2025 Competition Entry:

Face The Fire by Tony Billings

Genre

Folk

Artist

Co-writer(s)

no

Performer(s)

Tony Billings – Guitars, Vocals, other Sampled instruments.

Description

A folk song which attempts to evoke an ancestral spirit of the journey home to the lands of summer

Bio

I’ve been making music since I was a teenager back in the 1970’s.

As a member of The Academic Hamiltons in the early 80’s I got to play at all the top clubs of the time (Marquee, Rock Garden, Bridge House, etc.), to record in some of the most celebrated studios of the day, and to open for some of the bigger names of the 80’s but we never quite managed that final step.

My love of music (and particularly writing) has never waned and now, in my 60’s I finally have the time and money to step back and actually make some decent recordings of the songs I’ve written over the last 50 years.

In the last two years I’ve released two albums of new recordings of my old songs, and an album of completely new material. I am currently working on another new album of brand new songs.

Lyrics

he road laid out before me for a lifetime i will roam.
i hear the names along the way but none can lead me home.
the travellers who cross my path, not one shall learn my name
as one by one they turn and face the fire.

and so through all the days that pass i’ll play their mindless games –
but nights the dreams which drive me onwards speak in secret names.
and turning to the west i hear your voice upon the air
the silence of the evening burns like fire.

the distant hills are calling as we wander.
we would never walk this path alone.
the ice has melted long ago, as summer calls us home,
and now i take your hand and we can walk all summer long
then smiling, we can rest, and face the fire.

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