Song for Ireland
By Phil Colclough, although I love the Mary Black rendition
Walking all the day, near tall towers where falcons build their nests
Siver winged they fly, they know the call of freedom in their breasts
Soar Black Head against the sky, between the rocks that run down to the sea
Living on your western shore, saw summer sunsets, asked for more
I stood by your Atlantic sea, and sang a song for Ireland
Talking all the day with true friends, who try to make you stay
Telling jokes and news, singing songs to pass the night away
Watched the Galway salmon run like silver dancing darting in the sun
Living on your western shore saw summer sunsets, asked for more
I stood by your Atlantic sea, and sang a song for Ireland
Drinking all the day in old pubs, where fiddlers love to play
Someone touched the bow, he played a reel, it seemed so fine and gay
Stood on Dingle beach and cast - in wild foam we found Atlantic Bass
Living on your western shore, saw summer sunsets asked for more
I stood by your Atlantic sea, and sang a song for Ireland
Dreaming in the night, I saw a land where no man had to fight
Waking in your dawn, I saw you crying in the morning light
Lying where the Falcons fly, they twist and turn all in you e'er blue sky
Living on your western shore, saw summer sunsets asked for more
I stood by your Atlantic sea, and I sang a song for Ireland
I usually like snippets of songs better than the entire lyric. Here are a few of the ones always get to me:
Hello darkness, my old friend.
Paul Simon (The Sounds Of Silence)
I have squandered my existence
On a pocketfull of mumbles
Such are promises
Paul Simon again (The Boxer)
Who put these fingerprints on my imagination?
Elvis Costello (Green Shirt)
If you live through this with me
I swear I'll die for you
Hole (Live Through This)
I wanna be the girl with the most cake
Hole (Doll Parts)
I beg to dream and differ from the hollow lies
Green Day (Holiday)
A Cautionary Song
The Decemberists
there's a place your mother goes when everybody else is soundly sleeping
through the lights of beacon street and if you listen you can hear her weeping,
she's weeping, cause the gentlemen are calling
and the snow is softly falling on her petticoats.
and she's standing in the harbour
and she's waiting for the sailors in the jolly boat.
see how they approach
with dirty hands and trousers torn they grapple 'til she's safe within their keeping
a gag is placed between her lips to keep her sorry tongue from any speaking, or screaming
and they row her out to packets where the sailor's sorry racket calls for maidenhead
and she's scarce above the gunwales
when her clothes fall to a bundle
and she's laid in bed
on the upper deck
and so she goes from ship to ship,
her ankles clasped,
her arms so rudely pinioned
'til at last she's satisfied the lot of the marina's teeming minions,
and their opinions
and they tell her not to say a thing
to cousin, kindred, kith or kin
or she'll end up dead
and they throw her thirty dollars
and return her to the habor
where she goes to bed,
and this is how you're fed
so be kind to your mother,
though she may seem an awful bother,
and the next time she tries to feed you collard greens,
remember what she does when you're asleep
I like snippets too.
From Babylon Sisters
We'll jog with show folk on the sand
Drink kirschwasser from a shell
San Francisco show and tell
Well I should know by now
That it's just a spasm
Like a Sunday in T.J.
