Wealth of Sorrow, by Cahalen Morrison (2025)

1.

If you were a ship, and I the first mateOut crossing the channels so deepI’d not learn to swim, for if you’d go downDown toward the depth of your fate,I’d soon be there quick in your wakeIf you were a carriage, and I held the reinsOut crossing the badlands so wideI’d not learn to walk, for your axel failsTied up by those arid chainsOur wood and our bones bleach the sameIf you were a leaf, and I a strong gale All forcing the hold of your mightI’d move between the light and toss around timeAnd you’re bound there to follow my tracks For that’s the step in this old crooked danceIf you were my own, and how I wish that you wereTo steer ‘round this whole broken worldI’d not learn to love, as forever’s a long timeAll broke down by life’s weary gameIt’s enough to be posed in your frame

2.

Last time I saw youIt was in the month of MayYou floated downas a leaf that’s lost its wayIn days to comeI’ll lay broken on the groundJust as a dreamStill waiting to be foundDoes my heart echoIn this dark and lonely roomIs that the musicOf a song that ends too soonStill far awayYou lay in your featherbedJust as a ladyGone back to sleep insteadMy heart’s a sparrowGone cutting up the lightI live the silenceOf a clear and starry nightI’ll build a towerThat no one else can climbBut through the keyholeIs a man who’s lost his mind And in the shadowsA path that longs for lightJust as the moon glowsWith all its milky lightI’d fly awayTo some old distant landAnd as I prepareOn my own legs I stand

3.

Across you lie in your sticks and stonesAcross the darkest oceanBut here I am all blood and bones So constant in directionNot a compass am I needingWhat of the sea? She cried so sadWhat of that sea all stormingI’ll build a boat with a rudder deepSo constant in directionIt will always keep me floatingWhat of the peaks that lie between?What of those peaks all snowing?I’ll dig a trench so wide and lowSo constant in directionFor the quickest i’m returning What of the rivers that roll and flood?What of that water flowing?I’ll build a bridge so strong and tallSo constant in directionFor the shortest I am traveling What of the wind that blows away?What of those gales howling?I’ll rope the gulls and tight will holdso constant in directionThat the clouds will give me pardonWhat of the plains she cried so longWhat of that vastness slowing?I’ll cry the tears that’ll flood my waySo constant in directionAnd across it I’ll come sailing What of the silence among the stars?What of that wealth of sorrow?I’ll sing a song so sad and trueThat the stars will line to light my path, And point me toward your dear affection

4.

He slipped the loop off the three strand gateAnd tires clamored off down the trackHe looked at the fields, at what might have beenYou can't change the future by looking backNo you can't make it rain, or will the wind to stop its blowing Can't change the future by looking backIt’s the closest to death, save for dyingHis shadow lay there flat on the ground He yearned for the rain to come wash it awayYou can’t tell a story without making a soundYou can't slow the day, or knock the world off its axis Can’t tell a story without making a soundShe paid a fair price for trouble This lonely world shone bright by the moonShe lay still in the ditch, as the buzzards undressed herAnd the sun made its circles ‘round the roomYou can't take it back, as the world it keeps on spinning And the sun made its circles ‘round the roomIn the long dark hours of burdenMornin feels like it's never gonna come The stone of her love lay heavy on his heart Like the horizon beneath the setting sun You can name all the stars, but not their place in the skyLike the horizon beneath the setting sunYou can’t choose your fate, or lift the weight of the massesLike the horizon beneath the setting sun.

5.

When a man has lost his willWhen a man has lost his will to live It's a dark and Dreary world mmmMy mothers gone by illnessMy father he left by a triggered gunIt's a dark and Dreary world Even in the noonday sun The sun it spares the wildernessThe moon hangs cold on heavens ropeIt's a dark and Dreary world All deceived by pulpits hope In ardor and in scarcenessA farrow soil 'neath rich and poorIt's a dark and Dreary world And there's a lock on heavens door

6.

7.

When Noah built the ark he said come little lambs now two by twoCome now while the sky’s still blueWhen Noah built the ark he had a hammer and a chisel and a fine saw tooOh lord he hammered and he chiseled like you’ve gotta doBut it rained all day, and it rained all night And it drank the sinners, all over BabylonWhen Noah built the ark he’d been waitin’ for a while for a rainbow signLookin’ to the heavens with a jug of wineWhen Noah built the ark he battened down the hatches and he hunkered on downOh with the skeeters and the elephants, Glory bound

8.

