Christy Moore

[fox69]

"Encore"

"Encore"


When I first heard Tommy Makem and the Clancy's my future it was sealed
I was bitten by the ballad bug and since then the wound has never healed
When I got my first guitar my fingers bled until I learned a chord or two
I pulled on my aran sweater, wrote my Ma a goodbye letter
And started throwing shapes in O'Donoghue's

I've played every lounge in Ireland from Dingle right up to Donegal
I've sung Nancy Spain on stages
Where no other ballad singers play at all
From the rising sun in Brownstown to the Blue Lagoon above in Sligo Town
Ballymurphy and the Bogside, Ballinamore
And even once in Ballinasloe

If I get an encore I go home feeling like a king
It's a two way situation I get a lot of pleasure when I sing

I played cabaret in Bundoran, and marquees for Father Horan
And I once stood in for Johnny McEvoy
From Berlin to San Francisco I've gone on before the disco
Lashing out the four green fields of Athenry
Mountbellew was like purgatory but Tulsk was just like being in hell
I've received my education in the lounges of the nation
After 25 years I am doing well

If I get an encore I go home feeling like a king
It's a two way situation I get a lot of pleasure when I sing

I was playing in the Meeting place when half the Special Branch came in the door
They were looking for an outlaw
He stole their trousers back in 1984
They started listening to my songs and hung around till after the show
If I ever need a taxi plate or a massage at a special rate
They're the boys to tell me where to go

If I get an encore I go home feeling like a king
It's a two way situation I get a lot of pleasure when I sing

 

[fox69]

"Fairytale Of New York"
(originally by The Pogues)

"Fairytale Of New York"
(originally by The Pogues)



It was Christmas Eve, babe, in the drunk tank
An old man said, "Son, I won't see another one"
And then he sang a song, a rare old mountain tune
I turned my eyes away, and I thought about you

I got on a lucky one, came in at 18/1
I've got a feeling this year's for me and you
So Happy Christmas, I love you baby
There's going to be good times
When all our dreams come true

They've got cars big as bars
They've got rivers of gold
But the wind blows right through you
It's no place for the old
When I first took your hand on a cold Christmas Eve
I told you that Broadway was waiting for me

You were handsome and pretty, queen of New York city
When the band finished playing, the crowd howled for more
Sinatra was swinging, and the crowd they were singing
We kissed on the corner and danced round the floor

And the boys from the New York police choir were singin' Galway Bay
And the bells were ringin' out on Christmas Day

I could have been someone and so could anyone
I took my dreams from you when I first met you
I kept them with me, babe, and put them with my own
I can't make it all alone
I've built my dreams around you

You're a bum, you're a punk, you're an aul hoor on junk
Lyin' there on the drip nearly dead in the bed
You scumbag, you maggot, you cheap lousy faggot
Happy Christmas me arse, I would rather be dead

And the boys from the New York police choir were singin' Galway Bay
And the bells were ringin' out on Christmas Day

I love you baby
I've got a feeling this year's for me and you
So Happy Christmas, I love you baby
There's going to be good times
When all our dreams come true

So Happy Christmas, I love you baby

 

[fox69]

"Faithful Departed"

"Faithful Departed"


This graveyard hides a million secrets
And the trees know more than they can tell
The ghosts of the saints and the scholars will haunt you
In heaven and in hell

Rattled by the glimmer man, the boogie man, the holy man
And livin' in the shadows, in the shadows of a gunman
Rattled like the coppers in your greasy till
Rattled until time stood still

Look over your shoulder, hear the school bell ring
Another day of made-to-measure history
I don't care if your heroes have wings
Your terrible beauty has been torn

Faithful departed, we fickle hearted
As you are now so once were we
Faithful departed, we the meek hearted
With graces imparting bring flowers to thee
The girls in the kips proclaim their love for you
When you stumbled in they knew you had a shilling or two
They cursed you on Sundays and holy days of abstinence
When you all stayed away

When you slept there a naked bulb hid your shame
Your shadows on the wall, they took all the blame
The Sacred Heart's picture, compassion in his eyes
Drowned out the river of sighs

Let the grass grow green over the brewery tonight
It'll never come between the darkness and the light
There is no pain that can't be eased
By the devil's holy water and the rosary beads

You're a history book I never could write
Poetry in paralysis, too deep to recite
Dress yourself, bless yourself, you've won the fight
We're gonna celebrate the night