That it's cheap but it's not free
That I'm not what I used to be
And that love's not a game for three
From Lee Roy Parnell
You said the only thing harder than saying goodbye
Was saying hello after all this time
But I ran into you with your new love in tow
You say you've worried about me and you want to know how am I getting by
Well thank you I'm holding my own don't you worry about me no more
It hurt me when you left me alone but there's two sides to every door
And the life you left behind has led to lives I'd have never known
So thank you I'm holding my own
Fall is here, hear the yell
back to school, ring the bell
brand new shoes, walking blues
climb the fence, books and pens
I can tell that were going to be friends
Walk with me, Suzy Lee
through the park and by the tree
we will rest upon the ground
and look at all the bugs we found
then safely walk to school
without a sound
Well here we are, no one else
we walked to school all by ourselves
theres dirt on our uniforms
from chasing all the ants and worms
we clean up and now its time to learn
Numbers, letters, learn to spell
nouns, and books, and show and tell
at playtime we will throw the ball
back to class, through the hall
teacher marks our height
against the wall
And we dont notice any time pass
we dont notice anything
we sit side by side in every class
teacher thinks that I sound funny
but she likes the way you sing
Tonight Ill dream while in my bed
when silly thoughts go through my head
about the bugs and alphabet
and when I wake tomorrow Ill bet
that you and I will walk together again
cause I can tell that were going to be friends
That's lovely Pink-how 'bout some info?
That would be "We're Going to be Friends" by the White Stripes.
The Spiderbite Song
The Flaming Lips
When you got that spider bite on your hand
I thought we would have to break up the band
To lose your arm would surely upset your brain
The poison then could reach your heart from a vein
I was glad that it didn't destroy you
How sad that would be
Cause if it destroyed you
It would destroy me
When you had that accident in your car
That whole thing just really seemed too bizarre
Dodging holes and telephone poles through the dash
A million to one that you would survive such a crash
I was glad that it didn't destroy you
How sad that would be
Cause if it destroyed you
It would destroy me
When you fell in love, it was so sweet
So devoted, completely swept off your feet
Love is the greatest thing a heart can know
But the hole that it leaves in its absence can make you feel so low
And I was glad that it didn't destroy you
How sad that would be
Cause if it destroyed you
It would destroy me
Saddest Vacant Lot in All the World
Grandaddy
She's in the kitchen,
Crying on the oven
It seems she really loved him
He's so drunk he's
Passed out in a Datsun
That's parked out in the hot sun
In the saddest vacant lot in all the world
Boldly going
Where he rarely knows
But he'll miss her when he goes
What a shame
As she drifts out of reach
While he's still drunk asleep
In the saddest vacant lot in all the world
When did you leave heaven?
How did they let you go?
How's everything in heaven?
I'd like to know
Why did you trade heaven
For all these earthly things?
Where'd you hide your halo?
When did you lose you wings?
Have they missed you?
Can you get back in?
And if i should kiss you
Would it be a sin?
Oh I'm only human
But you are so divine
When did you leave heaven
Angel mine?
"Breathe"
Pink Floyd
Breathe, breathe in the air
Don't be afraid to care
Leave but don't leave me
Look around, choose your own ground
For long you live and high you fly
And smiles you'll give and tears you'll cry
And all you touch and all you see
Is all your life will ever be
Run Rabbit run
Dig that hole, forget the sun,
And when at last the work is done
Don't sit down it's time to dig another one
For long you live and high you fly
But only if you ride the tide
And balanced on the biggest wave
You race towards an early grave
"Time"
Pink Floyd
Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day
You fritter and waste the hours in an offhand way
Kicking around on a piece of ground in your home town
Waiting for someone or something to show you the way
Tired of lying in the sunshine, staying home to watch the rain
You are young and life is long and there is time to kill today
And then one day you find, ten years have got behind you
No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun
And you run and you run to catch up with the sun,
but it's sinking
And racing around to come up behind you again
The sun is the same in a relative way, but you're older
Shorter of breath and one day closer to death
Every year is getting shorter, never seem to find the time
Plans that either come to naught,
or half a page of scribbled lines
Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way
The time is gone the song is over,
Thought I'd something more to say
Home, home again
I like to be here when I can
When I come home cold and tired
It's good to warm my bones beside the fire
Far away across the fields
The tolling of an iron bell
Calls the faithful to their knees
To hear the softly spoken magic spells
eoe wrote:When did you leave heaven?
From "Sing Baby Sing"
Had to be good for Bob Dylan and Guy Lombardo to cover it.
Nancy Wilson does it best, IMO.
