John Smith - Axe Mountain (Revisited) Lyrics

Sit down here beside me, I'll tell you a sad old tale
Of lonely old Axe Mountain town, of Lester Joseph Cale
A place the men would work all day
Where women worked all night
But came togetherevening time
To love and then to fight
Long hours did the women work
So hard their burden was
Doubly hard they worried when
Young Lily May was lost

Lily May was mourned, another week passed in the rain
'Til the day of harvest came and we were missing Jane
Another season's toil broke another one more
Lily, Jane and dozens still were buried on the moors

What did their husbands say?
They're just cowards, they're just weak and frail
None would dare to even speak his name: Lester Joseph Cale
Axe Mountain, you let those people die on a knife
A lover did I know for sure
I'll love her all my life

He came out of the darkness with a rucksack made of skin
As soon as he was seen, he was gone again
I heard he'd been a murderer for fifteen years and more
Whole villages are gone all over the moor
And I heard he had a family once, a child and a wife
But now nobody here is safe from Lester Joseph Cale's knife

""Stand up! Be strong! I'll get him!"" said the bravest of the men
Dead in bed he's found that night, in pieces he was ten
""They shall be bled,"" it's written in red on the bedroom walls
Helena she saw this and she fled across the moor

She flew up old Axe Mountain, raised one hand and cried
""Grant me a weapon, god of mine! Lester Cale must die!""
And the sky it cracked, it split the mountain, she reached inside
Pulled out an axe so terrible that any man on Earth would die

She screamed with rage and flung herself into the town below
Tore off her clothes and waited for Lester Joseph Cale to show
And show he did, he came and laughed, he said
""Little girl, what's the plan? You're alone
It's you and me, I butchered your old man""

She said ""No! Don't speak his name! Don't mention my man!""
She struck him in the face, cut off both his hands
She cut him once, twice, three, four, she could cut no more
Fed the meat and bones to wild dogs upon the moor

The years went on, Helena remained there 'til she died
The men went off in search of better jobs, in search of brides
But a woman there was mine, I loved her more than life
But so scared was I
So scared of Lester Joseph Cale was I
So scared was I
I could not protect my wife

Axe Mountain, how'd you let those people die at his blade?
A lover did I know for sure and regret it every day
Axe Mountain, you let those people die on a knife
A lover did I know for sure
I loved her
I'll miss her
All my life.