1. |
Better Days Ahead
04:36
|
|||
I was scuffling' hard and drinkin' down around Lough Ree
Diggin' graves or buskin' made no difference to me
Month to month, and week to week from hand to mouth I ran
A million miles a minute, and a stubborn foolish man
Well I took a walk long Green Street to kill the morning chill
She was sellin' scones and brandy, a finger in the till
A double shot to hold me, a straightner in the wind
If I ever thought I knew for sure I'll never know again
She was cool and she was kind
'Til she made me lose my mind
We've got better days ahead
Many more where they came from
Don't chase 'em all away my friend
'Til your heart goes numb
It's a long hard road they say
With a fiddler on the way I will swear by better days
Well the world is flat where I come from we got no place to hide
No bridge across the ocean to reach the sons that died
Now they say she's livin' on the coast a baby on the way
The winter wolf outside the door south of Galway Bay
I never bought that fishin' boat my second best laid plan
She must have known my penance was a scam
She was cool, she was kind
‘Til she made me lose my mind
|
||||
2. |
Only Good News
03:15
|
|||
Now bad blood came and stayed too long
I was close to goin’ underground
When hard times came - I changed my name
Even thought about leavin’ this town
But I chanced on cross-eyed Molly
What a merciful wreck she’d be
By the time I’d forgotten everything was rotten
There she was just waitin’ for me
Only good news from now on
Mighty fine craic from dusk till dawn
So give me a reel, and give me a girl
In the morning I’ll be gone
Never numb to your days in this world
So forget everything you ever knew
The sky may fall, the rain may burn
With a better fate comin’ to you
When the sun goes down and the wind turns around
You’re lookin’ at a long slow slide
We will get away clean we saw it in a dream
May you never swallow that lie
If I ever do get what I haven’t found yet
I would run away far and hide
I would never forget not a single regret
Bet it all on one big ride
But the time is now, it’s down to the bone
We’re in for a penny, we’re in for a pound
So bust out a move, shut off that evil tube
And burn this building down
|
||||
3. |
Lucko'theIrish
05:29
|
|||
Two thousand years have come and gone
Many stories hymns and song
St Patrick to our shores he came
He was slaved in chains
On bended knee God takes his hand
Spread his word throughout this land
With the holy trinity we will be saved
We pray to our father
Off to the wars our soldiers called
Armed with shamrock good luck to all
To keep them from harm they will wear their green
The Luck of the Irish
Where on earth did that phrase come from
The Luck of the Irish
Never knowing what tomorrow will become
Chorus:
We’ve been beaten burned and enslaved
Starved from our lands where our fathers dug their graves
Never loosing faith we have fought for every mile
Still no matter where you go you’ll always find
An Irish smile
The Luck of the Irish
Many lands their admiration we have won
The Luck of the Irish
Many languages of love we have become
The Luck of the Irish
Around the world so many millions we are one
The Luck of the Irish
I pray our ancestors are proud of what we’ve done
|
||||
4. |
Decoration Day
03:19
|
|||
From the hunger and war came the weary and the poor
On the ships and over land the rabble came
The common and the destitute were bangin’ on the door
On the list every alien name
Every one of us should pay back what we owe
To the masses before us they would go
They raised their right hand
They raised their right hand
They raised their right hands to pray
The words of a welcoming nation
Forever they waited to say…
On Decoration Day
With photographs and letters from their families
They would come even if they had to crawl
They were knockin’ down the door of opportunity
The promise of America’s call
The ragged souls only beggin’ her to be free
In the home of the brave with you and me
With their broken family trees all in a tangle
Frozen out from all the riches back at home
Not a thought of ever living as illegal
All the widows and the orphans came alone
With a vow they could never come to deny
To swear on the Fourth of July
|
||||
5. |
King for a While
04:12
|
|||
There comes this tale of a doomed romance
It started at the Rose and Crown
She wined him & dined him through London & France
Every night she burned him down
The glad eye she was givin’ this young fresh fish
She came on all proper and pale
But little did he know he was only a wish
And already headed for jail
Just a mark set up for the taking
Only he was the last one to know
She was the best he’d ever seen, but he was so damn green
He would never shake free from her ghost
It was good to be king for a while
He was only in for a laugh
He went down in style, a long high mile
It finally broke him in half …
On the morning the gallows did swing
