Mary Black (born 23 May 1955 in Dublin) is an Irish singer. She is well kno… Read Full Bio ↴Mary Black (born 23 May 1955 in Dublin) is an Irish singer. She is well known as an interpreter of both folk and contemporary material which has made her a major recording artist in her native Ireland and in many other parts of the world. She was named "Best Female Artist" in the IRMA poll in 1987, 1988, 1992, 1994 and 1996.

Black was born into a musical family. Her father had been a fiddler, her mother a singer, and her brothers have their own group. She sang in her family's group in her youth.

In 1975 Black joined a small folk band called General Humbert, with whom she toured Europe and released two albums, in 1975 and 1978. In 1982 she developed a professional relationship with musician/producer Declan Sinnott and recorded her first solo album, Mary Black.

She went on to play in other groups including the traditional Irish band De Dannan from 1984-1986. After 1986 she had a successful solo career where she went on to try contemporary styles ranging from jazz to country. She was named "Best Female Artist" in the IRMA poll in 1987, 1988, 1992, 1994 and 1996.

She is married to Joe O'Reilly of Dara Records and they have three children. Her son Danny is a member of the Irish rock band The Coronas, while her daughter Róisín is performing under the name Róisín O.

For a number of years, "What Hi-Fi?" magazine considered Black's voice to be so pure that it was used as an audiophile benchmark for comparing the sound quality of different high fidelity systems.

Discography

* 1983 Mary Black
* 1984 Collected
* 1985 Without the Fanfare
* 1987 By the Time it Gets Dark
* 1989 No Frontiers
* 1991 Babes in the Wood
* 1992 The Collection
* 1993 The Holy Ground
* 1995 Circus
* 1997 Shine
* 1999 Speaking with the Angel
* 2001 The Best of Mary Black 1991-2001 & Hidden Harvest
* 2003 Mary Black Live
* 2005 Full Tide
* 2008 Twenty-Five Years Twenty-Five Songs
* 2011 Stories from the Steeples

Home
Mary Black Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Traveling at night, the headlights were bright
And we'd been up many an hour
And all through my brain
Came the refrain
Of home and it's warming fire

[Chorus]
And Home

Sings me of sweet things
My life there has it's own wings
To fly over the mountains
Though I'm standing still

The people I've seen
They come in between
The cities of tiring life
The trains come and go,
But inside you know
The struggle will soon be a fight

[Chorus]

Traveling at night,
The headlights were bright.
But soon the sun came through the trees
Around the next bend
The flowers will send
The sweet scene of home in the breeze

[Chorus]

Overall Meaning

The song "Home" by Mary Black is a reflective, nostalgic song that reflects the longing for the familiar warmth and comfort of home while travelling. In the song, the singer describes travelling at night, with the bright headlights blurring their vision. As they travel, their mind is flooded with thoughts of home, particularly the warm fire that usually awaits them. The chorus exclaims that home 'sings' the singer of sweet things and liberates their life to fly over mountains even though they may be standing still.

The second verse of the song alludes to the transient nature of existence in contemporary society, which is characterized by movement and change. The singer infers that the various faces and experiences that the traveller meets along the way only serve to dilute and blur their memory of home, making them long for it more acutely. The passage visualizes trains flitting in and out of bustling cities, taking people far away from home, leaving them to long for the simple comforts that await them.

The final verse shifts the focus to the natural landscape and portrays the music that nature provides to comfort people longing for home, the singer describes the arrival of the sun and what follows is a picturesque description of flowers waving in the breeze, as if greeting their arrival home.

Line by Line Meaning

Traveling at night, the headlights were bright
We were driving through the dark with glaring lights, barely able to stay awake.

And we'd been up many an hour
We've been awake for hours now, restless and waiting.

And all through my brain came the refrain of home and it's warming fire
All I could think of was the comfort of being home and the warmth of its fire, as if they were calling to me.

And Home sings me of sweet things, my life there has it's own wings
There's something special about home that fills my heart with joy and the freedom to pursue my dreams.

To fly over the mountains, though I'm standing still
Even though I may be physically still, home gives me the power to soar over anything that stands in my way.

The people I've seen, they come in between the cities of tiring life
The people I've encountered on my journey can distract me from the day-to-day stress of city life.

The trains come and go, but inside you know the struggle will soon be a fight
As the trains come and go, and the outside world continues to move on, I know that my struggles will soon turn into a fight that I'm ready to face.

But soon the sun came through the trees, around the next bend the flowers will send the sweet scene of home in the breeze
The sun soon rises, illuminating the road ahead, and the scent of flowers in the air brings home closer and fills me with hope.

Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, RESERVOIR MEDIA MANAGEMENT INC, SHAPIRO BERNSTEIN & CO. INC.
Written by: KLAUS BADELT

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind

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