NANCY MYLES
(Kevin Sherin)
Nancy was a tinker girl who roamed the country roads
And I will tell you how she came to be a legend in her time
And the reason that I've come to know well the tinker told me so
Who better than to pass to me the tale of Nancy Myles
Nancy's father tinker Dan was a poor but honest man
Drove a horse drawn caravan all through the Emerald Isle
When Nancy was no more a child Dan he didn't have to toil
Men would come from far and wide to pay for Nancy Myles
There's pretty girls in magazines Movie stars and beauty queens
Nancy was the prettiest girl a man could ever see
And the gleam of love in her eyes when she'd look and you and smile
Make you feel that you were just the man she'd long to she
Before the age of twenty-one a hundred men had come and gone
None of them could win the gleam of love that was in her eyes
Any man who loved her then never was the same again
His memory was haunted with thoughts of Nancy Myles
In every town and village too the fame of Nancy grew and grew
Soon her name was spoken at many a campfire's side
And in Ballislough on horse fair day when tinker men would have their say
Many a fight was fought to win the court of Nancy Myles
I hope that you don't get me wrong Nancy was the sweetest one
Heart so full of kindness and as charming as her smile
She was known through out the land the queen of all the tinker clan
'Twas the dream of every man to marry Nancy Myles
Before the age of thirty-one a thousand men had come and gone
None of them could win the gleam of love that was in her eyes
Every man who loved her then never was the same again
His memory was haunted with thoughts of Nancy Myles
Then there came the saddest day Nancy's father passed away
The loss it grieved her dearly and her heart was filled with pain
Family friends and courting men never say her smile again
A change had taken place within the heart of Nancy Myles
Before the age of Forty-one Nancy she had come and gone
They searched the country over not a trace of her could find
Nancy's memory will live on as long as tinker men are born
Proudly they will the song of tinker Nancy Myles
NANCY SPAIN
(Barney Rush)
Of all the stars that ever shone,
Not one does twinkle like your pale blue eyes
Like golden corn at harvest time your hair
Sailing in my boat, the wind gently blows and fills my sail
Your sweet scented breath is everywhere
Daylight peeping through the curtains
Of the passing night time is your smile
The sun in the sky is like your laugh
Come back to me my Nancy, linger for just a little while
Since you left these shores I've know no peace nor joy
Chorus:
No matter where I wander, I still haunted be your name
The portrait of your beauty stays the same
Standing by the ocean wondering where you gone,
If you'll return again
Where is the ring I gave to Nancy Spain
On the day in Spring,
When snow starts to melt and streams to flow
With the birds I'll sing to you a song
In a while I'll wander, down be Bluebell Grove
Where wild flowers grow
And I'll that lovely Nancy will return
Chorus:
No matter where I wander, I still haunted be your name
The portrait of your beauty stays the same
Standing by the ocean wondering where you gone,
If you'll return again
Where is the ring I gave to Nancy Spain
back to N index
>NANCY WHISKY
I'm a weaver and I follow the weavin'
I'm a young and a rovin' blade
For tae buy myself a suit of clothin'
Down tae Stewarton my way I make
Well the Whisky oh' the Whisky, Nancy Whisky,
Whisky oh!
As I cam in by the Stewarton corner
Nancy Whisky did I spy
Says I tae myself I gan in and taste her
For seven lang years noo I have been dry
Well the Whisky oh' the Whisky, Nancy Whisky,
Whisky oh!
The more I tasted the more I like it
The more I liked it, I tasted more
And the more I tasted the more I liked it
Till all my senses had gone ashore
Well the Whisky oh' the Whisky, Nancy Whisky,
Whisky oh!
Well early, early the next morning
I found myself in a stranger's bed
And lying beside me on the pillow
Was a fat and ugly dirty old hag
Well the Whisky oh' the Whisky, Nancy Whisky,
Whisky oh!
When she wakened she demanded money
For her services she'd have her wage
And when I told her I had only sixpence
I said that's fine dear, I've plenty change
Well the Whisky oh' the Whisky, Nancy Whisky,
Whisky oh!
So I'll gan back tae my trade o the weaving
I'll fairly mak my wee shuttles flee
And the devil's curses on Nancy Whisky
Well the Whisky oh' the Whisky, Nancy Whisky,
Whisky oh!
