Track 2 of the album Tin Kettle Hours · 2017
Quilt of Old Shirts
by Wren Hallett
“I cut up one of my father's old shirts to make a quilt and the song came out with the scissors. It still smells a bit of him when I sing it.”
indie folk · pastoral folk · bedroom folk · 3:55
Lyrics
I've cut the sleeves from my father's shirt The blue one, soft with years And the checked one from my brother's boy Who left us with the cheers I lay them on the table In a patchwork of the past Each square is a small remembering Each stitch is made to last There's a button from my grandmother's coat Sewn in at the corner square A scrap of the dress I wore to the dance With the sprigs of roses there The needle goes in and out like breath And the thread draws day to day A little one is coming And I'm stitching her the way Sleep, little one, under all the ones who came before Wrapped in the weave of the love that was And the love that is and more Every square is a story, every seam is a hand Sleep, little one, and you will understand The binding is a cream-coloured cotton From a tablecloth we kept That held a hundred birthday cakes And a few of the tears we wept I'll sign it with a quiet stitch Along the bottom edge A tiny heart in yellow thread And a promise and a pledge Sleep, little one, under all the ones who came before Wrapped in the weave of the love that was And the love that is and more Every square is a story, every seam is a hand Sleep, little one, and you will understand Some day she'll ask me whose is whose And I will point and say This one laughed, and this one sang And this one led the way Sleep, little one, under all the ones who came before Wrapped in the weave of the love that was And the love that is and more Every square is a story, every seam is a hand Sleep, little one, and you will understand Sleep, little one Sleep, little one