All Souls Night lyrics

Music and Lyrics by Loreena McKennitt

Bonfires dot the rolling hillsides
Figures dance around and around
To drums that pulse out echoes of darkness
Moving to the pagan sound.

Somewhere in a hidden memory
Images float before my eyes
Of fragrant nights of straw and of bonfires
And dancing till the next sunrise.

CHORUS
I can see lights in the distance
Trembling in the dark cloak of night
Candles and lanterns are dancing, dancing
A waltz on ALL SOULS NIGHT.

Figures of cornstalks bend in the shadows
Held up tall as the flames leap high
The green knight holds the holly bush
To mark where the old year passes by.

CHORUS

Bonfires dot the rolling hillsides
Figures dance around and around
To drums that pulse out echoes of darkness
Moving to the pagan sound.

Standing on the bridge that crosses
The river that goes out to the sea
The wind is full of a thousand voices
They pass by the bridge and me.

CHORUS

This piece was inspired by the imagery of a Japanese
tradition which celebrate the souls of the
departed by sending candle-lit lanterns out on
waterways leading to the ocean, sometimes in
little boats; along with imagery of the Celtic
All Souls Night celebrations, at which time huge
bonfires were lit not only to mark the new year,
but to warm the souls of the departed. - L.M.

L.M.: Vocals, Keyboard, Accordion
BRIAN HUGHES: Balalaika, Guitar
AL CROSS: Drums
GEORGE KOLLER: Bass, Cello, Mad Fiddle, Tamboura