Well the Whisky oh' the Whisky, Nancy Whisky,
Whisky oh!
A NATION ONCE AGAIN
(Thomas Davis)
When boyhood's fire was in my blood, I read of
ancient free men
Of Greece and Rome who bravely stood, three hundred
men and free men
And then I prayed I yet might see, our fetters rent
in twain
And Ireland long a province be, a nation once again
Chorus:
A nation once again, a nation once again
And Ireland long a province be, a nation once again
And from that time through wildest woe, that hope
has shone a far light
Nor could love's brightest summer glow, outshine
that solemn starlight
It seemed to watched above my head, through forum,
field and fain
It's angel voice sang round me bed, a nation once
again
Chorus:
A nation once again, a nation once again
And Ireland long a province be, a nation once again
So as I grew from boy to man, I bent thee to my
bidding
My spirit of each selfish plan and cruel passion
ridding
For thus I hope someday to aid, nor can such hope
be vain
When my dear country shall be made, a nation once
again
Chorus:
A nation once again, a nation once again
And Ireland long a province be, a nation once again
NAVIGATOR
The canals and the bridges, the embankments and
cuts
They blasted and dug with their sweat and their
guts
They never drank water, but whiskey by pints
And the shanty towns ran with their songs and their
fights
Chorus:
Navigator, Navigator rise up and be strong
The morning is here and there's work to be done
Take your pick and your shovel and your bold
dynamite
For to shift a few tons of this earthly delight
They died in their hundreds with no sign to mark
where
Save the brass in the pocket for the entrepreneur
By landslide and rock-blast they go buried so deep
That in death if not life they'll find peace while
they sleep
Chorus:
Navigator, Navigator rise up and be strong
The morning is here and there's work to be done
Take your pick and your shovel and your bold
dynamite
For to shift a few tons of this earthly delight
Their mark on this land is still seen and still
laid
The way for a commerce where vast fortunes were
made
The supply of an Empire where the sun never sets
Which is now deep in darkness, but the railway's
there yet
Chorus:
Navigator, Navigator rise up and be strong
The morning is here and there's work to be done
Take your pick and your shovel and your bold
dynamite
For to shift a few tons of this earthly delight
NAVVY BOOTS
(Traditional)
I am an old Navvy and I work on the line
And the last place I worked was New Castle-on-Thyme
I'll tell me misfortune it happened in fun
It happened one night I'd me navvy boots on
One night after supper I shaved off my
To meet me fair Ellen I was well prepared
To meet me fair Ellen I then hurried down
And I met her that night with me navvy boots on
Oh I knocked on her window my knock it was low
Oh I knocked on her window my knock she did know
She jumped out of bed saying, "Is that you John?"
"Oh, be Jasus it's me with me navvy boots on.”
She came to the door and invited me in
Saying, "Draw to the fire love and warm you skin.”
Well her bedroom was open and the blanket turned
down
So I jumped into bed with me navvy boots on
Now all of that night we did sport and did play
Never thinking of time as it soon passed away
Then she jumped out of bed saying, "What have I
done?"
"Oh, the baby will be born with his navvy boots
on.”
I chastised me loved one for talking so wild
"Ah, ya foolish young girl you'll never have a
child.”
"For all that I've done know 'twas only in fun.”
