ROAD TO ABERDEEN
(Traditional)

Nanci Griffith - 1998



I thought I saw my mother's eyes
On the road to Aberdeen
And they did shine above a stranger's smile
The colour of the sea

And one day I'll take my mother there
To see what I have seen
The eyes of her great grandfather
On the road to Aberdeen

Now, I thought I heard my father's voice
Along the coast of Wales
Singing sweet of tenor in a Cardiff pub
With the wind the gust of gales

And one day I'll take my father there
To sing the harmony
And He'll sing high above the water
In his grandfather's voice he'll sing

Old land, you are holy
To the children 'cross the sea
Old land, may the sea understand
We are all one family

In a flower shop in Amsterdam
I saw grandmother's hands
They were the fragile grace of porcelain
With a small gold wedding band

And the tulip that I purchased there
Is pressed upon a page
In a book of psalms grandmother saved
From her grandmother's Holland days

Now, my sister has grandmother's hands
And the skin of ivory
And my brother has my mother's eyes
They're the colour of the sea

And me, I have my father's voice
To the coast of Wales I sing
And I do cherish these remembrances
On the road to Aberdeen

It's old land and it's holy
To the children 'cross the sea
It's old land, may the sea understand
We are all one family


(Transcribed by Mel Priddle - April 2018)