Orion's Belt

One of the two songs in this collection not written during the Adagio Sessions. I’ve toured Australia many times and, as a stargazer, always looked forward to feasting on the unfamiliar sights of the Southern Hemisphere sky.
Gallipoli refers to the World War I campaign during which the Allies tried…and failed…to secure a sea route to Russia through Turkey and capture the capital, Constantinople. It is considered the birth of national consciousness in Australia and New Zealand and the date of the initial landing, April 25th, is designated as “ANZAC Day,” the most significant commemoration of military casualties and veterans in both countries.
John: vocal & guitar
Bryn Davies: bass
Stuart Duncan: fiddle

The Southern Cross rides low
On the waters here tonight
The moonless sky so dark
The stars seem twice as bright
Again I scan the heavens
Searching for the sign
That for 60 years and better
He promised would be mine

I was just a girl of 17
That morning at the Quay
With flowers and with tears we waved
Our lovers all away
Among the young and gallant
He was fairest of them all
My soldier of Kyambram
He’d return to me come fall

Chorus
He said, “Look upon Orion’s belt
“The star there on the right
“He roams in both the hemispheres
“I’ll be there every night
“The very star I wish upon
“Is there for us to view
“I’ll be riding on Orion’s belt
“‘Til I come home to you”

Others wait for letters
And word come in the post
Days of endless longing
For the ones they miss the most
But when the evening settles
And swallows up the light
I know my Johnny rides there
On the Hunter’s waist each night Chorus

Bridge
Young boys are meant for battle
Young girls are meant for home
Forever we must stay
While forever they will roam
The stars are meant to watch o’er us
Who tend the hearth alone

For nearly 80 years now
What wonders I have seen
And scarce can I remember
My Johnny at 19
The sad name of Gallipoli
Is burned upon my breast
Yet I still seek out the rightmost star
Each night before I rest Chorus

March 17, 2013
Geelong, VIC

©2013 John McCutcheon/Appalsongs (ASCAP)