A watermill is a structure that uses a water wheel or turbine to drive a mechanical process such as flour, lumber or textile production, or metal shaping (rolling, grinding or wire drawing). There are two basic types of watermill, one powered by a vertical waterwheel via a gearing mechanism, and the other equipped with a horizontal waterwheel without such a mechanism. The former type can be further divided, depending on where the water hits the wheel paddles, into undershot, overshot, breastshot and reverse shot waterwheel mills.
The Greeks invented the two main components of watermills, the waterwheel and toothed gearing, and were, along with the Romans, the first to operate undershot, overshot and breastshot waterwheel mills.
The earliest evidence of a water-driven wheel is probably the Perachora wheel (3rd c. BC), in Greece. The earliest written reference is in the technical treatises Pneumatica and Parasceuastica of the Greek engineer Philo of Byzantium (ca. 280−220 BC). The British historian of technology M.J.T. Lewis has shown that those portions of Philo of Byzantium's mechanical treatise which describe water wheels and which have been previously regarded as later Arabic interpolations, actually date back to the Greek 3rd century BC original. The sakia gear is, already fully developed, for the first time attested in a 2nd century BC Hellenistic wall painting in Ptolemaic Egypt.
Ronald Binge (15 July 1910 – 6 September 1979) was a British composer and arranger of light music.
He was born in a working-class neighbourhood in Derby in the English Midlands. In his childhood he was a chorister at Saint Andrews Church (CofE), London Road, Derby - 'the railwaymen's church' (demolished 1970). Early in his career he was a cinema organist and later started working in summer orchestras in British seaside resorts (including Blackpool and Great Yarmouth), for which he learned to play the piano accordion. His skill as a cinema organist was put to good use, and he played the organ in Mantovani's first band, the Tipica Orchestra. During the Second World War, Binge served in the Royal Air Force, during which time he was much in demand organising camp entertainment.
After the end of the war, Mantovani offered him the job of arranging and composing for his new orchestra. In 1951, his arrangement of Charmaine gave him and Mantovani worldwide success and recognition. However, he later tired of writing arrangements and turned to composing original works and film scores. He died in Ringwood, Hampshire, of liver cancer in 1979, aged 69.
(KEYBOARDS INTRO)
where the snow melts
and the shadows bend
weeping willows dance
and the sea swells
at the river's end
calling in the trance
and our eyes meet while the watermill
turns the stubborn stream
and my life breaks on the waterwheel
into a dream
when the light fades
and the wind is still
hear the cricket's rhyme
and the cascades
of the river spill
falling out of time
and our eyes meet while the watermill
turns the stubborn stream
and my life breaks on the waterwheel
into a dream
(ELECTRIC GUITARS SOLO)
(HARP SOLO)
so the earth turns
like a paddlewheel
secret still in spin
and the sun burns
on a golden field
where you've always been
and our eyes meet while the watermill
turns the stubborn stream
and my life breaks on the waterwheel
into a dream
(SAX SOLO)
______________________________________________________________________
(KEYBOARDS INTRO)
where the snow melts
and the shadows bend
weeping willows dance
and the sea swells
at the river's end
calling in the trance
and our eyes meet while the watermill
turns the stubborn stream
and my life breaks on the waterwheel
into a dream
when the light fades
and the wind is still
hear the cricket's rhyme
and the cascades
of the river spill
falling out of time
and our eyes meet while the watermill
turns the stubborn stream
and my life breaks on the waterwheel
into a dream
(ELECTRIC GUITARS SOLO)
(HARP SOLO)
so the earth turns
like a paddlewheel
secret still in spin
and the sun burns
on a golden field
where you've always been
and our eyes meet while the watermill
turns the stubborn stream
and my life breaks on the waterwheel
into a dream
(SAX SOLO)
______________________________________________________________________
Lyrics are copyright 1976, Steve Cash & John Dillon