We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

Our Valley Home

from Valley Home by Joe Vickers

supported by
patrick sayegh
patrick sayegh thumbnail
/

  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      $1 CAD

     

about

By 1918, the Spanish Influenza that was paralyzing armies in Europe had reached Canada and was running rampant in the Drumheller valley. There were no facilities to deal with the infectious disease, so the public school became the de facto hospital while the newly constructed Miner’s Hall served as a morgue.

“...it is a nightmare time in my memory. It seemed to hit the town like a cloudburst, everyone becoming ill at the same time. So many deaths. [All week long], the old horse-drawn hearse with the black tassels was trotted to and from the cemetery.”
- Asa H. Gibson

lyrics

I saw her weeping
From the window of the train
Even though I could not guarantee it
I promised her I’d be coming home again

I would think of her standing on the platform
As I fought from the trenches of Europe
When my heart and mind wore with the attrition
The thought of her kept my spirits up

‘Cause my eyes have seen many horrors
None of which I will ever share
Amidst my despair, I painfully long
To be with her in our valley home

For every sight of pain I witnessed
I balanced it with an image of home
Cause the site of surrounding canyon walls
Captures beauty by the bushel

Stratum layers are stacked from high to low
The evergreen and sage brush grow
At the cutbank where the Red Deer River flows
I’ll wed you there I promise you when I come home

‘Cause my eyes have seen many horrors
None of which I will ever share
Amidst my despair, I painfully long
To be her in our valley home

And at the end of the war
I stepped back onto that old platform
She wasn’t there awaiting
Her mother came to informed

She’d fallen to the Spanish Flu
And it done carried her away
So just like overseas, longing for her
Forever in my heart she will stay

credits

from Valley Home, released July 19, 2011

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Joe Vickers image

Joe Vickers Drumheller, Alberta

Farmer by day, troubadour by night, Joe Vickers has logged countless miles on both his combine and tour van. His music explores the human spirit singing of the triumphs and tragedies of everyday life on the prairies.

contact / help

Contact Joe Vickers

Streaming and
Download help

Shipping and returns

Redeem code

Report this track or account

If you like Joe Vickers, you may also like:

Bandcamp Daily  your guide to the world of Bandcamp

On Bandcamp Radio

Saxophonist Isaiah Collier chats about his new LP and the influence of Pharoah Sanders.
listen now