It was good to be king for a while
She practiced the art - she ran her game
Of fools she could push right over
He went down with the best just like all the rest
Inside out & barely sober
She warned him and dared him, she broke him down
Just like she told him she would
And finally the night it came unwound
She pulled it off to prove that she could
The emperor of bedlam a legend in time
‘Til the priest had to lead him away
He said an eye for an eye leaves every man blind
You only live to die another day
|
||||
6. |
Red Headed Man
04:04
|
|||
Here’s a story of a man you want to know
Lords it over all the spirits down below
You will want him around when your dream goes down
Any soul in their midst will be sold
On one November Samhain Eve
She journeyed to her water from the well
The prettiest girl on the island
In an omen there she slipped and fell
The red-headed man will take you in
He’s unlucky ‘til he goes underground
He will save you from the spell of the little blue men
Where their magic can always be found
Red-headed man
She awoke into a world that was strange
In the middle of a stunned & silent crowd
By enchantment her vision had changed
But when she tried to leave, her path was not allowed
The banquet was laid out from east to west
Their underworld was hopeless to resist
Gentlemen seducers and wenches for the guests
While the mortals got their knickers in a twist
BRIDGE: Then they drank from a golden cup
And they danced to a silent band
She was tempted by the spirits and the wine
And the eyes of a handsome young man
When he beckoned her to stand by the fire
She was pulled by a hand unseen
She was warned just in time by desire
She was saved and led her out of her dream
|
||||
7. |
Raging Sea
03:18
|
|||
I am a little boy just born just born now
Lookin’ at me Má she smile now
Carried to the room with the fishes on the wall now
Wanna walk gotta go to the sea now
Lookin’ at the boats and lookin’ at the sky
I will learn to fish I will learn to fly
Not a better fisherman there will ever be
Paddy and his boat on the raging sea
Dye dee diddle dum da diddly boom boom da
I am a bigger boy gonna see a pretty girl now
Not a better lookin’ girl I will see now
Drink a little whiskey and a bun in the oven now
Mad Daddy with a loaded gun now
A lovely sunny day as the wedding bells ring
We will learn to dance we will learn to sing
A happy little family you and me
Paddy and his boat on the raging sea
Dye dee diddle dum da diddly boom boom da
I am a bigger Man lookin’ at my little boy now
Wonder what he gonna be gonna see now
Will he be a doctor will he be a fisherman now
I wonder what to say now
Mamma screaming orders on a stormy day
You will fix the roof you will bail the hay
With a gleam in his eye, he wants to be
Paddy and his boat on the raging sea
I am an old man old man wise man now
Happy days happy life read a book now
Lookin’ at the picture and the trophies on the wall now
All me boys with a vessel and there fishin’ now
Written in a book are the words I see
This dream came true for you and me
Not a better fisherman there will ever be
Paddy and his boat on the raging sea
Dye dee diddle dum da diddly boom boom da
|
||||
8. |
Kathleen
02:55
|
|||
Grey ashes on the floor, a life that might have been
A frozen ring of smoke hung in the air
He met his death by friendly fire, they called it Cool McFinn
The holy and the evil said a prayer
Her lover taught her everything she knew
In this world of the brave and the new
Don’t you cry Kathleen, just drink the wine and go
Don’t you cry any more for a love and a war Kathleen
No cross could bear a sign of a dance so divine Kathleen
Her temper was as bad as the weather
She exorcised her brimstone and death
That evil twin was once removed forever
With a magic cool revenge on her breath
She would fall into a trance that rose and fell
But his teenage pill could never break the spell
She came up with a plan, to resurrect her man
Her lover if she failed would disappear
When a sleep he fell in, her mother wailed to Finn
Neither dyin’ nor religion came in fear
But he dreamed he had a thousand miles of pain
In a fever from Las Vegas, Las Vegas to the Seine
|
||||
9. |
Between Far & Away
03:46
|
|||
So the bitterness is behind you
Promise in the days ahead
Forget about all those bad times
And the foolish things that we said
See the fortunes you will find
And the places you will see
Between Far and Away
Now in time our wounds will heal
From the things we thought all went wrong
We will travel roads of a lifetime
To the place that we belong
Older than any words
These ties that bind you and me
Between Far and Away
Let all good things come to you
And all your sadness washed away
Let your troubles be few, far and between
And the angels be with you in your every dream
Pack your amulets and your chains
Turn your sails onto the wind
All the treasure that you claim
Will be there for you my friend
