Icy Acres
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"Icy Acres" is a song written by English folk singer Colin Wilkie and first recorded for his 1969 album Wild Goose with Shirley Hart. Of the song, Wilkie wrote:
There are a great many songs about whalers going to Greenland, or being in Greenland, from the days when Britain was, unfortunately, engaged in the terrible slaughter of this wonderful animal for commercial reasons, but I knew of none which said they were going home! Its first printed appearance was in a collection of contemporary songs produced by the English Folk Dance and Song Society book entitled: Folk Song Today Vol. 3 published 1970.
The song is not part of the band's normal repertoire, and has not been performed on any full band livestreams, but they released a YouTube video as a collaboration with Katie Sky in April 2020, with Katie singing lead.
Lyrics
These lyrics are based on the YouTube video with Katie Sky.
{Chorus}
Fare thee well, ye icy acres
Fare thee well, ye whaling grounds
Fare thee well, ye banks of Greenland
Weary whalers homeward bound
Homeward breezes bend the blossom
Where the oak and the apples grow
God forgot the green in Greenland
Made the flowers from ice and snow
{Chorus}
Home where grasses lace the meadows
By the waters running free
And the rivers sweetly flowing
Turn towards the open sea
{Chorus}
Six long months we've been a-hunting
Through a hell of frozen flame
Now like sails, our hearts are billowing
As we turn for home again
{Chorus x2}