Ah but I ran like hell with me navvy boots on
And very soon after I was summoned to court
To pay for me sins just like any man ought
I paid ten bob a week now for all of my fun
Oh that I had that night with me navvy boots on
NELSON'S FAREWELL
(Joe Dolan)
Poor old Admiral Nelson is no longer in the air
Too-ra-loo-ra-loo-ra-loo-ra-loo
On the eight day of March in Dublin City fair
Too-ra-loo-ra-loo-ra-loo-ra-loo
From his stand of stone and mortar, he fell
crashing to the quarter
Where once he stood so stiff and proud and rude
We'll sing a celebration, in service to the nation
Poor old Admiral Nelson too-ra-loo
Sixty pounds of gelignite have sped him on his way
Too-ra-loo-ra-loo-ra-loo-ra-loo
And the lads that laid the charge, we're in debt to
them today
Too-ra-loo-ra-loo-ra-loo-ra-loo
In Trafalgar Square it might be fair, to old Nelson
standing there
But no one tells the Irish what they'll view
So the Dublin Corporation, can stop deliberation,
Cause the boys of Eire showed the what to do
A hundred and sixty-seven years it stood up there
in state
Too-ra-loo-ra-loo-ra-loo-ra-loo
To mark old Nelson's victory over the French and
Spanish fleets
Too-ra-loo-ra-loo-ra-loo-ra-loo
But one-thirty in morning, without a bit of warning
Old Nelson took a powder and he blew
So at last the Irish Nation has Parnell in higher
station
Than poor old Admiral Nelson too-ra-loo
Oh, the Russians and the Yanks, with the lunar
probes they play
Too-ra-loo-ra-loo-ra-loo-ra-loo
And I hear the French are trying hard to make up
lost headway
Too-ra-loo-ra-loo-ra-loo-ra-loo
But now the Irish joined the race, we have an
astronaut in space
Ireland, boys, is now a world power too
We'll sing a celebration, in service to the nation
Poor old Admiral Nelson too-ra-loo
NET HAULING SONG
(Ewan MacColl)
It's busk ye, my lads, get you up on deck
And take up your stations for hauling the nets
And mind you pull together boys, all through the
night
And sweat in your oilskins until it's daylight
At the heaving and hauling and shaking the nets
It's when we start hauling we're living in hopes
The boy in the locker, the lads on the ropes
And the fellas in the hold who are pulling the nets
And shaking the herring out onto the deck
And it's, heaving and hauling and shaking the nets
It's net after net is pulled up from the sea
With a haul and a shake and a one, two and three
And the herring are a piling around your sea boots
And slithering and sliding down into the chutes
And we're heaving and hauling and shaking the nets
It's hour after hour we are hauling away
All through the long night till the dawn of the day
The skipper's in the wheelhouse he's on the R T
And the cook's in the galley a brewing the tea
And we're finished with hauling and shaking the
nets
NEW YEAR'S EVE SONG
(Si Kahn)
I have seen you tossing restless between midnight
and day,
Paying all the debts of many years,
Staring out the window till the mist has burned
away,
Waiting for the sun to dry your tears,
I've seen you young, I've seen you old, I've seen
you lost and found,
I've seen you sit and cry without a sound.
I have seen you in the lamplight with the hard
lines in your face,
And the shadows of your fears upon the wall,
But crying is no weakness and to lose is no
disgrace,
You see we're not so different after all,
But can't you tell, by the ringing bell,
The old year's moving on, I'd like to say one thing
before it's gone.
May whatever house you live in have flowers round
the door,
And children in the bed to keep you warm,
May the people there accept you for what you really
are,
And help you find some shelter in the storm,
And morning rain, to ease the pain, that comes with
being free,
May the New Year bring you freedom peacefully.
NEW YORK GIRLS
As I walked down the Broadway one evening in July
I met a maid who asked me trade and a sailor John
says I
Chorus:
And away, you Santee, my dear Annie
Oh, you New York girls, can't you dance the polka
To Tiffany's I took her I did not mind expense
I bought her two gold earrings and they cost me
fifteen cents
Chorus
Says she, 'You Limejuice sailor now see me home you
may'
But when we reached her cottage door, she this to
me did say
Chorus
My flash man he's a Yankee with his hair cut short
behind
He wears a pair of long sea-boots and he sails in
the Blackball Line
Chorus
He's homeward bound this evening and with me he
will stay
So get a move on, sailor-boy get cracking on your
way
Chorus
So I kissed her hard and proper before her flash
man came
And fare ye well, me Bowery gal, I know your little
game
Chorus
I wrapped me glad rags round me and to the docks
did steer
I'll never court another maid I'll stick to rum and
beer
Chorus
I joined a Yankee blood-boat and sailed away next
morn
Don't ever fool around with gals you're safer off
Cape Horn
Chorus
A NIGHT IN MERRION ROW
(Nick Guida)
Take me back to Dublin, across the Irish Sea
Just one night in that fair city, to see again that
sweet Kathleen
It's well that I remember, that night in Merrion
Row
When I saw her through the laughter, she took my
heart and then my soul
Chorus:
And sometimes late at night, across the ocean comes
a voice
Are you Molly Bloom, were you conjured up by Joyce
Exchanging thoughts on life and living in the
session and the smoke
In her eyes I saw my future, it filled my heart and
mind with hope
But the hours past too quickly and the drink it
flowed like rain
Me and my lovely Colleen, I was her darling man
Chorus:
And sometimes late at night, across the ocean comes
a voice
Are you Molly Bloom, were you conjured up by Joyce
Then our evening abruptly ended, with the barman
calling time
We left this place in silence, her hand clenched
tight in mine
So we said our last farewell, our heart full sore
with pain
Then she walked into the darkness and never even
asked my name
Chorus:
And now I sit here, late at night, and in my mind I
hear that voice
You were my Molly Bloom, for that moment I was
James Joyce
THE NIGHT THAT PADDY MURPHY DIED
The night that Paddy Murphy died I never shall
forget
The whole damn crew got stinking drunk and some
ain't sober yet;
The only thing we did that night that filled my
heart with fear
We took the ice from off the corpse and put it in
the beer
Chorus:
And that's how we showed our respect for Paddy
Murphy
That's how we showed our honor and our pride;
That's how we showed our respect for Paddy Murphy
Our respect for Paddy Murphy on the night that
Paddy died.
