Song Description

It's a Celtic style folk story/song

Lyrics

On a cold and grey winters morning
we found him lying there
his clothes all tattered and worn with age
there was frost in his long grey hair
In the school shelter shed
where he'd last made his bed
there was little to help us explain
why he had chosen to live like he did
and why he never told us his name

He'd been in the hotel the night before last
as on so many nights before
scrounging a drink and making us think
that he was so terribly poor
but the words that he'd use while expressing his views
were those of a well travelled man
so the men on the sly offered odds as to why
he never told us his name

the rumours were rife
of an earlier life
when he had run foul of the law
while others would claim that he carried the shame
of refusing to fight in the war

but all of us knew we hadn't a clue
and the mystery would have to remain
as to why he had chosen to live like he did
and why he never told us his name

on a cold and grey winters morning
we stared at that hole in the ground
as the minister spoke of that kindly old bloke
a eulogy hardly profound
for what can you say when you start to pray
for a soul you'd like God to reclaim
and you have to excuse the words that you use
for he never told us his name

the rumours were rife of an earlier life
when he had run foul of the law
while others would claim that he carried the shame
of refusing to fight in the war

but all of us knew we hadn't a clue
and the mystery would have to remain
as to why he had chosen to live like he did
and why he never told us his name
now that he's gone what goes on to the stone
for he never told us his name