Song Lyrics
LOCH NESS MONSTER
(Traditional; Arr., Iain C. MacKintosh & HamishImlach)
There was a monster, a Scottish monster
Who lives in far Loch Ness, a very fine address
All the hoteliers and postcard selliers
Are making fortunes every year
Folk see her cruising when they've been boozing
In the pale moonlight - what a fearful sight
And if you get fu', you might see her too
What a tale to tell your wife
I sing of a monster that lives in Loch Ness
She makes the headlines in the national press
Perhaps she's employed by the Daily Express
To separate tourists from money
And from England, France and Germany and places far and wide
With their cameras they hide behind the trees
Every year a new invasion's coming from a foreign nation
They crawl about the banks on hands and knees
And they've got submarines and diving-bells and all the latest gear
They come to hunt our Nessie with high hope
They go diving in the water but till now they haven't caught her
And she's down there laughing up their periscopes
They couldnae get a picture, a picture, a picture
They couldnae get a picture, she wouldn't put her head up
They couldnae get a picture, a picture, a picture
They couldnae get a picture, she wouldn't put her head up
They couldn't see the hump o' her, they couldn't see the rump o' her
They couldn't see the hump o' her, she wouldn't put her head up
There was a student, a Scottish student
Who blew up rubber tyres and strung them all with wires
He set them floating and sat there gloating
While folk took pictures by the score
And the whole world heard Nessie's name again
And the Tourist Board played its game again
Please don't tell them you heard me sing this song
And her name will live forever more
LOCK THE DOOR LARISTON
Lock the door Lariston, lion of Liddisdale
Lock the door Lariston, Lowther comes
The Armstrongs are flying, the widows are crying
Castletown is burning and Oliver is gone
Lock the door Lariston, high on the weather gleams
See how the Saxon plumes they bob on the sky
Yeoman and carbineer, billman and halberdeer
Fierce is the battle and far is the cry
Bewcastle brandishes high his broad scimitar
Ridley is riding his fleet-footed grey
Hidley and Howard there, Wandell and Windermere
Lock the door Lariston, hold them at bay
Why dae ye smile noble Elliot o' Lariston
Why does the joy candle gleam in yer eye
Ye bold border ranger, beware o' yer danger
Yer foes are relentless, determined and nigh
I have Magerton and Ogilvie, Raeburn and Netherbie
Old Simm o' Whitram and all his array
Come all Northuberland, Teesdale and Cumberland
Here at the Breaken Tower end the affray
See how they wane the proud file o' the Windermere
Howard, ah woe tae yer hopes o' the day
Hear the rude welkin' rend while the Scots shouts ascend
Elliot o' Lariston, Elliot for aye
LONDON'S DERRY
(McHenry)
Chorus:
Come on out ye British Huns come on out without your guns
Show us how you won your medals up in Derry
When you murdered thirteen men and you'd do the same again
Get on out of here and take your English Border
In the summer '69 with your smiling face you came
To show us all your pacifying tactics
But your true face soon came through and your flag red, white and blue
Showed us all the Black and Tans were back in Ireland
Chorus
Of your fist we've had our fill and we know you always will
For excuses for the murdering of Irish men
But we'll fight for a proud land till in unity we stand
And from England we'll shift our lovely island
Chorus
Sure at your trial at Coleraine sure we knew you weren't to blame
And likewise neither were the Huns of Hitler
But don't you fret for those you slew for your judge was British too
And we all know the English are impartial
Chorus
Chorus
LONELY IN LONDON
Lonely in London, hungry and cold
Strange how the years drift by
In Search of my fortune a dream of my youth
Life's a forgotten truth
Sometimes my memory just takes me away
Lifting me skyward I'm back for the back day
Strolling the hillside in soft evening light
