THE PARTING GLASS
(Traditional/Arrangement Ben Glover)
Of all the money that e'er I spent
I've spent it in good company
And all the harm that ever I did
Alas it was to none but me
And all I've done for want of wit
To memory now I can't recall
So fill to me the parting glass
Good night and joy be with you all
If I had money enough to spend
And leisure to sit awhile
There is a fair maid in the town
That sorely has my heart beguiled
Her rosy cheeks and ruby lips
I own she has my heart enthralled
So fill to me the parting glass
Good night and joy be with you all
Oh, all the comrades that e'er I had
They're sorry for my going away
And all the sweethearts that e'er I had
They'd wish me one more day to stay
But since it falls unto my lot
That I should rise and you should not
I'll gently rise and softly call
Good night and joy be with you all
A SONG OF HOME
(Words and music by Ben Glover/Tony Kerr)
See the mountains fall and the rivers rise
Where the winter snow burns the strongest eye
The siren winds stirs me to the bone
I'll sing, I'll sing, I'll sing, I'll sing a song of home
Feel a northern rage crashing on the shore
Where the loved and lost yearn forever more
And the falling star will lead us all to our own
Then we'll sing, we'll sing, we'll sing, we'll sing a song of home
There's a lullaby don't cry, baby don't cry, don't cry
Some ancient chord will find us, bind us, you and I
See the mountains fall and the rivers rise
Where the winter snow burns the strongest eye
There's a siren wind stirring me to the bone
We'll sing, we'll sing, we'll sing, we'll sing a song of home
THE EMIGRANT
(Words and music by Ben Glover/Gretchen Peters)
The lonliness of the emigrant
Is like nothing else I've ever felt
To be cut loose from all you knew
Beyond the pale, beyond the blue
Home's a long unanswered prayer
Out of reach but always there
The restlessness, the discontent
That's the curse of the emigrant
The winding road, the open door
The constant pull of another shore
Sometimes I fear I'll find no peace
Til my wayward soul finds its release
It's in my bones it's my blood
This dream of home as it never was
Where the hills fall upon the coast
My heart wanders there the most
The lonliness of the emigrant
Is like nothing else I've ever felt
The restlessness, the discontent
That's the curse of the emigrant
MOONSHINER
(Traditional/Arrangement by Ben Glover)
I've been a moonshiner
For seventeen long years
And I spent all my money
On whiskey and beer
And I go to some hollow
And set up my still
If the whiskey won't kill me
I don't know what will
I go to some bar room
And drink with my friends
Where the women they can't follow
To see what I spend
God bless those pretty women
I wish they was mine
Their breaths as sweet as
The dew on the vine
Let me eat when I'm hungry
Let me drink when I'm dry
Give me a dollar when I'm hard up
Religion when I die
Cause the whole world is a bottle
And life is but a dram
When the bottle gets empty
It sure ain't worth a damn
FROM CLARE TO HERE
(Words and music by Ralph McTell)
There's four who share this room as we work hard for the craic
And getting up late on Sundays I never get to Mass
It's a long long way from Clare to here
It’s a long long way from Clare to here
When Friday comes around we’re only into fighting
My mother would like a letter home but I'm too tired for writing
It's a long long way from Clare to here
It’s a long long way from Clare to here
It almost breaks my heart when I think of Josephine
I told her I'd be coming back with my pockets full of green
It's a long long way from Clare to here
It’s a long long way from Clare to here
Oh it’s a long long way it’s gets further by the day
It’s a long long way from Clare to here
The only time I feel alright is when I'm into drinking
It sort of eases the pain a bit and levels out my thinking
It's a long long way from Clare to here
It’s a long long way from Clare to here
Oh it’s a long long way it’s gets further by the day
It’s a long long way from Clare to here
I sometimes hear a piper play, maybe it's a notion
I dream I see white horses dance out on the ocean
HEART IN MY HAND
(Words and music by Ben Glover/Mary Gauthier)
Heart in my hand, untethered and free
Wind at my back, sky at my feet
Harbour lights fade into dark waters deep
I'm somewhere between awake and asleep
Chorus:
Sacred the crossing, sacred the fear
Heart in my hand, heart in my hand
Sacred the longing, sacred the tears
Heart in my hand, heart in my hand
Heart in my hand
White horses dance ahead and behind
Galleons of ghosts drift outside of time
Out on the edge of all that I know
Leaving is nothing but letting go
Chorus:
Sacred the crossing, sacred the fear
Heart in my hand, heart in my hand
Sacred the longing, sacred the tears
Heart in my hand, heart in my hand
Sacred the sailor who gives his heart to the sea
Heart in my hand, Heart in my hand
THE AULD TRIANGLE
(Brendan Behan)
A hungry feeling
Came o'er me stealing
And the mice were squealing
In my prison cell
And the auld triangle went jingle-jangle
All along the banks of the Royal Canal
To begin the morning
The warden howling
"Get up out of bed, you! And clean up your cell!"