You will find your place in this world
Never too long will you stay
Between Far and Away
|
||||
10. |
Ashes in a Jar
03:33
|
|||
You can call me names and hit me, hold me down and kick me
Those northern girls are like that you shall see
She came from County Derry by way of Portadown
In a week or two she broke both her and me
She lived outside the wall behind the Butcher’s Gate
Where the Green and the Gold live free
Put her ashes in the jar when she is gone
High on the wall of Kings Arms
Every Sunday say a prayer she’ll remember me from there
By every drop of whisky she would swear
And whisper her name if you dare
Her mother was a Methodist, her father was a Jew
He acquired a taste for Bushmill’s in good time
Worked me seven nights a week, midnight creep
On the main line way back in fifty nine
When they finally cut her down, no mention in the news
What a shame not a soul gave a damn
From Giant’s Road to Cave Hill, Falls Road to the coast
She shook me down and waved the bloody shirt
They took her in the afternoon, and there she stood accused
In time they could really make it hurt
Painting murals on the walls with the enemy
Her only crime was the freedom that could stand
|
||||
11. |
Ghost of Ontario
04:54
|
|||
A hundred whales a year at the peak of his career
And in between ten hundred thousand fish
Twice a week she would appear at the Straight Street pier
Where every able seaman got his wish
There was plenty half again, Captain Cathcart loved his gin
He gave a daily ration to the crew
He danced a blinding jig every time they hit it big
When the lookout lubber sounded thar she blew
Then the skipper would give chase / as they heaved into the race
In the eye of the beast every sailor saw his face
Chorus: The Ghost of Ontario sailed into the night
All the way from Nantucket to Cape John
How he ever found the way into St. George’s Bay
Harpoon and a live one hangin’ on
… And she dragged ‘em all the way to Cape Breton
In the town there was a rumor of a whale that dragged a schooner
Halfway back to Ireland in a tick
It was Halloween night but Cathcart wouldn’t bite
He could tell-she-weren’t-no-Moby Dick
But when they gaffed her in the side they were in for a ride
Straight off the Bay-of-Rocks with no place to hide
Bridge: I was clingin’ to the wreckage with a few survivors left
The lucky ones among us left for dead
I could swear I heard her creakin’ in the wind from the west
But we never saw it comin’ up ahead
They say he roams the oceans just lookin’ for a fight
Though his ship went down a thousand miles from land
He haunts the Coffin House for liquor every night
A telescope and a pistol in hand
No tide that came his way could ever drown that thirst
No hurricanes or icebergs (Act of God) could lift that mighty curse
|
||||
12. |
Lucky One Time
03:16
|
|||
Just an accidental boy, never really there
Blending in to beige and grey walls
Never noticed in a room, records and guitar
Forever lonely and small
Away from a dirty sharp tongue
Ran a number on what would become
A seventh son I was, a ragged sixth sense
A fifth of bad whiskey in a perfect past tense
I gave it all up, I’ll never go forth
Lookin’ stronger than I was to my friends
Born under that sign I could never erase
Left out of that battle that I could taste
A dangerous thing, left to my own mind
Turned away when her mercy came to me
I measured every dollar, counted every dime
‘Til I blew it all again when it was free
Hey uncle I could surely use a hand
On Christmas could you spare a couple grand?
|
||||
13. |
Galway Girl
03:45
|
|||
Well, I took a stroll on the old long walk
Of a day -I-ay-I-ay
I met a little girl and we stopped to talk
Of a fine soft day -I-ay-I-ay
And I ask you, friend, what's a fella to do
'Cause her hair was black and her eyes were blue
And I knew right then I'd be takin' a whirl
'Round the Salthill Prom with a Galway girl
We were halfway there when the rain came down
Of a day -I-ay-I-ay
And she asked me up to her flat downtown
Of a fine soft day -I-ay-I-ay
And I ask you, friend, what's a fella to do
'Cause her hair was black and her eyes were blue
So I took her hand and I gave her a twirl
And I lost my heart to a Galway girl
When I woke up I was all alone
With a broken heart and a ticket home
And I ask you now, tell me what would you do
If her hair was black and her eyes were blue
I've traveled around I've been all over this world
Boys I ain't never seen nothin' like a Galway girl
|
The Elders Kansas City, Missouri
The Elders were founded in 1998 by six musicians with a passion for music rooted in Irish jigs & reels & American folk rock. Their original songs offer delightful story lines, with vibrant narratives that explore history, legends, tall tales and true-life experiences ... more
Streaming and Download help
If you like The Elders, you may also like:
Bandcamp Daily your guide to the world of Bandcamp