Tixall Wide by Allen Maslen (Accolade Music) Recorded by Meet on the Ledge I am the narrow boat And I steer my course along The waterways of England From each dawn to setting sun And with every beat of my Bolinder heart I pray you'll keep my spirit When my working life is done For you and I, we've worked as one And the mist still rolls on, every fine summer's morning Every sunrise brings the light into my eye But I know one day I'll be on that staircase to heaven And those pearly gate paddles in the sky Chorus : So please remember when I've died When I'm all used and dried Oh, how the waterways I used to walk beside In this world they are my joy In the next they are my pride So burn me with this fire I hold inside And sink my ashes down the Tixall Wide I steer the narrow boat And no greater joy I've found Than every day another flight Every night another pound And I'd give each turn of this old windlass heart If you will keep my spirit And I'll keep the sights and sounds You'll never lay me in cold ground And the mist still rolls on . . . Chorus He's never known the house of stone Where cold winds never blow His destiny runs freer than the winding rivers flow The tiller arm's his only friend Out in the wind and snow And all this makes the boatman The richest man I know Allen Maslen is a member of the folk-rock band Meet on the Ledge. The lyrics came from their web-site. Tixall Wide is a beautiful wide stretch of the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal close to the junction with the Trent and Mersey Canal. When the canal was built the landowner at Tixall give permission for construction of the canal on condition that the canal should be made to look like a lake. Apparently this is a popular spot for the scattering of canal lovers' ashes and this is what the song is about.