The night that Paddy Murphy died I never shall
forget
The whole damn crew got stinking drunk and some
ain't sober yet;
The other thing we did that night that filled our
hearts with fear
We took the coins from off his eyes, and spent it
all on beer.
THE NIGHTINGALE
(Traditional)
As I went a walking one morning in may
I met a young couple so fondly did stray
One was a young maid so sweet and so fair
The other was a soldier and a brave Grenadier
Chorus:
And the kissed so sweet and comforting as they
clung to each other
They went arm in arm along the road like sister and
brother
They went arm in arm along the road till they came
to a stream
And they both sat down together to hear the
nightingale sing
Out of his knapsack he took a fine fiddle
He played her such merry tunes that you ever did
hear
He played her such merry tunes that you the valley
did ring
And softly cried the fair maid hear the nightingale
sing
Chorus
Oh I'm off to India for seven long years
Drinking wine and strong whiskey instead of pale
beer
And if ever I return again 'twill be in the spring
And we'll both sit down together love to hear the
nightingale sing
Chorus
Well then said the fair maid will you marry me
Oh no says the soldier however can that be
For I have me own wife at home in me own country
And sure she is the fairest little maid that you
ever did see
Chorus
NINETY MILES FROM DUBLIN
(Christy Moore)
I'm ninety miles from Dublin town, I'm in an
H-Block cell
To help you understand me plight this story now
I'll tell
I'm on the blanket protest, my efforts must not
fail
For I'm joined by men and woman in the Kesh and
Armagh
It all began one morning I was dragged to
Castlereagh
And though it was three years ago it seems likes
yesterday
For three days kicked and beaten, I then was forced
to sign
Confessions that convicted me of crimes that were
not mine
Sentenced in a Diplock court my protest it began
I could not wear this prison gear, I was a blanket
man
I'll not accept their status, I'll not be
criminalized
That's the issue in the blocks for which we give
our lives
Over there in London town, oh how they laugh and
sneer
If they could only make us wear their loathsome
prison gear
Prisoners of war is what we are and that we must
remain
The blanket protest cannot end till status we
regain
I've been beaten round the romper room because I
won't say "Sir"
I've been frog-marched down the landing and dragged
back by the hair
I've suffered degradation, humility and pain
Still the spirit does not falter, British torture
is in vain
I've been held in scalding water while me back with
deck scrubs was tore
I've been scratched and cut from head to foot, then
thrown out on the floor
I've suffered mirror searches, been probed by
drunken bears
I've heard me comrades cry and scream, the utter
useless prayers
Now with the news that's coming in our protest must
not fail
For now we're joined by thirty girls in Armagh
women's jail
So pay attention Irishmen and Irish women too
And show the free state rulers that their silence
will not do
Though it's ninety miles to Dublin town--it seems
so far away
There's more attention to our plight in the USA
Now you've heard the story of this filthy living
hell
Remember ninety miles away I'm still in me H-Block
cell
No more stravaigin'
(Gibb Todd)
No more to busk the left bank for the “The Cowboy
Ecosse”
No more to play the country scaff where you had tae
earn your pay
No more to hear that rye mouth from Paris tae
Dunvaggan
No more on the road so long, no more, no more
stravaigin'
And no more down the Gallowgates or in the Scotia
Bar
No more to hear the tall tales as he picked his big
guitar
No more the songs of scallin, complicacy's
contagion
No more on the road so long, no more, no more
stravaigin'
And no more to sing of Woody or Weary's Bonnie
Wells
No more buy drink for all the boys up in Sandy
Bells
No more against hypocrisy, his war be onward waging
