When the days are gettin' shorter, and the
nights are growin' long,
And the north wind puts a tear into your eye,
If you're out about 'round midnight and you
look off to the east,
There you may see bold Orion on the rise.
You may know him by his stance or the
starry shield he holds,
As he rises silent in a clear cold sky.
Young Jack Frost and Old Man Winter, they both
beckon to the call
Of their master bold Orion on the rise.
Bold Orion, mighty hunter,
rising in a clear cold sky,
See the summer fall before him.
Bold Orion's on the rise.
For seven starry ages, he has
ruled the winter skies
With the fires of lost eons in his eyes.
He has seen the rise and fall of kings and
continents and all,
Rising silent, bold Orion on the rise.
When he ascends, no hesitation; when he
moves, no turnin' round,
Like a soul been called to glory, earthly
born but heavenly bound.
Now the bird is on the wing, and it's
southward that she flies,
Hastened on by bold Orion on the rise.
Bold Orion, mighty hunter, ...
Orion had a lover. She's the
goddess of the hunt,
And of the forest and the golden moon.
Artemis they called her, the fair
sister of the sun,
But their time together ended all too soon.
Apollo took his vengeance on the
man his sister loved.
An arrow sped him to a painful death;
But once a month she visits him, a
moon among the stars,
Looking down with whispered love upon her breath.
Bold Orion, mighty hunter, ...
Summer comes on all too slowly, and it
passes far too fast,
And you wonder, is there nothin' that can last?
Here today and gone tomorrow as the
green leaves turn to red,
As the present quickly turns into the past.
Cut the wood and stack it high now. Stoke the
fires in your home.
Burnin' nightly send the smoke up to the sky.
Keep the winter at your door and keep the
summer in your heart.
Drink a toast to bold Orion on the rise.
Bold Orion, mighty hunter, ...
Bold Orion, mighty hunter, ...
recording: Leo Kretzner (1982) [YouTube]
recording: Susan McKeown & Lindsey Horner [YouTube]
notes: song discussion [Mudcat Cafe]