River

I was wandering around the Estes Park fairgrounds back in September of 1999, when I literally stumbled into a tent filled with people. I tripped on a guide line holding the tent up and then casually tried to make it look like it was there, that I had intended to go all along. Through a haze of Harp beers, it appeared that Sean Connery was singing Scottish folksongs. "I remember it well."

That day I had decided to attend the Longs Peak Scottish Irish Highland Festival in Estes Park, Colorado. I liked the sounds of bag pipes and had always enjoyed St. Patrick's Day. That day I discovered a performer named Alex Beaton who wove tails of Scottish history into wonderful ballads and songs. I have been back every year since to rendezvous with Alex in Estes.

Through the years I have purchased many of Alex's CDs and enjoy listening to them, but his live performances are what make the experience so memorable. From the first time I saw him in that tent, I was drawn to the way the audience related to and laughed along with Alex as he spun his tales of Scotland's past. He would regularly speak of events that had taken place in say the year 1602 and follow up with his trademark saying, "I remember it well."

I remember one of the first songs that he sang that stuck with me was called "These are my mountains". At the time, I was in my first year in Colorado and I related to it. Now, it is a tradition of mine to attend the Highland Festival every year the weekend after Labor Day. I look forward to his songs like: "Northwest Passage, White Squall, Flower of Scotland, and Caledonia"

One song in particular has stuck with me over the years. It is called "River" and here are the liracs:

"I was born in the path of the winter wind
Raised where the mountains are old
Their springtime waters came dancing down
I remember the tales they told

The whistling ways of my younger days
Too quickly have faded on by
But all of their memories linger on
Like the light in a fading sky

Chorus
River, take we along
In your sunshine
Sing me a song
Ever moving and winding and free
You rolling old river
You changing old river
Let's you and me river
Run down to the sea

Well I've been to the city
And I've been back again
And I've been moved by
Some things that I've learned
I've met a lot of good people
And I call them friends
Felt the change
When the seasons turn

I heard all the songs
That the children sing
And I've listened to love's melodies
I felt my own music within me rise
Like the wind in the autumn trees

Someday when the flowers are blooming still
Someday when the grass is still green
My rollin' water will round the bend
And flow into the open sea

So here's to the rainbow that's followed me here
And here's to friends that I know
And here's to the song that's within me now
I will sing it where've I go

Chorus
River..."