chooses (which could've put recordings "in linger" at least till when and if it does so) but with only one [usual] caveat, release date must be agreed upon mutually. I can even cite web-resources accessible in public-domain to prove my base-claims but I've already done enough "for free," how doing more is guaranteed to change anything?
Edit Note: Fixed some factual-errors made pertaining to his acting debut due to obvious factors.
Chase The Status
3:18 Best Part
Abner de Souza
thank you!