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I Am Stretched on Your Grave

The Voice Squad sang I Am Stretched on Your Grave on their 1992 album Holly Wood (later reissued as Good People All). Frank Harte noted:

The words of this song are a translation of an anonymous poem in Irish called Táim sínte ar do Thuama.

The singer, Philip King, put this air to the poem which I believe brings out so clearly the sadness and the loneliness expressed by the poet.

Kate Rusby sang I Am Stretched on Your Grave (Táim sinte ar do Thuama) on her 1997 album Hourglass.

German group DeReelium sang Stretched on Your Grave on their 1999 album Millvalley. They noted:

Die morbide Stimmung, die fast schon nekrophilen Neigungen, die hier in diesem Lied ausgedrückt werden, schaffen eine ganz eigene, merkwürdige Stimmung. Der Text ist eine Übersetzung der irischen Orivinalversion, die Melodie ist eine Bearbeitung von Kate Rusby.

[The morbid mood, the almost necrophiliac tendencies expressed here in this song create a very unique, strange atmosphere. The lyrics are a translation of the original Irish version, the melody is an arrangement by Kate Rusby.]

Peta Webb and Ken Hall sang I Am Stretched on Your Grave (Táim sinte ar do Thuama) in 2000 on their Fellside album As Close As Can Be. They noted:

I Am Stretched On Your Grave / Táim sinte ar do Thuama, translated from the Irish by Frank O’Connor, air by Philip King, expresses the belief that love lasts beyond the grave. It has a poignant, beautiful blend of secular and Christian imagery. We heard this first from Sinead O’Connor and it has been recorded by The Voice Squad.

Dallahan sang I Am Stretched on Your Grave on their 2016 album Matter of Time.

Catherine Earnshaw and Storywheel sang I Am Stretched on Your Grave on the 2018 download album Live at the Invisible Folk Club No 9.

Lyrics

The Voice Squad sing I Am Stretched on Your Grave

I am stretched on your grave and will lie there forever,
If your hands were in mine, I’d be sure they’d not sever,
My appletree, my brightness ’tis time we were together,
For I smell of the earth and am worn by the weather.

When my family thinks that I’m safe in my bed,
From night until morning I am stretched at your head.
Calling out to the air with tears hot and wild,
My grief for the girl that I loved as a child.

Do you remember the night we were lost
In the shade of the blackthorn and the chill of the frost.
Thanks be to Jesus we did what was right
And your maidenhead still is your Pillar of Light.

The priests and the friars approach me in dread,
Because I still love you, my love, and your dead.
And still would be your shelter through rain and through storm
For with you in the cold ground I cannot sleep warm.