We'll even climb the pillar like you always meant to
Watch the sun rise over the strand
Close your eyes and we'll pretend
It could somehow be the same again
I'll bury you upright so the sun doesn't blind you
You won't have to gaze at the rain and the stars
Sleep and dream of chapels and bars
And whiskey in the jar

Faithful departed, look what you've started
An underdog's wounds aren't so easy to mend
Faithful departed, there's no brokenhearted
And no more tristesse in your world without end

 

[fox69]

"Farewell To Pripyat"

"Farewell To Pripyat"


It was a Friday in April 1986
The day that the nightmare began
When the dust it rained down on our buildings and streets
And entered our bedrooms at noon
Touched the grass and the trees, bicycles, cars
Beds books and picture frames too
We stood around, helpless, confused
Nobody knew what to do
At two o'clock on Sunday the buses arrived
A fleet of a thousand or more
We were ordered to be on our way
Not knowing what lay in store
Some of our citizens fled in dismay
And looked for a good place to hide
Four o'clock came and the last bus pulled out
T'was the day our lovely town died
And the shirts, sheets and handkerchiefs crack in the wind
On the window ledge the withering plants
And the Ladas and Volgas are parked by the door
And the bike's in its usual stance
Our evergreen trees lie withered and drooped
They've poisoned our fertile land
The streets speak a deafening silence
Nothing stirs but the sand
A visit back home is so eerie today
A modern Pompeii on view
To see all the old shops and the Forest Hotel
And the Promyet Cinema too
The mementos we gathered were all left behind
Our Photos, letters and cards
The toys of our children untouchable now
Toy soldiers left standing on guard
So fare thee well Pripyat, my home and my soul
Your sorrow can know no relief
A terrifying glimpse of the future you show
Your children all scattered like geese
The clothes line still sways but the owners long gone
As the nomadic era returns
The question in black and white blurred into grey
The answer is too easy to learn
And the shirts, sheets and handkerchiefs crack in the wind
On the window ledge the withering plants
And the Ladas and Volgas are parked by the door
And the bike's in its usual stance
Our evergreen trees lie withered and drooped
They've poisoned our fertile land
The streets speak a deafening silence
Nothing stirs but the sand

 

[fox69]

"Father McFadden"

"Father McFadden"


Come all ye Roman Catholics and pray you will be near
And likewise pay attention and I'll not detain you long
Concerning Father McFadden who lies in Lifford Jail
He was remanded there for trial, the judge could find no bail

The day he was arrested was a Sunday after Mass
It was Inspector Martin, the man who did arrest
He caught the collar by the priest with a broadsword in his hand
Says he, "Your are my prisoner, sir, and you must come along"

The congregation seen their priest arrested at the door
And David being among the flock, he did one stone procure
He stuck the stone into a sling and my the Lord's command
He killed Inspector Martin on the ground where he did stand

They put Martin on a stretcher and to barracks they did go
To see them walking down the road, it was a lovely show
The congregation booed at them, 'twas glorious for to tell
And to see a sub-Inspector on a door going off to hell

The Devil met them on the road, and he took him by the hand
Says he, "Inspector Martin, I've been waiting for you long
You being a worthy officer, and you've done your duty well
And now I'm going to promote you to the burning pits of Hell"

Adieu to Ballyshannon, will I never see you more
And many's the happy day I spent along Bundoran's shore
To my wife and family, I said farewell
And now I'm away and I'm bound to stay in the burning pits of hell

 

[fox69]

"Folk Tale"

"Folk Tale"


A young man fell in love with truth
In searching the wide world for her
He found her in the small house
In the clearing
In the forest
She was old and she was stooped
He pledged himself to her
To chop the wood and carry the water
Years went by until one day
The young man woke up longing, for a child
He went to the old women
And he asked to be released from his oath to her
That he might return, to the world
Certainly she said
On one condition
You must tell them that I am young beautiful
You must tell them that I am young beautiful

 

[fox69]

"Galtee Mountain Boy"

"Galtee Mountain Boy"


I joined the Flying Column in 1916
In Cork with Seán Moylan, In Tipperary with Dan Breen
Arrested by Free Staters and sentenced... to die
Farewell to Tipperary said the Galtee Mountain Boy

We went across the valleys and over the hilltops green
Where we met with Dinny Lacey, Seán Hogan and Dan Breen
Seán Moylan and his gallant men they kept the flag flying high
Farewell to Tipperary said the Galtee Mountain Boy

