Clarence Unplugged with Marians (Nonstop 2) Lyrics by Clarence Wijewardena

Through the churning sea of milk, carrying my little son
Bringing him out of a palace of pearls, my little son
Through the churning sea of milk, carrying my little son
Bringing him out of a palace of pearls, my wish, my son

Father’s heart, hands full of hopes
Mother’s heart, full of love
In your little eyes, the dark and tender looks, son
Stay forever held in our hearts, son

Like a bee to a flower
You come to my mind
Like the rays of the sun
My heart smiles
You make me smile //

In a moment when the heart
withers in sorrow
Just thinking of you
calms it, the sorrow fades

Both hands gather strength
The boat is rowed out
The shore appears far away
We go out to catch fish //

Along the ocean waves
a boat rows out
Along the line of the horizon
it goes on and on, fading away
Searching for far-off waters…
They go doing this…
Casting the net here and there
we come back catching fish
Casting the net here and there
we come back catching fish

In my parting…
That memory…
There is no smile on her lips now…
What I longed for…
broke apart and was lost…
The laugh, the call, all gone…

Don’t sit thinking I will come back
Find someone else, stay well, you
The things she said,
a mother’s loving words
They cooled, and faded away…
Moon and stars,
sun and blue sky, this whole world slipped away…

I remember seeing a world of dreams…
I remember coming back from that dream world… //

Sweet, tender comfort, that came near…
I remember that warmth heavy with love…
On this earth where moon and stars shone…
I remember being bound in love…

I remember seeing a world of dreams…
I remember coming back from that dream world…
I remember seeing a world of dreams…
I remember coming back from that dream world…

This is a nonstop medley, a string of Clarence Wijewardena’s best loved songs sewed into one performance with the Marians, so it does not tell a single story. It moves through several of his classics, and each piece carries its own feeling. Knowing what each part is about is the key to following it.

It opens with a parent’s song. The image of carrying a child out of a churning “sea of milk” and a “palace of pearls” is the way Sinhala lyric reaches for something precious and pure, the child is spoken of as if drawn from a treasure, the most valued thing a mother and father own. A father’s hands are full of hopes, a mother’s heart full of love, and the dark, soft look in the baby’s eyes is what they want to keep in their hearts forever. It is a tender picture of new parenthood. From there the medley slips into a few lines of plain affection, where the singer says the loved one comes to mind the way a bee is drawn to a flower, and lifts the heart the way the morning sun does, and how just the thought of that person can calm a heart that has gone heavy with sorrow.

Then comes the fisherman’s stretch, one of Clarence’s signature scenes. Hands gather their strength, the boat is rowed out past the breaking waves, the shore shrinks behind until it is a thin line on the horizon, and the men go on and on across the water searching for the fishing grounds, casting the net here and there before turning home with the catch. In Sri Lankan song the lone boat against the wide sea stands for the hard, patient working life of coastal villages, the daily risk and the steady return, and Clarence made that picture into something the whole country sings.

The medley closes on loss. Here the voice belongs to someone who has been left behind, remembering a love that felt like a dream he has now woken from. The smile is gone from her lips, the thing he hoped for has broken apart, and the gentle words she once said, even a mother’s loving words, have cooled and faded. He pictures the moon and stars, the sun and the blue sky, the whole world quietly slipping away from him. What stays, repeated like a refrain, is only the memory, “I saw a world of dreams, and I came back from it,” the ache of having held something sweet and warm and then having to live on after it is gone. Taken together, the medley carries a listener through a whole life in one sitting, the love of a newborn, the pull of romance, the toil of the sea, and the grief of letting someone go, which is why a Clarence nonstop feels less like one song and more like a memory of growing up listening to him.