SOUTHERN COUNTIES
(Words and music; Colin Reece)

From the Album Red Wing by Colin Reece

A mixed up song really, with me in a 'Can't stay in one place for very long and yet I want to go home' mood.
I'm quite proud of the chorus in this one, as I think I'm the only songwriter to get three chocolate bars in one line!!

Click here for a You Tube clip of this song

Just a bridge for rapid waters
Just a bandage for your pain
Forgot the rules the past had taught us
There's more in love to lose than gain

To Canterbury came the pilgrim
They say all roads they lead to Rome
But where do you go when you've no calling
No welcome voice to call you home.

For now it's cold in the Southern Counties
And there's rain in my home town
With no reward, no prize and no bounty
Since the music let me down.

But all the roads that lead from London
They seem intent to make you lose
Your cause, your path and your direction
The reason for the one you chose.

And so I chose the road to Dover
Although I stopped along the way
My home's my mistress and I love her
But I'm not so sure I want to stay

Since it got cold in the Southern Counties
And there's rain in my home town
With no reward, no prize and no bounty
Since the music let me down.

But after weeks of weary traveling
I long to rest my tired bones
I start to hear the voice a-calling
The welcome voice that calls me home

Yes after weeks of weary traveling
I long to rest my tired bones
I start to hear the voice a-calling
The welcome voice that I call home.

Til it gets cold in the Southern Counties
And there's rain in my home town
With no reward, no prize and no bounty
And the music lets me down.