We tracked the Dublin mountains we were rebels on the run
Though hunted night and morning we were outlawed but free men
We tracked the Wicklow mountains as the sun was shining high
Farewell to Tipperary said the Galtee Mountain Boy

I'm bidding farewell to old Clonmel that I never more will see
And to the Galtee mountains that oft times sheltered me
To the men who fought for their liberty and died without a sigh
May the cause be ne'er forgotten said the Galtee Mountain Boy

 

[fox69]

"Go, Move, Shift"

"Go, Move, Shift"


Born in the middle of the afternoon
In a horsedrawn carriage on the old A5
The big twelve wheeler shook my bed
You can't stay here the policeman said
You'd better get born in some place else
So move along, get along, move along, get along
Go, move, shift

Born in the common by a building site
Where the ground was rutted by the trail of wheels
The local Christian said to me
"You'll lower the price of property"
You'd better get born in some place else
So move along, get along, move along, get along
Go, move, shift

Born at potato picking time
In a noble tent in a tatie field
The farmer said, "The work's all done
It's time that you was moving on"
You'd better get born in some place else
So move along, get along, move along, get along
Go, move, shift

Born at the back of a hawthorn hedge
Where the black hole frost lay on the ground
No eastern kings came bearing gifts
Instead the order came to shift
You'd better get born in some place else
So move along, get along, move along, get along
Go, move, shift

The eastern sky was full of stars
And one shone brighter than the rest
The wise men came so stern and strict
And brought the orders to evict
You'd better get born in some place else
move along, get along, move along, get along
Go, move, shift

Wagon, tent or trailer born
Last month, last year or in far off days
Born here or a thousand miles away
There's always men nearby who'll say
You'd better get born in some place else
move along, get along, move along, get along
Go, move, shift
...

 

[fox69]

"God Woman"

"God Woman"


She spent seven days creating The World, The Sun, The Moon and The Stars
Then The Plough and The Milky Way, Jupiter and Mars
Takin' a bone from her ribcage she carved a fine cut of a man
Dropped him in where The Seven Springs flow into The Pollardstown Fen
'Go forth; sez she, 'me darling boy, go forth in the name of God'
What better place to begin mo bhuachaillin then below in The Yellow Bog

God Woman, God Woman

On a beautiful hill near Clongorey he built a beehive cell
Where he contemplated Limbo as he drank from Saint Bridgid's Well
He recited the Sorrowful Mysteries, said Mass at the High Cross of Moone
Traumatisin' himself with terrible thoughts of eternal damnation and doom
He began to break up the bordellos, to smash all the poitin stills
Frothing at the mouth as he ranted, 'yiz'II all burn in Hell for your sins'

DijxIented by loneliness the poor man could not sleep
All he had for company was altar boys and sheep
'Til one night after devotions he met up with a mot from Coill Dubh
On the bog road down by Clogherinka she whispered the secrets of love
After spendin' all night in the furze bush he emerged a fully fledged man
Took Bedelia back home to the beehive to polish up his auld pots and pans

They danced and danced to the music, to the sound of the Angelus bell
They boogied and jived around the beehive as they danced between Heaven and Hell

 

[fox69]

"Green Island"

"Green Island"


The island lies like a leaf upon the sea
Green island like a leaf new-fallen from the tree
Green turns to gold
As morning breeze gently shakes the barley
Bending the yellow corn
Green turns to gold
There's purple shadows on the distant mountains
Sun in the yellow corn

They came in their long ships from lands across the sea
They came in their long ships – they saw the land was green
Wind in the barley
Trout and salmon leaping in the rivers
Sun in the yellow corn
Leaping ashore
They slaughtered those laboured in the barley
Scything them down like corn

The long ships sailed away and new invaders came
With long bow and lance bringing death in England's name
With sword and with mace
They went reaping though the fields of barley
They plundered the yellow corn
Crop followed crop
They prospered in their killing fields of barley
The harvest of new young corn

Marching down the years the men of war they came
With bombs, assassins, bullets, CS gas and guns
Ghosts from the past
Are chasing shadows through the fields of barley
Hiding in the new young corn
Nine hundred years
They tried to trap the wind that shakes the barley
Sun in the yellow corn

The island lies like a leaf upon the sea
Green island like a leaf new-fallen from the tree
Green turns to gold
As morning breeze gently shakes the barley
Bending the yellow corn
No force on Earth
Can ever trap the wind that shakes the barley
Sun in the yellow corn