ELEGY

Tomi Koivusaari: Vocals, Rhythm & Acoustic Guitars, Tambourine
Esa Holopainen: Lead and Acoustic Guitars, Electric Sitar
Olli-Pekka Laine: Bass
Kim Rantala: Keyboards & Chordian
Pekka Kasari: Drums
Pasi Koskinen: Lead Vocals

1. BETTER UNBORN
2. AGAINST WIDOWS
3. THE ORPHAN
4. ON RICH AND POOR
5. MY KANTELE
6. CARES
7. SONG OF THE TROUBLED ONE
8. WEEPER ON THE SHORE
9. ELEGY
10. RELIEF
11. MY KANTELE (Acoustic Reprise)

1. BETTER UNBORN

  Better it would be for me And better it would have been Had I
  not been born, not grown Not been brought into the world Not
     had to come to this earth Not been suckled for the world

 If I’d died a three-night--old Been lost in my swaddling band I’d
   have needed but a span of cloth A span more of wood, But a
   cubit of good earth Two words from the priest Three verses
               from the cantor One clang from the bell

2. AGAINST WIDOWS

  The Devil weds a widow Death another’s leftovers Better to lie
 on a willows Rest on alder boughs Than upon a widow’s pillow
          Sweeter the side of a fense Than a widow’s flank

        Softer the side of a grove Than a widow’s beside is

  The Devil weds a widow The grave one twice wed A widow’s
    hand is rougher Than a dry spruce bought With which she
  strikes the playful Grabs the one who laughs A widow has had
                her games And spent a merry evening

3. THE ORPHAN

 The calloo’s spirits are low Swimming on the chill water But the
        orphan’s are lower Walking down the village street.

The sparrow’s belly is chill Sitting on the icy bough But my belly
             is more chill As I step from glade to glade.

    The dove’s heart is cold As it pecks the village rick But I’m
                 colder still As I drink the icy water.

4. ON RICH AND POOR

 Old folk remember And those today learn How before their time
                         Life was different here:

  Without the sun people lived Groped about without the moon
 With candles sowing was done Planting performed with torches.

 At the time we lived Without the sunshine Who had covered up
              our sun And who had hidden our moon?

 Without the moonlight stumbled With our fists fumbled the land
    With ourhands we sought out roads With hands roads, with
    fingers swamps We could not live without sun Nor manage
  without moonlight; Who would seek out the sun Who spy out
       the moon? Who else if not God The one son of God?

5. MY KANTELE

    Truly they lie, they talk utter nonsense Who say that music
  reckon that the kantele Was fashioned by a god Out of a great
 pike’s shoulders From a water-dog’s hooked bones: It was made
                 from the grief Moulded from sorrow

 Its belly out of hard days Its soundboard from endless woes Its
    strings gatheret from torments And its pegs from other ills

 So it not play, will not rejoice at all Music will not play to please
   Give off the right sort of joy For it was fashioned from cares
                        Moulded from sorrow.

6. CARES

 Many rocks the rapid has A lot of billows the sea More plentiful
  are my cares Than cones on a spruce Beard moss on a juniper
 Gnarls upon a pine bark Knobs upon a fir husks on a grass-top
                          Boughs on a bad tree.

  drag my cares away Carry off my griefs For no horse can draw
 No iron-shod jerk Without the shaft-bow shaking off The cares
          of this skinny one The sorrows of this black bird

7. SONG OF THE TROUBLED ONE

  What the thrush toils at The partridge asks for The hapless one
 takes The troubled one steals Puts upon a spade Sets on a runner
            Hides under a door Shields with a bath-whisk

   The farmer hammers And tempers his spears Marries off his
    sons Hands out his daughters In boots clogged with clay In
                              fancy mittens

The sea-swell rumbles And the wind it blows And the king hears
      it From five miles away From six directions From seven
                 backwoods From eight heaths away.

8. WEEPER ON THE SHORE

 In the vale where I once listened out for the light Where the little
 birds warble The ptarmigans babble And my heart looked about
                     for some rest from its trouble

 I cast my eyes downward upon the seaside And a fair young girl
  on the shore I espied Who was sitting and weeping To see the
    waves leaping And over the skyline sad vigil was keeping.

 O why are you weeping alone on the shore? Now still from your
 eyes I can see the tears pour. What sorrow and smart So pierces
         your heart That even at midnight it will not depart?

9. ELEGY

 Long evenings full of longing Low-spirited my mornings Full of
 longing too my nights And all times the bitterest. ‘Tis my lovly I
  long for It is my darling I miss My black-browed one I grieve
                                    for.

 There’s no hearing my treasure No seeing my marten-breast No
 hearing her in the lane Driving below the window Chopping the
        wood by the stack Clinking outside the cook-house:

 In the earth my berry lies In the soil she’s mouldering Under the
    sand my sweet one Beneath the grass my treasure The one I
                                grieve for.

10. RELIEF


INSTRUMENTAL