2026 Competition Entry:
The Long Goodbye by Jennifer Bell
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Lyrics
The Long Goodbye
The sun goes down across the sea
And the stars align
And you’ll step into the shallows
Sweet love of mine
Don’t look back
I’ll understand
You leave footprints in the sand
As a sign
Full of shadows
Chorus
And the water’s warm
And the billows sigh –
It’s just a short step on the evening tide
To the other side,
But a long goodbye.
Sunset gilds the night
And colours you divine
Hues never seen in the world of light
Sweet love of mine
Don’t look back
I’ll understand
Go with the flow
Nothing’s planned
It’ll all be fine
It’ll be all right
And the water’s warm…
And in the morning
I shall mourn
This evening time
But now I stand on the shore,
Sweet love of mine –
Quite sure am I
That though you’re going away
It’s ok,
You’re water-borne.
You’re going home
And the water’s warm…
The sun goes down across the sea
And the stars align
And you’ll step into the shallows
Sweet love of mine
Don’t look back
I’ll understand
You leave footprints in the sand
As a sign
Full of shadows
Chorus
And the water’s warm
And the billows sigh –
It’s just a short step on the evening tide
To the other side,
But a long goodbye.
Sunset gilds the night
And colours you divine
Hues never seen in the world of light
Sweet love of mine
Don’t look back
I’ll understand
Go with the flow
Nothing’s planned
It’ll all be fine
It’ll be all right
And the water’s warm…
And in the morning
I shall mourn
This evening time
But now I stand on the shore,
Sweet love of mine –
Quite sure am I
That though you’re going away
It’s ok,
You’re water-borne.
You’re going home
And the water’s warm…
Author
Bio
I’m a songwriter heavily influenced by early music and traditional folk – I perform my songs solo and with a fiddler and bodhran player, and I have another band; ‘Music to Counter Dark Days ‘ which offers fundraising concerts using mostly trad English music, but I sneak my own songs into the programmes…
I fit the songwriting and performing around my professional painting commissions; murals, portraits etc, both streams of creativity are extremely important to me, but I would love my songs to be still sung long after the murals are painted out and the portraits relegated to the attic.
I have a songwriter site; https://www.jenniferbellsongwriter.com/ and recordings, lyrics and videos accessible through that.
The lyrics I’m submitting here I only finished this morning – thinking of my mother who’s 96 and has been saying for 6 months that she’ll be dead by Sunday. We’re just waiting together for the tide.
I’ll probably put a melody to these lyrics in the future, but I’d love to hear what someone else might do .
I fit the songwriting and performing around my professional painting commissions; murals, portraits etc, both streams of creativity are extremely important to me, but I would love my songs to be still sung long after the murals are painted out and the portraits relegated to the attic.
I have a songwriter site; https://www.jenniferbellsongwriter.com/ and recordings, lyrics and videos accessible through that.
The lyrics I’m submitting here I only finished this morning – thinking of my mother who’s 96 and has been saying for 6 months that she’ll be dead by Sunday. We’re just waiting together for the tide.
I’ll probably put a melody to these lyrics in the future, but I’d love to hear what someone else might do .
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