I wish I was there tonight
A weary old traveler he sat by my side
Sadly he looked around
He talked of the old world that he'd left behind
Now it's so hard to find
He said "Gone is the romance, the laughter, the cheer
Just hunger and fighting year after year
Lonely in London and losing this night
I wish I was home tonight
To hearts that are searching and hearts that are young
The future's forever bright
But through life' December's you need someone's love
Sharing this lonesome night
And then when the spring comes loves finds a way
It gives a new meaning to each passing day
Lonely in London and losing the fight
I think I'll go home tonight
Lonely in London and losing the fight
I think I'll go home tonight
THE LOO SONG
I was born in Arkansas me mammy studied law
Pappy came from Timbuktu
There's one thing I recall I hated most of all
Was that little green shed our Loo
Chorus:
It had a cedar shingle roof I swear that was the truth
Hinges all rusted and corroding, ’Twas a ghastly shade of green
The worst you've ever seen, it stood there at the bottom of the garden
Well one day when I was six I was chopping at some sticks
When a nasty little gleam came to my eye
I ran down to the John and shoved it off the lawn
Into the river flowing gently by
Soon my Pappy yelling my name he asked what was my game
Why did you shove our privy in the drink
When then I shook with fear and shed a little tear
I said it wasn't me I didn't think
Chorus
Then my Pappy told to me how George Washington felled the tree
Then he went and owned up right away
And he because he told the truth that honest youth forsooth
His Pappy didn't punish him that day
Well me being a little green I thought I best come clean
So I told my Pappy how I sank that shack
Well with a rebel cry of glee he hauled o'er his knee
And proceeded to wop me blue and black
Chorus
Since I hadn't told a lie I asked my Pappy why
He sat there and he answered with a frown
George Washington's Pappy he wasn't sitting in the tree
When that little bastard went and chopped it down
LORD OF THE DANCE
(Sydney Carter)
I danced in the morning when the world was begun
I danced in the moon, the stars and the sun
I danced down from Heaven and I danced on Earth
At Bethlehem I had my birth
Chorus:
Dance, then, wherever you may be
I am the Lord of the Dance, said He
And I'll lead you all, wherever you may be
And I'll lead you all in the dance, said He
I danced for the scribe and the Pharisee
They would not dance; they would not follow me
So I danced for the fisherman, for James and John
They came with me and the dance went on
I danced on the Sabbath and I cured the lame
They holy people said it was a shame
So they whipped, they stripped, they hung me high
And they left me on the cross to die
I danced on a Friday, when the sky turned black
Its hard to dance with the Devil on your back
Oh they buried my body, they thought I'd gone
But I and the dance still go on
They cut me down, but I lept on high
I am the light that will never, never die
But I'll live in you if you'll live in Me
I am the Lord of the Dance, said he
LOVE IS PLEASING
I wish I wish I wish in vain
I wish I was a youth again
But a youth again I can never be
Till apples grow an Ivy tree
Chorus:
O love is pleasing and love is teasing and love is a pleasure
When first it's new but as it grows older sure a love grows colder
And it fades away like the morning dew
I left me father I left me mother
I left all me sisters and brothers too
I left all me friends and me own relations
I left them all for to follow you
Chorus
But the sweetest apple is the soonest rotten
And the hottest love is the soonest cold
And what can't be cured love must endured love
And now I am bound for Americay
Chorus
And love and porter makes a young man older
And love and whiskey makes him old and grey
And what can't be cured love must endured love
And now I am bound for Americay
Chorus
THE LOWLANDS LOW
(Words, P.J. McCall; tune, trad.)