With my feet in my boots and my boots in the stirrups swinging downI sit in the saddle pointed just the other way from townI don’t know when I’ll get there but it’ll ease all the hard times that I’ve foundBut until then I’ll be sitting right up here with no feet on the ground Down in the valley the girls are dipping their toesWhile the men down at the station cry ‘oh lord, it goes how it goes’Down here on Jackson the bums are kicking at crows While the ladies of the evening cry ‘oh lord, it just goes to show’I don’t need money or luck, I sing the song that I choseI sit on the sidewalk believing anything that anybody knowsI don’t know when I’ll get there but it’ll ease all the hard times that I’ve madeBut until then I’ll be sitting right down here laying down in the shadeDown in the valley the geese are swimming their eightsWhile the ladies of the evening cry ‘oh lord, you’re choosing your fate’Down here on broadway the boys are getting up lateWhile the men out in the country walk the broad line between love and hate

9.

In the year 1918 when the war came tumbling downAll men that were spared were home to Scotland boundThe foaming shores of France all churned and lay there washed in redThe mauled the mamed on a namely ship instead Across the channel wide and to the north she did sailA sea of fire couldn’t slow her down, nor could the strongest gale She sailed away from Kyle of Lochalsh on the last day of the yearFilled with all the eager boys, she was Lewis bound to steerThe sails were full on the Iolaire, as an eagle spreads it’s wingsThey cut across the Minch’s deep, feeling rich as any kingBut as the lights of the harbor came, as a beacon in the nightThe waves they crashed and the sea it roared and they saw a dreadful sightThe captain cried an awful noise, a name they’d heard beforeThen a sound came thundering like death knocking at your doorBelow the waves all sleeping still, for nowhere did they roamThey’d laid in wait, like some crooked fate, those mighty Beasts of Holm As the sea came rushing in, and the ship was sinking fastTwo hundred weary sailors swam and saw their home the lastTheir leather boots like cannonballs pulled and tugged them downAnd who the war had spared, the sea it claimed them nowIn the year 1919, the first of days to comeThe Iolaire in the harbor sat, for this war had not been wonThe mast it stood one hundred yards, like a branch up toward the skyThe last tree out on Lewis stood, as tall and sad goodbyeAll the island mothers walked, and combed the windy shoresSons washed up one by one in twos and threes and fours Below the waves all sleeping still, for nowhere did they roamThey’d laid in wait, like some crooked fate, those mighty Beasts of Holm

10.

Far distant, far distant, lies Scotia the braveNo tombstone memorial to hallow his graveFor his bones they lie scattered on the rude soil of SpainFor young Jamie Foyers in battle was slainFrom the Perthshire Militia we did a volunteerAlong with young Foyers that bold halberdier To storm Bridges Castle right before break of dayWith Young Jamie Foyers leading the wayWhile mounting the ladders for to scaling the wallA shot from a French gun made young Foyers fallHe placed his right hand all across his left breast And thus Jamie Foyers his Comrades addressedTo you Robert Percy who stands a campaign If goodness should send you to Scotland againYou can tell my old father if yet his heart warmsHis son Jamie Foyers expired in your armsAnd if a few moments in Campsie I wereMy brothers and sisters my sorrow to shareAnd alas my old mother, oh long may she mourn Her son Jamie Foyers will never return. “Oh, if I had a drink of that Baker's Brown well,My thirst it would quench and my fever would quell.”But his very live-blood was ebbing so fast,And young Jamie Foyers he soon breathed his last.

Wealth Of Sorrow was recorded in an old adobe chapel, April 2019 in the remote village of Jaroso on the border of New Mexico and Colorado.

The entire album was tracked live in a day and a half by Erick Jaskowiak with a small mobile recording rig. Ten songs of Cahalen with his guitar, banjo, a wood stove and the wind.

released September 4, 2020

Cahalen Morrison - Guitar, Banjo and Vocals

All songs written by Cahalen Morrison (Hanktown BMI) except Young Jaime Foyers (Trad., from the singing of Sheila Stewart)

Recorded live and mixed by Erick Jaskowiak in Jaroso, Colorado, April 22 & 23, 2019

Mastered by Dave Sinko, Nashville, Tennessee

Artwork by Niki Sherey (www.nikikeenan.com)

Design and Layout by Matt Ballew

Big thanks to Dave and Kathy Morrison, Chris Kempes, Mark Dudrow, Erick Jaskowiak, Dave Sinko, Niki Sherey, Matt Ballew, Ethan Lawton, Mary and Greg Maass, Kim Templeton, Jim Miller, Nokosee Fields.

© Cahalen Morrison all rights reserved