Brian McNeill
Chorus:
For all the gold Ewen Gillies ever found
Could not buy him peace or freedom
From the memory of the sound
Of the waves on St. Kilda's rocky shore.
You caught the line they threw you, you helped to make her fast
You heard the sailors talking in the rigging
When the captain said he'd take another hand before the mast
You knew you were halfway to the diggings
So you rode the ocean's swell to Bendigo and living hell
In the camps and the creeks of Castlemaine
For like a million other souls you were haunted by the gold
And you'd never know a peaceful day again
And tell me, Ewen Gillies, did you still believe the dream
When the hard men of Victoria bought and sold you
When you had to sell the farm that you'd sifted from the seams
Did you curse the tale the sailor laddies told you
And did you fight against the call of the island
That you knew would never hold you.
Chorus
And when the dream was done you'd lost your children and your wife
And every single thing you ever had
But you told your friends the gold was still the centre of your life
And they told you, one and all, that you were mad
So you wandered through the years, never stopping once to rue
And St. Kilda saw your footsteps as you passed
Old Glory even put you in a coat of faded blue
Till the older glory claimed you back at last
And tell me, Ewen Gillies, did you give the Lord your thanks
When he told you where the golden riches lay
Or did you bow your head in prayer on the Sacramento banks
And ask Him should you go or should you stay
And did St. Kilda call you home across the mountains
At the dawn of every day.
Chorus
Again you made the journey to that bare and barren land
To end your days among your kith and kin
To a winter when the Devil held the island in his hand
And the shadow of starvation rode the wind
But it's hard upon St. Kilda for the folks to keep their pride
When every season brings them to despair
And to hear you tell the tale of a different ocean's tide
Made their bitter burden harder still to bear
So though they knew you for their own you were forced to stand alone
In a solitude that no man could endure
They made your home a living grave until the bravest of the brave
Was forced to leave the poorest of the poor
So you reached out once again and took hold of
The bonnie golden lure.
Chorus
When first I heard the tale of Ewen and the gold
I was filled with bitter anger and with tears
To see a travelling man return and then be shut out from the fold
Drove a shaft into the deepest of my fears
For God made Ewen Gillies, God gave him wings to fly
But only from the land where he belonged
But I'd fight with God himself for the light in Ewen's eye
Or with any man who tells me he was wrong
For there's men who use their dreams to tear themselves apart
And there's men who never find a dream at all
But how many find the courage to look deepest in their heart
To find a dream they can follow till they fall
And when my heart cries out to wander I can hear him
Answering the call.
Final chorus:
And on the island the greatest story ever told
It was always Ewen Gillies
California and the gold
So far from St. Kilda's rocky shore.