And the auld triangle went jingle-jangle
All along the banks of the Royal Canal
On a fine Spring evening
The lag lay dreaming
And the sea-gulls were squealing
High above the wall
And the auld triangle went jingle-jangle
All along the banks of the Royal Canal
Oh the day was dying
And the wind was sighing
As I lay crying
In my prison cell
And the auld triangle went jingle jangle
All along the banks of the Royal Canal
Oh the screw was peeping
As the lag lay sleeping
And he was dreaming
Of his girl Sal
And the auld triangle went jingle-jangle
All along the banks of the Royal Canal
In the female prison
There are seventy two women
And I wish it was with them
That I did dwell
And the auld triangle went jingle-jangle
All along the banks of the Royal Canal
All along the banks of the Royal Canal
DREAMERS, STRANGERS, PILGRIMS
(Words and music by Ben Glover)
For the dreamers, for the strangers, for the pilgrims know the cost
May they wander, may they ramble, may they never be lost
AND THE BAND PLAYED WALTZING MATILDA
(Words and music by Eric Bogle)
When I was a young man I carried my pack
And I lived the free life of a rover
From the Murrays green basin to the dusty outback
I waltzed my Matilda all over
Then in nineteen fifteen my country said Son
It's time to stop rambling 'cause there's work to be done
So they gave me a tin hat and they gave me a gun
And they sent me away to the war
And the band played Waltzing Matilda
As we sailed away from the quay
And amidst all the tears and the shouts and the cheers
We sailed off to Gallipoli
How well I remember that terrible day
How the blood stained the sand and the water
And how in that hell that they called Suvla Bay
We were butchered like lambs at the slaughter
Johnny Turk he was ready, he primed himself well
He chased us with bullets, he rained us with shells
And in five minutes flat he'd blown us all to hell
Nearly blew us right back to Australia
But the band played Waltzing Matilda
As we stopped to bury our slain
We buried ours and the Turks buried theirs
Then we started all over again
Now those that were left, well we tried to survive
In a mad world of blood, death and fire
And for ten weary weeks I kept myself alive
But around me the corpses piled higher
Then a big Turkish shell knocked me arse over head
And when I woke up in my hospital bed
And saw what it had done, I wished I was dead
Never knew there were worse things than dying
For no more I'll go waltzing Matilda
All around the green bush far and near
For to hump tent and pegs, a man needs two legs
No more waltzing Matilda for me
So they collected the cripples, the wounded, the maimed
And they shipped us back home to Australia
The armless, the legless, the blind, the insane
Those proud wounded heroes of Suvla
And as our ship pulled into Circular Quay
I looked at the place where my legs used to be
And thank Christ there was nobody waiting for me
To grieve and to mourn and to pity
And the band played Waltzing Matilda
As they carried us down the gangway
But nobody cheered, they just stood and stared
Then turned all their faces away
And now every April I sit on my porch
And I watch the parade pass before me
And I watch my old comrades, how proudly they march
Reliving old dreams of past glory
And the old men march slowly, all bent, stiff and sore
The forgotten heroes from a forgotten war
And the young people ask, "What are they marching for?"
And I ask myself the same question
And the band plays Waltzing Matilda
And the old men answer to the call
But year after year their numbers get fewer
Some day no one will march there at all
Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda
Who'll come a waltzing Matilda with me
And their ghosts may be heard as you pass the Billabong
Who'll come-a-waltzing Matilda with me?
THE GREEN GLENS OF ANTRIM
(Traditional/Arrangement by Ben Glover)
Far across yonder blue lies a true fairy land
With the sea rippling over the shingle and sand
Where the gay honeysuckle is luring the bee
And the green glens of Antrim are calling to me
Soon I hope to return to my sweet Glenarm
It’s the one place for me that still has its charm
I know every stone, I recall every tree
Where the green glens of Antrim are welcoming me
Sure if only you knew how the lamp of the moon
Turns a blue Irish bay to a silver lagoon
You'd imagine the picture of heaven to be
Where the green glens of Antrim are calling to me
I would halt at a cabin close down by the shore
And I’d knock with my heart on that wee cabin
While the sun showered gold on the lap of the sea
And the green glens of Antrim are calling to me
Sure if only you knew how the lamp of the moon
Turns a blue Irish bay to a silver lagoon
You'd imagine the picture of heaven it would be
Where the green glens of Antrim are calling to me
Now I’d be where the people are so warm and so kind
And among them the one who has been on my mind
And I'd pray that the world would in peace let me be
Where the green glens of Antrim are heaven to me
Where the green glens of Antrim are heaven to me
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