Carrickfergus

Chorus:

But the sea is wide and I can’t swim over

And neither have I the wings to fly

I wish I was in Carrickfergus

Only for nights in Ballygrand

I would swim over the deepest ocean

Only for nights in Ballygrand

Chorus:

But the sea is wide and I can’t swim over

And neither have I the wings to fly

I wish I could find me a handsome boatman

To ferry me over, my love and I

For it’s in Kilkenny it is reported

On marble stone there as black as ink

With gold and silver I did support her

But I’ll sing no more now till I get a drink

I’m drunk today and I’m seldom sober

The handsome rover from town to town

Ah, but I am sick now and my days are numbered

So come all you young men and lay me down

Chorus:

But the sea is wide and I can’t swim over

And neither have I the wings to fly

I wish I could find me a handsome boatman

To ferry me over, my love and I

Friends Like You

Pour me a glass

Come and sit down

Not much to do in this old town

Call up some friends

To the back shore

Fire up some tunes

Could we ‘ere ask for more

Chorus:

That was our life

Feet in the sand

Bonfire blazing

Waves crashing in

Causing no harm

Breaking no rules

Life is just good

With friends like you

Laugh at ourselves

Do as we choose

Living like bandits

With nothing to lose

Falling in love

Falling apart

Holding each other

Here in our hearts

Love makes you brave

Love makes you young

You see a different side in everyone

Open and innocent

Steady and true

Life is just good

With friends like you

And oh how I loved those days

And oh how the world has changed

Chorus:

That was our life

Feet in the sand

Bonfire blazing

Waves crashing in

Causing no harm

Breaking no rules

Life is just good

With friends like you

That was our life

Feet in the sand

Bonfire blazing

Waves crashing in

Causing no harm

Breaking no rules

Life is just good

With friends like you

Oh, life was just good

With friends like you

Life was just good

With friends like you

The Purple Heather

Oh, the summer time is coming

And the trees are sweetly blooming

And the wild mountain thyme

Grows around the purple heather

Chorus:

Will you go Lassie, go

And we’ll all go together

To pluck wild mountain thyme

All among the blooming heather

Will you go Lassie, go

I will build my love a bower

By yon clear crystal fountain

And upon it I will pile

All the flowers of the mountain

If my true love she were to part

I would surely find another

Where the wild mountain thyme

Grows around the purple heather

Chorus:

Will you go Lassie, go

And we’ll all go together

To pluck wild mountain thyme

All among the blooming heather

Will you go Lassie, go

Will you go Lassie, go

Stan’s Tune

The sea’s a little darker

In make and break harbour

The wind blows cold

With fewer sails to fill

No longer does the train go by

Your Nova Scotian home

The foreign ships still rape our coast

While our fishing boats lie still

We sift through broken promises

And unemployment lines

See our children move away

And call from time to time

Chorus:

The songs that you have left for us

They grow truer by the day

Almost like you never went away

But I feel a storm building

Blowing cross the plains

Driving hard by an eastward wind

Like it’s coming home again

Carrying a giant

I hear you laughing now

As you pound your fist for the rain to fall

On the fields behind the plow

And the waves crash up against Privateers wharf

And the hand of Franklin charts the course

With a crash of thunder through the old hard rain

We see the giant rise again

And your music still fills our veins

Puts fire in our blood

It stood the test of time and change

And helped us rise above

Chorus:

And the songs that you have left for us

They grow truer by the day

Almost like you never went away

How often have you wandered

From that land of distant thunder

To help to guide a heart and hand

To help to craft a song

Or danced upon a fiddler’s knee

Or on a bow in open sea

And felt the north wind on your face

And called to bring her on

Tonight the evening sun will set

Down in the western sky

And we’ll lock our doors in from the storms

Where souls and spirits fly

And somewhere in the darkness

A candle lights the way

Almost like you never went away

Almost like you never went away

Almost like you never went away

Through It All

O luaidh be siod an gràdh

A dh' fhàg mi ceangailte ruit an dràsda

Co shaoileadh an rud a dh' fhàs

Bho phòg aon oidhche earraich

Night is closing in on me again

And I don’t know if I can make it through this time

Someone tell me why I miss what’s never been

Someone tell my why I wish that I could change your mind

Cause it is all too clear

Your heart’s no longer here

And I am merely caught up in the fall

And I don’t know what to do

Don’t know if I’m a fool

I only know I loved you through it all

The world awaits us all in different ways

Some run out to meet it, some just let it go

It never was my plan to leave this way

I’m sorry if you feel you were the last to know

But for now let’s just pretend

We are what could have been

Allow our hearts just one last chance to hold

All these things we cannot change

In the hours that remain

I loved you through it all is all I know

I can’t make you change your mind

And I can’t change what’s in my heart

I guess I didn’t see the signs

So here we are, here we are

I will be okay, I will be strong

I’ll not ask for promises or hold you down

Tell me somewhere in your heart I still belong

And I’ll believe you’re feeling what I’m feeling now

Memories will fade

The laughter and the days

Just different shades of colour to recall

Never change the way you are

I’m just following my heart

Always know I loved you

My Wings

I worked my whole life in this box

Never thinking outside

Accepting restrictions that come with excepting

The rules, the laws of my life

But I have a dream, she is unfolding

In the planks the cocking and nails

Where the seabirds sing and the ocean is rolling

We await our chance to set sail

Chorus:

Where her keelson runs true as an old woman’s prayer

Her hull it is deep and her lines they are fair

Her sails they are hungry to taste the salt air

My life it is hungry for change

She will be my wings

My wings

Who is to say where I should go

What I should do everyday

What is a life, how is it defined

How can there be just one way

The sun it is rising somewhere to the east

To her I will chart my course

This concrete jungle of buildings and streets

I never will see no more

And oh I want to sail away

To where no one’s ever been

And oh I want to leave today

Won’t you come along with me

Come on

Chorus:

Where her keelson runs true as an old woman’s prayer

Her hull it is deep and her lines they are fair

With our sails to the wind

And the wind in our hair

And all that this freedom will bring

She will be my wings

She will be my wings

My wings

She will be my wings

We’ll go sailing

Sailing Home

Chorus:

Hoist your sails to the wind

Let ‘er blow boys

And you know

We’re sailing home

When I hear a piper pipe

A sad lament across the glen

See a welcome smile

Upon a passing face again

Taste the fresh salt air

A blowing on the westward wind

I’ll know I’m home

I’ll know I’m home

When I see the small boats haul their traps

Rolling on the tide

Or have an old man make me laugh

Or bring tears to my eyes

Shake the hands that shook the world

With music filled with pride

I’ll know I’m home

I’ll know I’m home

Chorus:

So hoist your sails to the wind

Let ‘er blow boys, home again

Fair, fair as she has ever been

And you know we’re sailing home

So to the men who broke their backs

A debt I have to pay

To the ones who’ve long since passed

To find a better way

Come now lads and raise your glass

We’ll join them all some day

Sailing home

Sailing home

Chorus:

So hoist your sails to the wind

Let ‘er blow boys, home again

Fair, fair as she has ever been

And you know we’re sailing home

And you know we’re sailing home

And you know we’re sailing home

Let It Go

Maybe, it’s cause I’m growing older

But it feels like my heart’s growing colder

And my eyes used to light up like the sun

But this time they’re saying boy you better run

Or she’ll break your heart

And I wonder where the answers all lie

Cause it feels like every time that I try

To reach out there is something in the way

Of my mouth and it’s making me afraid

That I’ll break her heart

Just let it go, just let it go, just let it go

Just let it go, just let it go, just let it go

Dry all your tears, let me inside

I see the child, behind your eyes

We need to know, we’ll be okay

Take all these doubts, wash it away

Cause what we have is beautiful

What we have

Is beautiful

Beautiful

Just let it go, just let it go, just let it go

Just let it go, just let it go, just let it go

Maybe it’s cause I’m growing older

But it feels like my heart’s growing colder

The Water Is Wide

Chorus:

The water is wide, I can’t cross over

And neither have I wings to fly

Build me a boat that can carry two

And we shall row, my love and I

There is a ship that sails the sea

She’s loaded deep as deep can be

But not so deep as this love I’m in

I know not if I’ll sink or swim

I leaned by back against an oak

Thinking it was a trusty tree

But first it bent and then it broke

And so my false love did unto me

Chorus:

The water is wide, I can’t cross over

And neither have I wings to fly

Build me a boat that can carry two

And we shall row, my love and I

The water is wide, the water is wide

My Old Man

I don’t know why, he kept a lot inside

The words he chose were simple and wise

Took pride in my steps like they were his own

When my world was heavy he’d share the load

He gave his word, he saw it through

Just something that he felt he had to do

He’d leave for work before the sun broke the dawn

Day after day his whole life long

I was too young, I was too blind

To truly understand

The things he’d done in troubled times

That we might have a chance

What we don’t have we don’t miss he’d say

But if you’re in need, we’ll find a way

My old man

He didn’t always do things right

Still he did all he could

When I look back upon his life

I only see the good

He always thought I was stubborn as a rule

Funny thing, I thought he was too

My old man, my old man

Sometimes you just have to deal with it

Lift your head and carry on

This isn’t much, it’s just a song

Just simple words to say so long

To you, my old man

Farewell To Nova Scotia

The sun was setting in the west

And the birds were singing on every tree

All nature seemed inclined for a rest

But still there was no rest for me

Chorus:

So farewell to Nova Scotia, your sea-bound coast

To your mountains dark, to your hills and streams

I am bound far away on the briny ocean tossed

Will you ever heave a sigh and a wish for me

The drums they do beat to war the alarm

The captain calls, we must obey

So farewell, fare thee well

To your Nova Scotian charms

It’s early in the morning I am bound far away

I grieve to leave my native land

I grieve to leave my comrades all

And my parents whom I love so dear

And the bonnie bonnie lassie that I do adore

Chorus:

So farewell to Nova Scotia, your sea-bound coast

To your mountains dark, to your hills and streams

I am bound far away on the briny ocean tossed

Will you ever heave a sigh and a wish for me

For me

The Parting Glass

Well of all the money that ‘ere I’ve spent

I have spent it in good company

And of all the harm that ‘ere I’ve done

Alas it was to none but me

For all I’ve done for want of wit

To memory now I can’t recall

So fill to me a parting glass

Goodnight and joy be with you all

Oh if I had money enough to spend

And leisure time to rest a while

Oh there is a fair maid in this town

That truly has my heart beguiled

Her rosy cheeks and ruby lips

As fair as ‘ere I can recall

So fill to me a parting glass

Goodnight and joy be with you all

And of all the comrades that ‘ere I’ve had

I am sorry for their going away

And of all the comrades that ‘ere I’ve had

I wish them one more day to stay

And if it should fall onto my lot

That I should rise and you should not

Then I’ll gently rise and I’ll softly call

Goodnight and joy be with you all

Yes I’ll gently rise and I’ll softly call

Goodnight and joy be with you all