No more on the road so long, no more, no more
stravaigin'
And no more to be in Tønder where he was known to
all by name
Were we drank too much Gammel Dansk, it was always
him to blame
No more the Visa-Versa Hoose or with Thomas up in
Skagen
No more on the road so long, no more, no more
stravaigin'
No more to sing the big songs, where he could bring
a crowd tae
No more double meaning songs that made the lassies
blush
No more to sing a thousand clubs from Glasgow to
Copenhagen
No more on the road so long, no more, no more
stravaigin'
No more on the road so long, no more, no more
stravaigin'
NOBODY'S MOGGY NOW
(Eric Bogle)
Somebody's moggy by the side of the road
Somebody's pussy who forgot his highway code
Someone's favorite feline who ran clean out of luck
When he ran on to the road and tried to argue with
a truck
Yesterday he purred and played in his pussy
paradise
Decapitating tweety birds and masticating mice
Now he's just six pounds of raw mincemeat that
don't smell very nice
He's nobody's moggy now
All you who love your pussy be sure to keep him in
Don't let him argue with a truck, the truck is
bound to win
And upon the busy road, don't let him play or
frolic
If you do I'm warning you it could be CAT-astrophic
If he tries to play on the roadway, I'm afraid that
will be that
There will be one last despairing MEOW! and a sort
of squelchy splat
And your pussy will be slightly dead and very, very
flat
He's nobody's moggy, just red and squashed and
soggy
He's nobody's moggy now
NORTH SEA HOLES
(Ewan MacColl)
Come all you gallant fishermen that plough the
stormy sea,
The whole year round on the fishing grounds
On the Northern Minch and the Norway Deeps,
On the banks and knolls of the North Sea Holes
Where the herring shoals are found
It's there you'll find the Norfolk boys and the
lads from Peterhead,
There's Buckie chiels and men from Shields,
On the Northern Minch and the Norway Deeps,
On the banks and knolls of the North Sea Holes
Where the herring shoals are found
From Fraserborough and Aberdeen, from Whitby,
Yarmouth Town,
The fleet's away at the break of day
To the Northern Minch and the Norway Deeps,
To the banks and knolls of the North Sea Holes
Where the herring shoals are found
It's off with a boiler full of steam and your
engine spic and span
To fish the grounds the North Sea round
And fish and knolls and the North Sea Holes
And try your luck at the North Shields Gut
With a catch of a hundred cran
No need to wait for the wind and tide, you're the
master of the sea,
Come calm or squall, just shoot and haul
And fill the hold with the fish to be sold
And steam ahead for the curing shed
And the buyers on the Yarmouth quay
Come all you gallant fishermen that plough the
stormy sea,
The whole year round on the fishing grounds
On the Northern Minch and the Norway Deeps,
On the banks and knolls of the North Sea Holes
Where the herring shoals are found
NOW I'M EASY
(Eric Bogle)
For nearly sixty years I've been a cocky,
Of drought and fires and floods I've lived through
plenty;
This country's dust and mud have seen my tears and
blood,
But it's nearly over now, now I'm easy.
I married a fine girl when I was twenty,
But she died giving birth when she was thirty;
No flying doctor then, just a gentle old black gin,
But it's nearly over now, now I'm easy.
She left me with two sons and a daughter,
And a bone dry farm whose soil cried out for water;
So my care was rough and ready, but they grew up
fine and steady
But it's nearly over now, now I'm easy.
My daughter married young and went her own way,
My sons lie buried by the Burma Railway;
So on this land I've made my own, I've carried on
alone,
But it's nearly over now, now I'm easy.
City folks these days despise the cocky.
Say with subsidies and all we've had it easy.
But there's no drought or starving stock
On a sewered suburban plot
But it's nearly over now, now I'm easy.
Yes, it's nearly over now, now I'm easy.
© Larrikin Music