> Nic Jones > Songs > Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving

[Rick Lee]

Rick and Lorraine Lee sang Rick Lee’s song Thanksgiving on their 1978 Front Hall album Contrasts.

Nic Jones sang Thanksgiving in a live recording of unspecified origin made in between 1979 and 1982. It was included in 1998 on his anthology, In Search of Nic Jones. He noted:

The first time I heard this song I was captivated by the lyrics and the melody. It is featured on the album Contrasts by Rick and Lorraine Lee. It’s still one of my favourite songs.

Lyrics

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving and terror of loss
Make all but my love of life dross,
And keep me in mind of the ones who are kind
And all of these just shareable thoughts.

I run to the millpond and wait
For the frogs who will tell of my fate.
Then drag in some tree that has fallen for me
And now slows me down with its weight.

The jays and the crows come to find
Places where once they had dined
Are whitened with cold from a year that’s grown old
And to winter’s cloak has resigned.

(repeat first verse)