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But For Chance (Or The Grace Of God)

from Everything And Nothing by Ian Bland

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    After a couple of false starts and a difficult birth the long awaited Ian Bland CD “Everything and Nothing” and his first book of poetry “Bland On Bland” have sprung forth fully formed and lustily bawling.

    “Everything and Nothing” is a cinematic special starring a motley company of individuals. The songs are each a musical story, whether semi-autobiographical gems, gleaned conversations or plucked from current events, each deliver a condensed and precise serving of observed truth.

    The Lamington String band led by Ian Bland, featuring Ed Bates, Greg Hunt, Peter Anderson, Nathan Farrelly, Mark Stanley and joined by a host of other notable musicians, as usual add their own measure of polish to this the third Ian Bland solo album.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Everything And Nothing via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
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lyrics

But For Chance (or The Grace Of God)

Ellen was my sister, a widow at nineteen
A husband lost to famine and the cold
A better life than Ireland lay ahead in Canada
The story the shipping companies told
Herded on like cattle on a stinking coffin ship
No amount of prayer could hope to save
As they sailed up the St Lawrence, still deep below its decks
She traded all her dreams for the grave

There were some who preached rebellion agin the landlords and the crown
While the poor were thrown out starving on the streets
But it’s hard to find the hunger for taking up the gun
When it’s all your strength to find enough to eat
Still I was the first among them as we marched against our lords
Till a trooper’s baton fell behind my ears
When I woke up all I suffered was a headache nothing worse
While the rest were hung or sent down fourteen years

Forced to take up thieving just to keep myself alive
I apologise to no-one for my crimes
For I never took a penny but from them who could afford
Desperate acts are born of desperate times
I ventured to Australia and the digs at Ballarat
Worked abandoned claims others gladly sold
I’d barely dug two shovels from where they’d given up
Here I stand near dug my weight in gold

Now I have a son and daughter and they’ve children of their own
I trust they’ll never walk the road I’ve trod
For I’ll leave enough behind me to know they’ll never want
I can only hope it won’t become their god
For money buys you shelter and money keeps you fed
But too much can exaggerate your worth
One thing that is certain, whether peasant or a queen
Is nothing but an accident of birth

 Chorus
How one tree stands, while those around it fall
It does no good to wonder why
But for chance or the grace of God go I 

credits

from Everything And Nothing, released November 13, 2016

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Ian Bland Melbourne, Australia

Ian Bland - Melbourne based singer songwriter - musical influences include country, celtic, and folk with stories drawn from rural and urban Australia

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