Composer’s Note
This piece came out of a lockdown commission from the lovely members of Ipswich Chamber Choir and sets the second half of the Suffolk folksong Father and Daughter. I wanted to find a text that had resonance with the choir’s geography but with this text I also felt a strong emotive connection to the watching, waiting, and hoping we were all experiencing during a pandemic.
 
The main motives and ideas came to me quite quickly out on long walks in the fens around Ely, and were written up back in my flat with my fingers warming up around cups of tea.
 
I remain incredibly thankful for all the support that ICC continue to give me through the years and am delighted that this song seems to be finding its way into their repertoire quickly and fondly.
 
TEXT
For nine long months she watched the sea, and three long lingering days,
When she saw a ship come rolling in with her true love on the stays.
With her true love on the stays.
When she saw a ship come rolling in with her true love on the stays.
 
She said: ‘Yonder set my angel, a-watching there for me:
Tomorrow to the church we’ll go and married we will be.
Tomorrow to the church we’ll go,
Tomorrow to the church we’ll go and married we will be.
 
And I’m happy in my mind –
For I’ll soon be married to the man I love,
And I’m happy in my mind.’
 
First Performed by Ipswich Chamber Choir, St Mary-le-Tower Church, Ipswich 18 x 2020