Words and Music by Judy Collins
Farewell to Tarwathie
Adieu Mormond Hill
And the dear land of Crimmond
I bid you farewell
I'm bound off for Greenland
And ready to sail
In hopes to find riches
In hunting the whale
Farewell to my comrades
For a while we must part
And likewise the dear lass
Who first won my heart
The cold coast of Greenland
My love will not chill
And the longer my absence
More loving she'll feel
Our ship is well rigged
And she's ready to sail
The crew they are anxious
To follow the whale
Where the icebergs do float
And the stormy winds blow
Where the land and the ocean
Is covered with snow
The cold coast of Greenland
Is barren and bare
No see time nor harvest
Is ever known there
And the birds here sing sweetly
In mountain and dale
But there's no bird in Greenland
To sing to the whale
There is no habitation
For a man to live there
And the king of that country
Is the fierce Greenland bear
And there'll be no temptation
To tarry long there
With our ship under full
We will homeward repair
Farewell to Tarwathie
Adieu Mormond Hill
And the dear land of Crimmond
I bid you farewell
I'm bound off for Greenland
And ready to sail
In hopes to find riches
In hunting the whale
Posts
Thanks, Dick. Truly inspiring and a good choice of names for your vessel. I'm trying to locate Tarwathie on an Irish map but to no avail. Is it a real or mythical place?
ReplyDeleteIf you search on google maps you'll find both Mormond Hill and the farm of Tairwathie just north of the village of Strichen, Aberdeenshire, Scotland not far from the village of Crimmond also mentionef in song. As you see from this Tairwathie is actually a Scottish song written in mid 19th century.
DeleteBy the way on other side of Mormond Hill from Tairwathie in Rathen Church yard with grave of great granfather of Edvard Grieg the Norweigan composer the next parish down Lonmay is ancestral home of the Presley's.