We sailed out of Dunmore, Michelmas gone by
Cowhides and wool and live cargo Twenty young wild geese
Ready fledged to fly Sailing for the Lowlands Low
Chorus:
The lowlands low, the lowlands low
Sailing for the lowlands low
Shaun Paor's the skipper From the church of Crook
Peary keeps log for his father Crew all from Bannow
Fethard and the Hook Sailing for the Lowlands low
These twenty wild geese Gave Queen Anne the slip
Crossing to Louis in Flanders He and Jack Malbrook
Both are in a grip Fighting in the Lowlands Low
Close lay a rover Off the Isle of Wight
Either a Salee or Saxon! Out through the sea mist
We bade them goodnight Sailing for the Lowlands Low
Ready with priming, We'd our galliot gun
Muskets and pikes in good order We should be riddled,
Captives would be none Death! or else the Lowlands low
Pray Holy Brendan, Turk nor Algerine
Dutchman nor Saxon may sink us! We'll bring Geneva,
Sack and Rhenish wines Safely from the lowlands low
LUDGIN' WI' BIG AGGIE
(Scots Dialect)
Ah wis ludgin' wi' Big Aggie, just me an' ither ten,
We a' slept the gither in a wee bit single en';
We had nae beds at a', we just slept against the wa',
In oor ain wee hoose, in oor ain wee hoose.
Last Saturday for supper we got sausage on a plate;
I was just aboot to eat it when the sausage it said Wait,
Afore ye start on me, I was made in 1903;
And I went stane blin' when the sausage it did rin
Fae oor ain wee hoose, fae oor ain wee hoose.
We had rabbit for oor dinner, man, I couldnae stand the pain.
In fact one fella snuffed it, and anither went insane.
Aggie said it was the flu, but I don't think that's quite true,
For oor dug ca'd Prince has been missing ever since
Fae oor ain wee hoose, fae oor ain wee hoose.
LUDGIN' WI' BIG AGGIE
(Anglicized)
I was lodgin' with Big Aggie, just me and other ten,
We all slept together in a wee bit single end;
We had no beds at all, we just slept against the wall,
In our own wee house, in our own wee house.
Last Saturday for supper we got sausage on a plate;
I was just about to eat it when the sausage it said Wait,
Before you start on me, I was made in 1903;
And I went stone blind when the sausage it did run
From our own wee house, from our own wee house.
We had rabbit for our dinner, man, I couldn't stand the pain.
In fact one fella snuffed it, and another went insane.
Aggie said it was the flu, but I don't think that's quite true,
For our dog called Prince has been missing ever since
From our own wee house, from our own wee house.
LUCKY O'BYRNE
(Nick Guida/D.A. Oldis)
Well my name my friends is Lucky O' Byrne
And I've come to say I've just arrived
Left the Emerald Shore back in '75
And I've God to thank that I'm still alive
The potatoes had blight, we'd landlords to pay,
Fame and fortune awaits in Americay
But New York City was hot and the faces were cold
I headed out West in search of the gold
Chorus:
And the Wicklow Hills, late at night in my dreams
Keep calling me back to the Island of Green
Then from town to town I wandered along,
Here's a dollar O'Byrne and sing us a song
Then a song for a drink the bargain was made
To sleep in street for my music was paid
Singing Molly Malone in a crowded saloon
When a man from the Coast said he'd take me along
Not a dime to my name, me ticket I drank,
Four hundred miles to go and the gargle to thank
Chorus
San Francisco's lights the destination to reach
To my sister in Fairplay and her lesson to teach
There I'll stay off the drink the money I'll earn
To get to San Francisco where my lucks sure to turn
Chorus
Well my name my friends is Lucky O'Byrne
And I've come to say that I've just arrived
Left the Emerald Shore back in '75
And I've God to thank that I'm still alive.
LUKE KELLY'S LAND
(Pete St. John)
Chorus:
It's a long lonely road that has no turning
And a sad stream that never sees the sea
But let the truth by known that a great unrest has grown
In the green land Luke Kelly left to me
Oh the young ones are all leaving Luke and none can bid them stay
They're saying that there's more to life than this
In the ignorance of man they don't need a bond to band
When love can be destruction's Judas kiss
Chorus
We sing the songs of warning Luke while computers prattle on
Empty echoes on the Raglan Road
'Tis the famine of the mind that has always plagued our kind
When strangers reap the harvest we have sown
It's you and me again Luke we've seen it all before
The foreign fields once more have turned to green
And with nothing but a song to face every right and wrong
But I can only dream what might have been
Chorus
Chorus