Her Lonely Way was written as lyric first followed by the music composition. You can listen to the song here.
Spotify https://open.spotify.com/track/2cIOxtZlmsPH1gnacHVq9I?si=d35a8012db244602
Lyrics
One morning, on the south Devon coast, I took a walk along a path that weaved through the gorse, avoiding large stones, to the clifftop above. All the time accompanied by the sound of the gulls. Below were the ruins of the former fishing village of Hallsands. (For The Cormorant Tree the village is called Highsands.)
Her Lonely Way is one of the opening songs of The Cormorant Tree. Clare, amidst the ruins of Highsands village, sings of a young woman who used to walk the cliff top path, through the gorse and fallen stones, to meet with her lover Adam, a soldier, beside the thrift (a coastal grass). But he is called to war and their love must end. Adam never returns. At first Clare sings in the third person but at the end changes to first person – the young woman was Clare. The lyrics also mirror the to and fro of the sea, the rhythm of the waves, a theme that runs throughout the show. What do we learn about Clare? She is lonely, and, with the double meaning of ‘setting’, the ruins of Highsands are the physical setting of her existence and will be the ‘sunset’ of her life. The song is beautifully performed by Laura-Pitt Pulford, capturing the sense of loneliness. The other singers are the ghostly figures of former villagers.
Music
When Steve sent over the lyric for Her Lonely Way I felt the music needed to be reflective and folky with a suggestion of lapping waves, and building later to a military feel in respect of Adam heading off to war. First task then was to find a suitable time signature and after a degree of experimentation a gentle 6/8 lilt seemed to fit the brief since not only is it used in double jigs, and Irish jigs but occasionally in marches.
The instrumental palette – as with all The Cormorant Tree songs – is deliberately simple, using instruments which might have been around in a fishing village in period. My only extravagance being the addition of a keyboard generated string pad here and there to add texture and at certain moments a touch of harmonic sophistication. The seabirds diving and calling are referenced by motifs on the Celtic flute. The snare drum and uillean pipes deliver the military feel. The melody ebbs and flows and periodically a ray of hope emerges as the melody ascends to an unresolved harmonic suspension, only to fall back each time to its D minor root. The instrumentation strips away as the song approaches its end, redolent of Clare’s loneliness.
CLARE
Through prickle gorse, ‘long stony fall
She walked the clifftop way
To where the seabirds rise and call
Beside the thrift to lay
To where the seabirds rise and call
Beside the thrift to lay
Beside the thrift, beside her love
She lay, to hear him say
Of what may be, and what may come
Together day on day
ALL
Of what may be, and what may come
Together day on day
CLARE
Together then, together yet
His voice to her did say
That of their love she must forget
His call to go away
ALL
That of their love she must forget
His call to go away
CLARE
His call to go, his call to war
His duty to obey
Across the sea, to distant shore
Her kiss the price to pay
ALL
Across the sea, to distant shore
Her kiss the price to pay
CLARE
Her kiss the price, her waking sigh
Beyond her aching gaze
This sea, this sand, this wind, this sky
The setting of my days
ALL
This sea, this sand, this wind, this sky
The setting of my days
CLARE
Through prickle gorse, ‘long stony fall
I walk the lonely way
To where the seabirds dive and call
Hear whispers on the spray
To where the seabirds dive and call
Hear whispers on the spray